Security & Defense

French NATO Return: Beginning of a Beautiful Friendship?

By Steven Kramer

To what extent does French return to full NATO membership reflect a paradigm shift of French grand strategy?  After all, Charles de Gaulle’s withdrawal of French forces from NATO’s integrated military command (and his eviction of NATO headquarters from France) was the culmination of a fundamental policy reorientation begun in 1958 and a critical factor […]

In the Shadow of NATO Exercises in Georgia: How Moscow Stopped Worrying and Decided to Embrace NATO

By Donald Bandler and Jakub Kulhanek

As you are reading these lines, the NATO-sponsored Cooperative Longbow 09 – Cooperative Lancer 09 exercises are underway in Georgia. Although they were announced several months ago, are in their fourth iteration, and will be restricted to training peacekeepers, they have already provoked much controversy.   Moscow’s demand that the exercises in a country until recently […]

Atlantic Council Briefs NATO Secretary General-Designate

The Atlantic Council’s International Security Program hosted former Danish Prime Minister and NATO Secretary General-designate Anders Fogh Rasmussen for an all-day transition seminar.

NATO Interests vs. National Interests

By Jeffrey Lightfoot

In his address yesterday to the Atlantic Council, NATO Supreme Allied Commander outlined a wish list of reforms he hopes the Alliance will take in the years to come to ensure the institution’s continued relevance in the 21st century.

Russia’s Big Fuss Over Little NATO Exercises

By David Smith

The first of two successive NATO Partnership for Peace (PfP) exercises began yesterday at the Vaziani Georgian Armed Forces Base, 30 kilometers east of Tbilisi.  The objective of Exercises Longbow and Lancer is to improve the abilities of the 14 participating nations to respond cooperatively to crises.

General John Craddock Event Transcript

FREDERICK KEMPE:  Greetings.  I’m Fred Kempe, president and CEO of the Atlantic Council, and it’s a pleasure for me to welcome you all to this installment, a very important installment, of our Commander Series, which is one of the most popular things we do here, bringing some of the leading U.S. and European commanders to […]