Europe & Eurasia

Greek defense budget in need of reform?

By Judy Dempsey, International Herald Tribune

From Judy Dempsey, International Herald Tribune:  During the height of the global financial crisis of 2008, Greek defense expenditures accounted for 3.1 percent of gross domestic product. Over the past two years, Greek defense spending still amounted to 2.1 percent of G.D.P.

Russia’s Ban on Adoptions a Sign that “Reset” Has Reached its Limits

By Anna Borshchevskaya

On December 28, Russian President Vladimir Putin signed into law a bill banning U.S. citizens from adopting Russian children.

Majority of British polled support pre-emptive cyber attacks

By Tom Whitehead, Telegraph

From Tom Whitehead, Telegraph:  The majority of the public believe pre-emptive strikes are justified if enemy states or hi-tech criminals pose a threat to national security. Earlier this year, a committee of MPs and peers said Britain should declare cyber war on those who target the country through aggressive retaliatory strikes to destroy their operations. […]

US Ambassador to NATO urges European allies to spend Afghan withdrawal savings on defense

By Nick Hopkins, Guardian

From Nick Hopkins, Guardian:  The UK and other European countries must use the money saved by withdrawing from Afghanistan to re-equip their military and help reverse worrying cuts in defence spending, the American ambassador to Nato will warn on Tuesday.

Much EU About Nothing?

By Julian Lindley-French

German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble has something of the night about him.  With the Germans about to lead the seventeen Eurozone countries into the greatest political leap in the dark since the creation of the European Union, Schaeuble has suggested that the British people be denied a referendum on their future relationship with a future German-led EU.

NATO needs a makeover

By Sarwar Kashmeri, the Hill

From Sarwar Kashmeri, the Hill:  So what can be done to modernize the transatlantic security equation?

Euro-Realism: For a Better Europe

By Julian Lindley-French

Myth has it that Trotsky believed capitalism would collapse under the weight of its own contradictions. In fact that was the so-called Ultra Leftists, as neither Lenin nor Trotsky thought capitalism would face a final reckoning, believing rather that capitalism would preserve itself at whatever cost. Only class struggle, they believed, would ensure the collapse […]

Nearly half of British forces to leave Afghanistan in 2013

By Peter Griffiths and Matt Falloon, Reuters

Turkey and the EU: Too Late?

Though his country has been aspiring to join the European Union since the 1960s, Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan warns “the EU will lose Turkey” if action in accession does not happen by the 2023 centennial of the Turkish Republic.

NATO: Somali pirates seized no ships for 6 months

By AP

From AP:  NATO officials say no ships have been hijacked off the Somali coast in the second half of this year, reflecting a sharp decrease in piracy along one of the world’s busiest shipping routes.