Europe & Eurasia

Why the Ukraine Crisis Won’t Save NATO

By Rajan Menon

The Natocracy is fired up. The crisis in Ukraine, which climaxed with a bogus referendum, a fig leaf to legitimize a Russian annexation of the Crimean peninsula, has given the Atlantic alliance, strategically adrift since the end of the Cold War, a fresh and compelling reason for being. The panjandrums at NATO headquarters in Brussels […]

Turkey’s Vote Strengthens Erdoğan For Battles to Come

By Orhan Taner

With more than 98% of the votes counted by midday Monday in the March 30 Turkish municipal elections,  Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and his ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) clearly had won their eighth straight victory in national voting contests (three general election, three local elections, and two referenda) since they first won […]

Kerry-Lavrov Talks? Fine, But US Must Lead in Real Deterrence to Putin on Ukraine

By James Rupert

Yesterday’s talks between Secretary of State John Kerry and Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov kept hope alive that Ukraine’s fields this spring might be visited by harvesters scything the winter wheat, instead of by Russian tanks and bomb craters. But while Lavrov agreed in Paris that a diplomatic solution to the crisis is needed, the […]

How to Avoid Wars: NATO’s Article 5 and Strategic Reassurance

By Edgar Buckley and Ioan Pascu

The worst move in an international crisis is to confuse others about your resolve.  That way wars start, witness the first and second world wars when Britain failed to make clear early enough that it would fight. Might NATO be guilty of a similar lack of clarity today?   Not by measuring what it says. The […]

NATO Should Buy the Mistral Warships Intended for Russia

By Jeff Lightfoot, Defense News

NATO should buy the two Mistral warships France is building for export to the Russian Federation this year and make them a commonly shared asset.

Germany Mulls Military Support for NATO’s Eastern European States

By Madeline Chambers, Reuters

Der Spiegel said the defense ministry was ready to make available up to six aircraft for a strengthened air patrolling mission in parts of eastern Europe.

European Energy Security and the Ukraine Crisis

The Atlantic Council, Grupa Lotos, and the Embassy of Poland to the United States were delighted to host host General James. L Jones, Chairman of the Atlantic Council’s Brent Scowcroft Center on International Security, former Supreme Allied Commander, and former United States National Security Advisor for a discussion of European Energy Security.  

US, Lithuanian, and Swedish Aircraft Participating in NATO Exercise

By Lithuanian Ministry of Defense

“As unrest has escalated in the near vicinity of the Baltic States, NATO has augmented the Baltic Air Policing mission with additional warplanes to be ensuring our security even stronger.

Benitez on NATO’s Response to Developments in Ukraine

By New Atlanticist

Atlantic Council Senior Fellow Jorge Benitez spoke with DefenseNews on NATO’s response to the situation in Ukraine.

Looking at Obama’s Presidency

By New Atlanticist

Council President and CEO Fred Kempe appeared on CSPAN’s Washington Journal this weekend. Kempe talked about President Obama’s trip abroad, during which the president attended the U.S.-European Union Summit in Brussels, met with Pope Francis in Vatican City, and then traveled to Saudi Arabia to meet with King Abdullah. The show started with a conversation […]