European Union

Sarkozy and Merkel: Limit Banker Bonuses

By James Joyner

Germany chancellor Angela Merkel is backing French president Nicolas Sarkozy’s plan to curb executive bonuses at next month’s G20 summit.  The EU is finalizing a plan to implement similar rules among its member states.

Fears of regime change add new dimension to Russia-Ukraine tensions

By Deutsche Welle

From Deutsche Welle: Medvedev is unlikely to lose much sleep over any EU response should the Kremlin – one way or another – install its favored candidate in the Kyiv hot seat. The EU, currently hugely dependent on Russian gas, imposed no serious penalty on Moscow over the war with Georgia and recent signs hint […]

FACTBOX: German parties’ election policies

By Reuters

From Reuters: FOREIGN POLICY * CDU/CSU – Against Turkey joining the EU. Germany should continue its participation in NATO’s mission in Afghanistan. * SPD – Should leave open the possibility of Turkey joining the EU. Chancellor candidate Frank-Walter Steinmeier has said Germany should start thinking about when to pull its troops out of Afghanistan.* FDP […]

Poll: about half of Ukrainians favor EU, most dislike NATO

By the Kyiv Post

From the Kyiv Post: According to the polls findings, 46.8% of Ukrainians have a favorable opinion about the EU, with 11.3% of them claiming they have a very favorable opinion about the EU. Twenty-two point six percent of the respondents have an unfavorable view of the EU, 8.9% of them with a very unfavorable view. […]

New Chapter of Russian Spy Cases Against NATO and its Members.

The Russian news service Interfax announced today that Moscow has expelled two Czech diplomats in an apparent tit-for-tat for yesterday’s reported expulsion of two Russian diplomats by the Czech Republic. A Russian official argued that, “this unfriendly act by the Czech side, which declared two of our diplomats ‘persona non grata’, could not be left […]

Combined NATO-EU Operation Foils Piracy Attack

By NATO

From NATO: Dramatic events in the Gulf of Aden last night demonstrated the level of co-operation that now exists between the international counter piracy forces in that region. Following an approach by pirates, the Turkish flagged merchant vessel ELGIZ NUR CEBI issued a distress call. The rapid, determined and coordinated response by both NATO and […]

Sailing to Byzantium

By victorhanson.com

From victorhanson.com: The “Turkish Question” — is it West or East, should it be in the E.U., is it a reliable NATO partner? — is hardly a question anymore. Istanbul is Western, its citizens Western in appearance, a liberality prevalent in commerce and discourse. And yet a 100 miles away in the interior, the traditional […]

The fog of war: Unravelling the Ossetia conflict, one year later

By the Economist

From the Economist: From another point of view, the EU and NATO reaped the harvest of their neglect of Georgia in previous months. The agreed sanctions after the fighting stopped were feeble. Suspending the NATO-Russia council, or the putative Partnership and Cooperation Agreement between the EU and Russia, was not even turning a cold shoulder […]

Nabucco No Guarantee of EU Energy Security

By Alexandros Petersen

Last month’s euphoria over the European Union’s agreement with Turkey on the Nabucco gas pipeline was perhaps a little premature—Brussels still has a long way to go to reduce its energy dependence from Russia.

Guantanamo Detainees: The View from Europe

By Andrew Kessinger

Thanks to renewed transatlantic cooperation, President Barack Obama is one small step closer to keeping his campaign promise to close the controversial Guantanamo Bay detention center.