United States and Canada

The Presidential Campaign and America’s Strength Abroad

By David Ignatius, the Washington Post

From David Ignatius, the Washington Post:  The foreign policy theme that should dominate this year’s presidential campaign is “American renewal.”

NATO will settle for political declaration instead of concrete Smart Defense projects at Chicago Summit

By Anders Fogh Rasmussen, NATO

From Anders Fogh Rasmussen, NATO:  I hope we will be in a position to adopt a political declaration on smart defence as a framework, as a political framework, for, I would call it a new way of doing business, in the coming years.

Managing US-Russian Relations During the Year of Political Transitions: A Perspective from Moscow

On January 27, the Atlantic Council held an off-the-record discussion on developments in Russia and in US-Russian relations with Dr. Sergey Rogov, the director for the Institute for US and Canadian Studies at the Russian Academy of Sciences. Ambassador Richard Burt, Senior Advisor at McLarty Associates and member of the Atlantic Council’s Board of Directors, […]

Sarkozy and Karzai want faster NATO exit from Afghanistan

By Jamey Keaten, the AP

From Jamey Keaten, the AP:  President Nicolas Sarkozy says France and Afghan President Hamid Karzai will ask NATO to hand over all combat missions in Afghanistan to Afghan troops in 2013 — a year earlier than planned.

Two combat brigades in Germany being disbanded, not moved back to US

By Lolita C. Baldor, the AP

From Lolita C. Baldor, the AP:  Gen. Raymond Odierno, the Army chief of staff, says the Pentagon will take two heavy armor brigades out of Europe in 2013 and 2014 and eliminate them.

The US declares peace in Europe, prematurely

By Tomas Valasek, the Center For European Reform

From Tomas Valasek, the Center For European Reform:  The Pentagon’s ‘strategic guidance‘, released on January 5th, makes three key changes

US should give NATO the Global Hawks it plans to mothball

By Jorge Benitez, Atlantic Council

The Department of Defense announced today that it is terminating its purchase of the Block 30 variant of Northrop Grumman’s RQ-4 Global Hawk. The Block 30 Global Hawk is an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) and “multi-intelligence platform” designed to simultaneously carry imagery and signals intelligence.

Withdrawal of US troops from Europe may not save taxpayers money

By John R. Deni, the New Atlanticist

From John R. Deni, the New Atlanticist:  The recent announcement that the Obama administration plans to cut two of the four remaining US brigade combat teams (BCTs) in Europe came as no surprise to those tracking the ongoing debate over the future size of the American military and the Army in particular.

Brigade Combat Team Cuts Don’t Translate into Budget Savings

By John Deni

The recent announcement that the Obama administration plans to cut two of the four remaining US brigade combat teams (BCTs) in Europe came as no surprise to those tracking the ongoing debate over the future size of the American military and the Army in particular. Assuming the Army is getting smaller, it’s obviously easier to […]