International Organizations

Europeans are Furious Over Reports of Spying by US on Its Allies

By Claus Hecking and Stefan Schultz, Spiegel

From Claus Hecking and Stefan Schultz, Spiegel:  Europeans are furious. Revelations that the US intelligence service National Security Agency (NSA) targeted the European Union and several European countries with its far-reaching spying activities have led to angry reactions from several senior EU and German politicians.

New NSA Leaks Show how US is Bugging its European Allies

By Ewen MacAskill and Julian Borger, Guardian

How the NSA Targets Germany and Europe

By Laura Poitras, Marcel Rosenbach, Fidelius Schmid, Holger Stark and Jonathan Stock, Spiegel

NATO Recognizes Achivements by Croatia, EU, Serbia, and Kosovo

By NATO

From NATO:  As Croatia prepares to become a member of the European Union on July 1, I congratulate the Croatian government and the people of Croatia for this important step in completing a Europe that is whole, free and at peace.

Carl Bildt: Sweden has Chosen Partnership over Neutrality

By Carl Bildt, Swedish Foreign Ministry

From Carl Bildt, Swedish Foreign Ministry:  Since then [1523] – nearly half a millennium – Stockholm has been one of the very few European capitals where foreign forces of occupation and war have never set their foot.

Ich Bin Ein Westerner

By Julian Lindley-French

“Ich bin ein Berliner.” Fifty years ago this week President Kennedy made his famous defiant assertion of Western solidarity at the strategic fault line of the Berlin Wall.  What today is the state of the West? Kennedy’s moment has passed into strategic folklore.  However, perhaps more enduring was a speech he made the next day in Frankfurt.  Responding […]

Frattini: Need to Improve Burden Sharing Between Europe and the US

By Franco Frattini, Diario Italiano

From Franco Frattini, Diario Italiano:  [I]t is clear that financial burden for capabilities should be shared reasonably in the near future between European and American allies.

Nostalgia Is Not Strategy

By Robert Manning

President Obama’s Berlin speech and trip to Europe came at a historical inflection point: The European Union (EU) has been in recession and financial crisis for more than four years. Youth unemployment is a staggering 25 percent. The very idea of Europe is being called into question. Moreover, NATO’s purpose leaves many scratching their heads, […]

US Should Support Kosovo Joining NATO

By the Editors of the Washington Post

From the Editors of the Washington Post:  Hashim Thaci, onetime leader of the Kosovo Liberation Army and now the country’s prime minister, was in Washington last week to talk about an accord he reached with Serbian Prime Minister Ivica Dacic to normalize the two countries’ relations.