Americas

Defence cut threat to the special relationship

By James Kirkup, the Telegraph

The IMF’s Thorny Transatlantic Feud

By Kati Suominen, the German Marshall Fund of the U.S.

From Kati Suominen, the German Marshall Fund of the U.S.:  In a move likely to please China, India, and Brazil, but force a confrontation with Europe, the Obama administration last month blocked plans that would maintain the current size of the board of directors of the International Monetary Fund (IMF).

Medvedev says U.S. “envious” over European security system proposals

By RIA Novosti

From RIA Novosti:  The United States is experiencing a certain amount of envy over Russia’s attempts to create a new system of European security, President Dmitry Medvedev said on Friday. Medvedev proposed drawing up a new European security pact in June 2008, and Russia published a draft of the treaty in December 2009, sending copies […]

The Future of Canada’s Armed Forces

By the Economist

From the Economist:  Canada was a big air- and sea-power after the second world war, and deployed combat troops in the Korean war. Since then, however, its forces have focused on peacekeeping. In the 1990s a Liberal government balanced the budget on the back of the army, in what Rick Hillier, a former chief of […]

Pentagon to welcome first official visit of Russian Defense Minister

By Geoff Morrell, U.S. Department of Defense

From Geoff Morrell, U.S. Department of Defense:  Wednesday of next week, the secretary will welcome Russian Minister of Defense Anatoly Serdyukov to the Pentagon for the first time.

NATO intel chief in Afghanistan leaving for new post

By Kimberly Dozier and Anne Gearan, the AP

From Kimberly Dozier and Anne Gearan, the AP:  The top U.S. and NATO intelligence officer in Afghanistan, Maj. Gen. Michael Flynn, is moving to a senior intelligence job in Washington, two defense officials said Thursday. Army spokesman Col. Thomas Collins confirmed Flynn would be taking up a new post but would not specify it because […]

French General Receives Reprimand for Criticizing US Strategy in Afghanistan

By Le Monde

Clinton to Europe: “we are always strongest when we work together”

By Hillary Clinton, the Council on Foreign Relations

From Hillary Clinton, the Council on Foreign Relations:  As Dean Acheson put it in 1951, the ability to evoke support from others is quite as important as the capacity to compel.

Uncoordinated Defense cuts threaten NATO’s future

By Tomas Valasek, the Wall Street Journal

From Tomas Valasek, the Wall Street Journal:  As European governments rein in spending, defense budgets are falling, often dramatically. Germany plans to cut its armed forces by a third and the U.K. wants to reduce military spending by as much as 20%.

Post-Obama meeting, NATO chief discusses “transition dividend”

By Anna Mulrine, the Christian Science Monitor

From Anna Mulrine, the Christian Science Monitor:  Tuesday, as [NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh] Rasmussen arrived in Washington to meet with Obama in advance of a November NATO summit, the NATO Secretary General seemed to take this idea a step further, that even “if we transition a province here and there,” soldiers in the area “cannot […]