International Organizations

Finish the Job

By James M. Dubik, the New York Times

From James M. Dubik, the New York Times:  In war, leadership is not exercised from the rear by those who seek to risk as little as possible.

Humanitarian missions can be cruel

By Eugene Robinson, the Washington Post

From Eugene Robinson, the Washington Post:  President Obama made the intervention possible by giving his approval and committing U.S. assets.

Europe Falters in Efforts to Implement the UN Resolution in Libya

By Hugh De Santis

NATO’s management of the UN-sanctioned campaign to take “all necessary measures” to protect Libyan civilians is looking more futile by the day. Reminiscent of Europe’s hapless effort to assert leadership following the breakup of Yugoslavia in 1991, internal bickering has once again precluded military cohesion and made mockery of the European Union’s Common Foreign and Security […]

The Franglosphere – No, Not Bad BBC Science Fiction

By Julian Lindley-French

I was in London this week and two things happened that suggest l’albion perfide might be about to do the dirty on both America and France. First, in high-level meetings in the Ministry of Defence British officials confirmed that the disastrous 2010 Strategic Security and Defence Review (Strategic Pretence and Impecunity Review) had been the […]

Libya: Mission creak

By the Editors of the Guardian

From the Editors of the Guardian:  The 20 British and French military advisers being sent to help the rebels in Benghazi do not constitute an occupation force.

Libya crisis reveals divisions on EU defense policy

By Judy Dempsey, the International Herald Tribune

“Adenauer and de Gaulle must be turning in their graves”

By Roger Cohen, the New York Times

From Roger Cohen, the New York Times:  Only in recent weeks has the distance traveled come into focus: France, reintegrated in 2009 into the command structure of NATO

NATO and Georgia reaffirm each other

By NATO

Welcome to NATO Operation Protecting Disunity

By Julian Lindley-French, the New Atlanticist

From Julian Lindley-French, the New Atlanticist: The statement is a masterpiece of NATO speak and thus needs interpreting into plain English. This is something that has not been seen at NATO Headquarters since the Scottish occupied it back in the early naughties – it was plain but incomprehensible. … The “valuable” contribution made by OUP members […]

NATO made the right call on helping Libya

By Anders Fogh Rasmussen, the Washington Post

From Anders Fogh Rasmussen, the Washington Post:  [T]he international community and NATO had to act in Libya — and we did so quickly.