Europe & Eurasia

Let’s Hear It for the European Union and the Euro

By Sarwar Kashmeri

It took the United States 100 years to set up its single currency and the Federal Reserve Bank. The European Union launched one in half the time. Now, with the agreement on June 28, 2012 to start the process of building a euro banking union and strengthen the European Central Bank, the stage is set to complete […]

Strategic Engagement with Russia 2013-17

By Thomas R. Pickering

Russia remains, in ‘Churchillian’ terms, an enigmatic mystery. In its post-Communist transition to a modern state, Russia has shed most of the impedimenta of Communism and begun to search for new directions. But the old conflict between “Slavophiles” and “Westernizers” has emerged in the streets in a new guise and the outcome remains uncertain. Although […]

UK spy agencies urged to wage war on cyber enemies

By the BBC

From the BBC:  Britain’s spy agencies and military have been urged by MPs to wage cyber warfare in the interests of national security.

The push for a greater ‘Europe’ is also dividing Europe

By Julian Lindley-French, the New Atlanticist

From Julian Lindley-French, the New Atlanticist:  The current crisis has painfully exposed what is the great European divide

NATO Secretary General urges Ukraine to remove obstacles in relations with alliance

By Interfax-Ukraine

From Interfax-Ukraine:  NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen has expressed the hope that Ukraine’s leadership will settle the issue of the politically motivated prosecution of former Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko and former Interior Minister Yuriy Lutsenko

Scottish National Party considers NATO policy change

By the BBC

The American pivot depends on Europe to take care of its neighborhood

By Sven Biscop, the New Atlanticist

From Sven Biscop, the New Atlanticist:  Inadvertently or not, the United States is now demanding European strategic autonomy, at least regionally

Leviathan: The Great European Divide

By Julian Lindley-French

In 1651 English political philosopher Thomas Hobbes wrote “Leviathan” in which he said prophetically, “The only way to erect…a common power, as may be able to defend [men] from the invasion of foreigners, and the inquiries of one another… is to confer all their power and strength upon one man, or upon one assembly of […]

Is running out of money Assad’s decisive weakness?

By Fareed Zakaria, CNN GPS

From Fareed Zakaria, CNN GPS:  Another telling indicator of dissent is the number of silent objectors in the army.