Europe & Eurasia

Britain’s Brown on Borrowed Time

By James Joyner

Despite an embarrassing drubbing of his Labour Party at the polls and the resignation of several key ministers, the UK’s Gordon Brown vows “I will not waver, I will not walk away, I will finish the work.”  Most observers, however, think he’s operating on borrowed time.

Misreading Turkey’s Strategic Goals

By James Joyner

A recurring theme of mine on this blog has been Turkey’s strange behavior for a country that purports to aspire to a full membership in the Western community of nations. Ankarra has frequently been a thorn in the side of its NATO allies and is simultaneously demanding entry into the EU and unwilling to modify […]

China-Europe Relations a One-Way Street

By Damien Tomkins

Sino-European relations are a one-way street going in China’s direction.  A recent report describes it as “unconditional engagement,” a “policy that gives China access to all the economic and other benefits of cooperation with Europe while asking for little in return.” 

EU’s Energy Policy a ‘Big Failure’

By BusinessWeek

From BusinessWeek: “‘Energy policy is one of the big failures of the European Union in the last fifty years, particularly bearing in mind that we started out as a coal and steel community. But our growing dependence on Russia is going to increase the pressure for a common energy policy, to improve the internal grids […]

Poland’s Democracy at 20

By James Joyner

As the 20th anniversary of the Solidarity movement’s triumph approaches, Poland finds itself divided politically and unhappy with its current state of affairs.  That’s a good thing.

Atlantic Council Expands Ukraine Program

Ukraine-North America Dialogue, New Corruption Report Launched Washington, D.C. — The Atlantic Council of the United States recently launched the Ukraine-North America Dialogue as well as a new report on corruption in Ukraine that will be published this autumn.  In only two months, the Ukraine-North America Dialogue has become an important forum for promoting the […]

Georgia the Key to US-Russia “Reset”

By David Smith

US President Barack Obama will travel to Moscow July 6-8 on the first real test of his attempt to “reset” US-Russian relations.  At the Kremlin, Obama must articulate what is negotiable and what is not. 

European Commissioner Charlie McCreevy Event Transcript

Charlie McCreevy Event FREDERICK KEMPE:  Welcome to you all and thank you for joining us for our third event in the Mapping the Economic and Financial Future series.  I’m Fred Kempe, president and CEO of the Atlantic Council and our speaker tonight is Charlie McCreevy, the European Commissioner for the Internal Market and Services. With […]

U.S. Gives Absolution to Its Allies

By New York Times

Strong critique of the hardening division of labor within NATO. From New York Times: “Another official, from Continental Europe, requesting anonymity, said he considered the circumstances ones that brush the quasi-historical: in his view, the United States has de facto abandoned the idea of asking Europe to go to war while the administration re-Americanizes the […]

Turkey to Participate in Loyal Arrow – 2009 Military Exercise

By Turkish Weekly

From Turkish Weekly: “Turkey will participate in Loyal Arrow-2009 military exercise which will take place in Sweden between June 4-17.Air Forces Command stated on Monday that air forces of Turkey, the U.S., Germany, Finland, Britain, Italy, Sweden, Norway, Poland, Portugal and NATO would take part in the exercise that would be performed at Sweden’s Kallax […]