Europe & Eurasia

French Defense Minister Le Drian trying ‘to move forward with the Europe of defense’

By Europolitics

From Europolitics:  French Minister of Defence Jean-Yves Le Drian believes that the ‘Europe of defence’ should move forward, namely because of the budget difficulties many countries are facing.

French Defense Minister Le Drian trying to relaunch European defense initiative

By Pierre Tran, Defense News

From Pierre Tran, Defense News:  French Defense Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian was due to meet European Union and NATO senior officials in a first visit to Brussels as part of France’s drive to relaunch a European defense initiative

Iran’s supreme leader says Nonaligned Movement, not NATO, should help resolve Syria crisis

By the AP

Germany and China: The New Special Relationship

By Stephan Richter, the Globalist

From Stephan Richter, the Globalist:  Now that the German Chancellor is once again visiting China, accompanied by scores of her top ministers and an outsized contingent of CEOs, the world is beginning to take note.

Europe’s September Phoenix

By Fran Burwell and Nicholas Dungan

As European leaders return to work after their summer holidays, they will find many of the same problems they left behind: the sovereign debt crisis, a vulnerable banking system and an unreconciled division over austerity vs growth. Amid the doom and gloom, however, it is worth pausing to celebrate how far Europe has come. 

Afghanistan: An Allotment in a Jungle

By Julian Lindley-French

Nothing makes my blood boil more than recently retired senior government officials suddenly changing their story once retired. Earlier this year I was excoriated for suggesting that our troops were dying in Afghanistan for want of a meaningful political strategy and to avoid the political embarrassment of leaders. Yesterday, Ambassador Sherard Cowper-Coles, London’s former ‘man […]

The Main Event

By Julian Lindley-French

Many people have inspired me. Winston Churchill for refusing to compromise with evil, Ed Murrow for taking on corrupt power to protect free speech, Martin Luther King for reminding Americans that all people are born equal and Nelson Mandela for creating a nation out of forgiveness. But there is one who this week will be […]

Canada uncertain about joining NATO’s Arctic war games

By the Canadian Press

From the Canadian Press:  The administrative wing of Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s office worried about the optics of hundreds of Canadian troops taking part in a major NATO-sponsored Arctic war game in northern Norway earlier this year.