Category: Blogs

New Chapter of Russian Spy Cases Against NATO and its Members.

The Russian news service Interfax announced today that Moscow has expelled two Czech diplomats in an apparent tit-for-tat for yesterday’s reported expulsion of two Russian diplomats by the Czech Republic. A Russian official argued that, “this unfriendly act by the Czech side, which declared two of our diplomats ‘persona non grata’, could not be left […]

Georgia quits ex-Soviet group as Moscow allies rebel

By Reuters

From Reuters: Georgia on Tuesday became the first country to withdraw from the CIS grouping of former Soviet republics in the latest and most blatant sign of rebellion against Moscow in its own backyard. In the wake of its devastating five-day war with Russia last August, Georgia vowed to quit the Moscow-dominated Commonwealth of Independent […]

Russia expels two Czech diplomats in spy row

By Reuters

From Reuters: Russia has ordered two Czech diplomats out of Russia, Interfax news agency reported on Tuesday, in a spying row between two countries at odds over U.S. plans to install an anti-missile system in Europe. The expulsion follows Czech media reports on Monday that two Russians had been ordered out of Prague, including a […]

V Corps to endure as new ISAF command in Afghanistan

By Stars and Stripes

From Stars and Stripes: The renewed war effort in Afghanistan means V Corps, recently headed for oblivion, will live to fight another day. The Heidelberg-based corps would make up the staff of a new command overseeing day-to-day operations in Afghanistan for the next year, and officials said the corps could be staffed there for the […]

Global Economic Council Needed after Financial Crisis

By Timothy Adams and Arrigo Sadun

How do you transform the International Monetary Fund, an institution until recently widely criticised for its lack of legitimacy and representativeness, on the verge of irrelevance, into the international community’s premier tool for fighting the global crisis?

Insurgents target NATO HQ in Kabul as vote looms

By AP

From AP: A suicide car bomber struck near the front gate of NATO headquarters in Kabul killing seven people and wounding nearly 100 in a brazen daylight attack less than a week before Afghanistan’s landmark presidential election . . . Brig. Gen. E. Tremblay, the spokesman for the NATO-led force, said some soldiers in the […]

Firing General McKiernan was right, but as for the reasons

By Peter Feaver at foreignpolicy.com

From Peter Feaver at foreignpolicy.com: In other words, McKiernan got the sack because he was unable to get NATO to step up to the plate more smartly. Since McKiernan left, of course, the home-town presses in all of the NATO countries have been replete with stories about how costly their Afghan burden has been. I […]

NATO launches new anti-piracy operation off Somalia

By AFP

From AFP: NATO on Monday launched operation Ocean Shield to help fight rampant piracy off the Horn of Africa after the alliance’s North Atlantic Council approved the mission, it said in a statement. “No timeframe has been set for this long-term operation, which will last as long as it’s deemed necessary,” Major Stefano Sbaccanti, a […]

Beyond the Afghanistan Command Change

By James Joyner

When David McKiernan was summarily fired from his post as commanding general in Afghanistan, I was shocked. Rajiv Chandrasekaran has a superb insider account in today’s WaPo that fills in some of the gaps.

Dealing With Iran

By Don Snow

With the dispute over the fairness of the recent Iranian presidential resolved–if not to everyone’s satisfaction–and the Iranian government’s response to demonstrators against the outcome repressed–once again not to everyone’s satisfaction–news about Afghanistan has pushed Iran off the front pages of American concern in the Middle East. But Iran is still there, and it is […]