United States and Canada

German Parliament Cuts Defense Budget

By Albrecht Müller, Defense News

The ruling conservative-left coalition of the German Bundestag Wednesday night passed a 2014 defense budget of €32.44 billion (US $44.13 billion), compared with a budget of €33.26 billion for 2013.

NATO Chief: America and Europe – Defending Freedom Together

By Anders Fogh Rasmussen, NATO

The soldiers who stormed the beaches of Normandy and who parachuted into the fields of northern France were upholding a fundamental truth: that you can’t have security on one side of the Atlantic without security on the other.

The Texas Air Base Where NATO Fighter Pilots Are Forged

By Joe Pappalardo, Popular Mechanics

Sheppard Air Force Base is not especially well-known in the United States. But in some parts of Europe, particularly Germany and the Netherlands, the base is famous for its role as a NATO pilot training center.

Estonia PM Calls for Permanent NATO Presence as Bulwark to Russia

By Reuters

Estonian Prime Minister Taavi Roivas urged NATO on Friday to establish a permanent presence in the Baltic state in response to Russia’s actions in Ukraine, telling his allies to “open your eyes and stay awake. . . .”

NATO Allies Mull Ending Patriot Mission in Turkey

By World Bulletin

NATO allies have started preliminary consultations on concluding the Patriot missile mission in Turkey at the end of 2014, German media reported on Sunday.

German Defense Minister: ‘Russia Has Destroyed a Massive Amount of Trust’

SPIEGEL: So is the Ukraine crisis a case for defense policy?

Obama’s Billion Dollar Initiative Important to Security of Central Europe

By Eric Auner, World Politics Review

In Warsaw, Obama also announced a $1 billion “European Reassurance Initiative” to support regional partnerships and fund U.S. presence in the region.

US Calls for Europe to ‘Take Defense Spending Seriously’

By Susan Rice, White House

Collective action has long been the hallmark of effective American leadership. The United Nations, NATO and our Asian alliances were all built on the foundation of American strength and American values.

Nominee for US Ambassador Emphasizes Engagement with Egypt

By Elissa Miller

Egypt’s security, prosperity, pluralism, and its democratization remain vitally important to the United States. This was the key thrust of Ambassador Robert Stephen Beecroft’s testimony to the Senate Foreign Relations Committee on June 11, where he appeared as President Barack Obama’s nominee to become the next US ambassador to Egypt.   The United States has been […]

Russian Bombers Fly Within 50 Miles of California Coast

By Bill Gertz, Washington Free Beacon

Four Russian strategic bombers triggered U.S. air defense systems while conducting practice bombing runs near Alaska this week, with two of the Tu-95 Bear H aircraft coming within 50 miles of the California coast, the North American Aerospace Defense Command (Norad) confirmed Wednesday.