Category: Blogs

US announces smaller troop cuts in Europe

By the Department of Defense

From the Department of Defense:  The Department of Defense announced today that it is revising its 2004 plan to withdraw two of its four brigade combat teams (BCTs) from Europe.

Tensions emerge in NATO’s Libya mission

By the Financial Times

Netherlands unveils severe military cuts

By the AP

From the AP:  The Dutch government will cut 12,000 military jobs, or more than one in six of all armed forces personnel, as part of spending cuts aimed at balancing the budget by 2015, officials said Friday.

Libya SNAFU: You Get What You Train For

By James Joyner

Continuing problems with the coalition operation in Libya reinforce an old military adage: You fight like you train. Yesterday, we learned that Swedish jets were grounded because the air base didn’t stock the right type of fuel. Today, we learned Libyan rebels were painting their vehicles pink after yet another incident in which NATO mistakenly fired on them, […]

Russia wants joint “red-button” control over NATO missile defense system

By Simone Baribeau and Henry Meyer, Bloomberg

From Simone Baribeau and Henry Meyer, Bloomberg: Russia wants to join in the planned U.S. missile shield in Europe with “red-button” rights to launch strikes at incoming weapons, Deputy Prime Minister Sergei Ivanov said. Russia, which is pursuing talks on the issue with the U.S., will only accept an agreement that allows it to have a […]

British Say NATO Faces Jet Shortage

By Alistair MacDonald and Stephen Fidler, the Wall Street Journal

From Alistair MacDonald and Stephen Fidler, the Wall Street Journal:  The U.S. pullout from the front line of military activity in Libya has left a shortage of ground-attack jets, prompting the British government to pressure its European allies to send more aircraft into the theater.

Libya rebels paint vehicles bright pink to avoid NATO attacks

By Alexander Dziadosz, Reuters

From Alexander Dziadosz, Reuters:  Libyan rebels painted the roofs of their vehicles bright pink on Friday to avoid more friendly fire casualties after a NATO air strike they said killed five fighters. The strike hit a rebel tank column as it advanced on the disputed oil port of Brega on Thursday, causing a confused insurgent […]

The Power of Partnering in the Baltics

By James Stavridis, EUCOM

From James Stavridis, EUCOM:   In early March, we teamed up with Project Hope, a non-profit medical service organization, to work with us and our Baltic allies in Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia

Global Domestic Politics

By Frederick Kempe

One of the most important findings in my new book, Berlin 1961: Kennedy, Khrushchev and the Most Dangerous Place on Earth, is that domestic politics shapes foreign policy in ways that most historians have failed to adequately recognize. In 1961, when the Berlin Wall went up, Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev was fighting off challenges of […]

Britain Seeks Greater Pakistani Role in Securing Domestic Security Issues

By Luv Puri

The writing on the wall was clear when the British Prime Minister David Cameron visited Pakistan. The main agenda of the prime minister’s visit was to repair the soured relations between Britain and Pakistan. The relations dipped last year during the last visit of British Prime Minister to India when he lambasted Pakistani government for […]