Category: Blogs

Congress, Pork, and the F-22

By Bernard Finel

A frustrating tendency in media coverage of the defense budgeting process is the presumption that anything Congress adds to the Department of Defense’s budget request must be political pork (see, for example, “Pork-Laden Defense Bill Weighed“).

Obama administration says Russia could join NATO

By the Associated Press

From the Associated Press: The Obama administration is not ruling out the possibility of Russian membership in NATO. Assistant Secretary of State Philip Gordon told U.S. lawmakers Tuesday that the United States would consider Russian membership in the military alliance that was founded to protect Europe from Soviet aggression. Gordon said NATO should be open […]

Russia expels Ukraine diplomat in tit-for-tat move

By Reuters

From Reuters: Russia on Wednesday ordered a Ukrainian diplomat to leave the country in what it said was retaliation for Kiev’s expulsion last week of a Russian diplomat responsible for the Black Sea Fleet.

Appointment of General Stéphane Abrial to the post of Supreme Allied Commander Transformation

By NATO

From NATO: NATO today announced the appointment of General Stéphane Abrial to the post of Supreme Allied Commander Transformation. General Abrial is currently Chief of Staff of the French Air Force. He will take up his new duties on 9 September 2009 at a change of command ceremony to be held at Headquarters Supreme Allied […]

NATOSource: NATO Releases New Videos

As part of a media campaign to celebrate 2009 as the 60th anniversary of the alliance, NATO has released new videos designed to promote public understanding of its value to its member states. These videos and additional information can be viewed at, 60 Years NATO. Atlantic-Community.org is sponsoring a discussion of the videos and public […]

U.S.-Ukraine “Tough Love:” the Feeling is Mutual

By the Jamestown Foundation

From the Jamestown Foundation: Support for closer relations with NATO has become an internal political liability in Ukraine. Among the potential candidates in the January 2010 presidential election, Yushchenko -with a popularity rating in the low single-digits- no longer has anything to lose; Tymoshenko has everything at stake; Yanukovych and his party are on record […]

Soon, Only U.S. Will Remain of Iraq Coalition

By the New York Times

From the New York Times: Two days from now, there will no longer be any other nations with troops in Iraq — no “multi” in the Multi-National Force. As Iraqi forces have increasingly taken the lead, the United States is the last of the “coalition of the willing” that the Bush administration first brought together […]

Priorities for Anders Fogh Rasmussen, NATO’s New Secretary General

By Heritage

From Heritage: Rasmussen’s experience working at the heart of the European Union gives him an inside edge on how best to reshape NATO-EU relations. The reintegration of France into NATO’s military command structures, coupled with the Obama Administration’s inclination toward a deeply integrated European Union (EU), threatens to hand over the primacy of NATO in […]

British Conservatives Back Away from Afghanistan

By Steve Hynd

In two scathing op-eds today, the conservative Daily Mail set out a framework for British conservative thinking on the ongoing Afghanistan occupation which is seriously at odds with their American cousins.

Flight of the F-22

By Harlan Ullman

‘Tis a pity that the F-22 Raptor was not named the Phoenix in the hopes that, despite the best attempts of Republican and Democratic presidents and secretaries of defense to contain the program, it would magically rise again from the ashes. Last week’s vote in the Senate sealed the fate of this most advanced fighter […]