Europe & Eurasia

Macedonia Vacillates on NATO Commitment

By Slobodanka Jovanovska, BBC via Investors Business Daily: The pillar of Macedonian foreign policy over the past two decades, that is, the good relations with the United States, has begun to fall apart against the blows of the patriotic fight for the state’s name.

Transatlantic Relations from German Perspective

By Sarwar Kashmeri

In a recent installment of the New Atlanticist Podcast Series Atlantic Council senior fellow Sarwar Kashmeri interviews Irmtraud Richardson, Brussels-based correspondent for German public radio and television service ARD. Richardson discusses Germany’s outlook on the EU, as well as the state of U.S.-German and U.S.-EU relations.

Obama to Attend EU and NATO Summits

By Laura Meckler, WSJ

From Laura Meckler, WSJ: The White House said Tuesday that President Barack Obama will attend a summit with leaders of the European Union and a NATO summit, both in Portugal this November. During the NATO meeting on Nov. 19-20, allies will focus on the war in Afghanistan and “ways to revitalize the Alliance to meet […]

Poland and America Drift Apart

By David Frum, CNN

From David Frum, CNN:  America’s place on the Polish mental map seems to shrink every year. When Poles dream of leaving the country, they think not of Chicago but of London. A Pole can work legally in any large EU country, and an estimated 1 million do, sending home more money than Poland earns from […]

Europe Gets it Right

By Kurt Volker and Juan Zarate

The view of a failing Europe is en vogue, and for understandable reasons. The contours of crisis are glaring: bloated budgets, aging populations, declining military capabilities, and the fracturing of political solidarity over a range of issues from Russia and energy to enlargement and Turkey. Such is the conventional wisdom about a once too-comfortable Europe, […]

U.S., British troops to train with Kazakh forces

By Robin Paxton, Reuters

From Robin Paxton, Reuters:  British and U.S. troops will join Kazakh forces for 10 days of military exercises from Monday, culminating in a mock peacekeeping operation to strengthen links between the three countries on Central Asian soil. More than 1,000 military personnel, including a large contingent from the air mobile force of the Kazakh armed […]

US informs Europe: “We don’t feel the need to profess love”

By Daniel Dombey, the Financial Times

EU envoy to US flaunts new powers

By Andrew Rettman, the EUobserver

From Andrew Rettman, the EUobserver:  The EU’s new ambassador to the US, Joao Vale de Almeida, has underlined the new powers conferred on EU envoys by the Lisbon Treaty while taking up his post in Washington. In a series of interviews to US-based press on Tuesday (10 August), the ambassador noted that he is empowered […]