Category: Blogs

There’s No Such Thing as a ‘Reset’ Button

By José María Aznar, Foreign Policy

From José María Aznar, Foreign Policy:  The United States and its allies have all the tools at their disposal to defeat our shared enemies. Success will depend on three basic commitments: American leadership, a stronger Europe, and a common transatlantic vision.

McChrystal Out, Petraeus In

By James Joyner

As expected, President Obama has sacked  Stanley McChrystal, stripping him of the Afghanistan command for insubordination.  Unexpectedly, he replaced him with David Petraeus. While I’ve been critical of the administration’s handling of Afghanistan — as recently as this morning — this was a brilliant stroke.  And the speech itself struck all the right notes. I […]

US Army to close almost all sites in two German cities

By DPA

From DPA:  The US Army said Wednesday it would close almost all its sites in two German cities, Heidelberg and Mannheim, where it has maintained bases since 1945.

Is Russia Resetting? The Limits of a Petro-State

By Robert Manning

Don’t look now, but Russian President Dimitry Medvedev’s visits this week to Silicon Valley and Washington appear part of a wider Russian rethinking of its predicament.  The operative word is thinking. That Medvedev would like to create a Russian Silicon Valley suggests a belated realization that Russia, the Petro-state, is not a recipe for a […]

A Possibly Dangerous Summer, Continued

By Harlan Ullman

The U.S. political system was designed by the best minds of the 18th century. But today, the issues and crises of the 21st century are profoundly more complex, numerous and interrelated. To be sure, this system has changed with the times. However, when faced with an unprecedented multitude of simultaneous challenges and crises, most with […]

Can the Turkish opposition kick out Erdogan?

By David Kenner, Foreign Policy

Afghanistan: Time for Unified Policy

By James Joyner

General Stanley McChrystal’s widely-publicized comments deriding senior Obama administration officials and their roles in the Afghanistan strategy have, as he himself has acknowledged, "compromised the mission."   He’s meeting with said team this morning and could well be fired.  Regardless, it’s time to come up with a unified and coherent policy.

NATO Secretary General Regrets Denmark sending “wrong signal to our forces and to other Allies”

By the Copenhagen Post

From the Copenhagen Post: [Danish] Defence Minister Gitte Lillelund Bech’s announcement that the state is set to abandon three upcoming Nato projects has former prime minister Anders Fogh Rasmussen breaking his promise not to get involved in Danish politics, reports Politiken newspaper.

Turkey Bets on East Over West

By Arnaud de Borchgrave

Geopolitical tectonic plates began grinding menacingly five years ago when Turkey embarked on negotiations for membership in the European Union but it didn’t take long for Ankara to conclude that EU was play acting. There was little appetite for adding 70 million Turkish Muslims (80 million by the end of a projected 10-year negotiation) to […]