European Union

Transatlantic Division of Labor: NATO Hard Power and EU Soft Power?

By Howard LaFranchi, the Christian Science Monitor

From Howard LaFranchi, the Christian Science Monitor:  "If one were to say that Europe is going only in the direction of soft power, I would not agree," says Gen. Stéphane Abrial, NATO’s supreme allied commander for transformation.

Cables Reveal NATO Split over Russia

By Andrew Rettman, the EUobserver

From Andrew Rettman, the EUobserver:  One cable dealing with an extraordinary meeting of Nato ambassadors in Brussels on 12 August ran with the sub-heading: "Nato allies lack cohesion during first meeting on Georgia crisis."

A Swiss Alternative to Competing Visions of Europe’s Future?

By Kenneth Weisbrode, the Diplomatic Courier

From Kenneth Weisbrode, the Diplomatic Courier:  Calls for the transformation of Europe into something resembling a larger version of Switzerland have grown louder of late. Although European “neutrality” was a periodic Cold War bugbear, it now seems less offensive. Who would object to a prosperous, peaceful, stable and relatively liberal, multilingual polity? … The reason […]

Does the EU have “NATO envy?”

By Charlemagne, the Economist

From Charlemagne, the Economist:  It is the biggest, closest and richest friendship in the world, and its most important military alliance. America and Europe account for half of global GDP and nearly one-third of trade. Each side of the North Atlantic has more than 1 trillion invested in the other. Yet the partnership is strangely unbalanced. […]

Pro-European alliance ahead in Moldova elections

By the AP

From the AP:  Moldova’s governing pro-Europe alliance was leading the opposition Communists, election results indicated Monday, but it appeared the coalition was just short of winning enough legislative seats to end the country’s year-long political deadlock.

What has changed in NATO-Russia relations?

By Simon Shuster, Time

From Simon Shuster, Time:  The Russian ambassador to NATO, Dmitri Rogozin, told TIME on Tuesday night that the divisions of the past two years, when official ties with NATO have been frozen, helped uncover the "red line" that the alliance is unwilling to cross.

Between the European Union and NATO, Many Walls

By Judy Dempsey, the New York Times

From Judy Dempsey, the New York Times:   The reason for the deadlock is the divided island of Cyprus, whose northern part Turkey invaded in 1974 and has occupied since.

Polish ForMin: “We should be prepared for the day when Europe has to take care of its own security”

By Radek Sikorski, the Economist

Adapting the US-EU Summit for a Globalized World

By Fran Burwell and Annette Heuser

As President Obama prepares to meet with European leaders for the first U.S.-EU Summit since the enactment of the Lisbon Treaty, the Atlantic Council and the Bertelsmann Foundation have prepared a joint strategy arguing that such meetings can only advance policies of interest to Washington and Brussels if the gatherings are restructured and less exclusive. […]

Is an independent Europe a more honorable alternative to NATO?

By Martin Kettle, the Guardian

From Martin Kettle, the Guardian:  The great achievement of Nato is that it has helped to keep the peace in Europe – with occasional exceptions – for more than 60 years. The longer this peace lasts, and the more distant the memory of war becomes, the more it needs to be reiterated that this is […]