Western Europe

Canada uncertain about joining NATO’s Arctic war games

By the Canadian Press

From the Canadian Press:  The administrative wing of Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s office worried about the optics of hundreds of Canadian troops taking part in a major NATO-sponsored Arctic war game in northern Norway earlier this year.

UK Support for Military Action in Syria not in America’s Best Interest

By Sarwar Kashmeri

The last time a British prime minister endorsed an American president’s plans for military intervention, it resulted in the US invasion of Iraq – one of the worst foreign policy blunders in recent American history. That is why last week’s endorsement by David Cameron of a warning by Barack Obama that even the threat of […]

The Syria Bluff

By Julian Lindley-French

It is clearly intelligence-led. President Obama and Prime Minister Cameron have said that any recourse to chemical weapons by Damascus would be “completely unacceptable” and would lead the US and UK to “revisit their approach” to the crisis. According to Obama even moving the weapons would cross an American “red line” with “enormous consequences”. The […]

Should Canada participate in NATO missions not supported by US assets?

By Elinor Sloan, Canadian Defense & Foreign Affairs Institute

From Elinor Sloan, Canadian Defense & Foreign Affairs Institute: The clincher is the content of the generalized reference to “NATO” when we talk about a “NATO operation.”

Why independent Scotland must stay in NATO

By George Kerevan, the Scotsman

From George Kerevan, the Scotsman:  [A]t its Chicago summit in May, under heavy German pressure, Nato altered its so-called “deterrence and defence posture”.

America Needs a Rudyard Kipling

By Sarwar Kashmeri

 Not long ago Britain was the world’s hegemon. Nothing stood in the way of British might. Or as the famous saying had it, the sun never set on the British Empire. As it was then with Britain, so it is now with the United States. Somewhere in the world the sun is always rising on […]

Official: British intell helped Syrian rebels ambush pro-Assad tank column

By Leon Watson, the Daily Mail

From Leon Watson, the Daily Mail:  British intelligence on Syrian troop movements is helping rebels in their fight against President Bashar al-Assad’s regime, it was revealed today.

Report: Germany helping Syria rebels with spy ship intel

By Reuters

European powers no longer have role across Pacific

By Robert M. Farley, the Global Times

From Robert M. Farley, the Global Times:  Over the past decade, NATO has increasingly stepped outside of its traditional regional boundaries and begun operating in far flung corners of the world.

Czech Republic hosting exercise for NATO air forces in September

By CTK

From CTK:  Seventeen NATO countries have confirmed participation in an extensive air force exercise to be held in the Czech Republic in September, the sole such event the Alliance holds this year, Defence Ministry spokeswwman Jana Zechmeisterova has told CTK.