Europe & Eurasia

Top Military Officer Identifies UK Mistakes and Makes Powerful Case for Strong Defense

By Nicholas Houghton, Ministry of Defense

[F]or 25 years the United Kingdom, together with much of the Western world and most of our NATO Allies, has been investing less in our capacity to conduct serious war fighting.

UK Defense Chief Sees Air Force Combat Jet Fleet Stretched

By Robert Wall, Wall Street Journal

Britain’s top military officer said Wednesday the country’s fleet of combat jets is stretched to the limit and could struggle to take on additional roles in fighting Islamist extremists in the Middle East without scaling back elsewhere.

Ukraine Bank Deputy Dmytro Solohub: Economic recovery ‘difficult, but still possible’

Dmytro Solohub admits that the Ukrainian economy is “very fragile” and faces “lots of security risks”— but says he’s doing everything he can to stabilize Ukraine’s currency, control galloping inflation, and return his country to prosperity as quickly as possible. Solohub, 37, took over in mid-March as Deputy Governor of the National Bank of Ukraine […]

Russia Invited to Observe Key NATO Military Exercise

By Julian E. Barnes, Wall Street Journal

Among the guests invited to observe the North Atlantic Treaty Organization’s biggest military exercise in more than a decade will be the alliance’s once, and potentially future, adversary: the Russians.

Details of Trident Juncture, NATO’s Largest Exercise in 13 Years

By Oana Lungescu, NATO

Trident Juncture 15 will take place in October and November, mainly in Spain, Italy and Portugal.

Here’s Why the IMF Insists on Debt Restructuring for Greece

By Andrea Montanino

On June 26, just before Greece’s referendum, and on July 14, one day after the so-called agreement between the Greek government and the creditors (the International Monetary Fund, the European Union, the European Central Bank), the IMF unusually made public a short but crucial document in any negotiation over a financial aid package: the debt […]

Earth to Russia. Come Back to Reality.

By Ariel Cohen

The conflict in Ukraine highlights dangerous trends in Russian foreign policy. Russian-backed separatists and the Russian military have killed thousands of civilians and Ukrainian soldiers in eastern Ukraine. It’s the starkest example of Moscow’s neo-imperialist foreign policy so far. However, even more worrisome trends have emerged. Last week, Yevgeny Fedorov, a ruling party Duma majority […]

What Ukraine Can Learn From Poland

By Oksana Khomei

When the Soviet Union crumbled in 1991, both Poland and Ukraine were poor. Since then, the Polish economy has boomed, while Ukrainians are poorer than they were twenty-four years ago. Poland got its reforms right in the 1990s, and now plays a significant role in Ukraine’s reform process. This is evident in the close relations […]