Western Europe

Obama seeks to ease doubts on global leadership

By Matt Spetalnick and Laura MacInnis, Reuters

From Matt Spetalnick and Laura MacInnis, Reuters:  President Barack Obama sought to ease doubts about his leadership on the world stage on Wednesday as he confronted a looming diplomatic crisis in the Middle East and hailed popular revolts shaking the Arab world. Obama attempted to reassert his credentials as a world statesman in an address […]

SAIC-led consortium to analyse NATO missile defense

By David Brunnstrom, Reuters

From David Brunnstrom, Reuters:  NATO signed a contract with a consortium led by U.S.-based Science Applications International Corp on Tuesday to analyse ways of transforming the alliance’s battlefield missile defence system. . . . It said engineers from France’s EADS Astrium , Germany’s IABG, Italy’s SELEX SI, TNO of the Netherlands, Britain’s QINETIQ and SAIC […]

Gaddafi “mercenary” claim turns spotlight on role of special forces in Libya

By David Brunnstrom and Giles Elgood,  Reuters

From David Brunnstrom and Giles Elgood,  Reuters:  A boast by Gaddafi loyalists that they had captured 17 foreign mercenaries this week has been greeted with skepticism, but the claim has highlighted the importance of covert military operations in the overthrow of the Libyan leader.

Europe’s takeaway from Libya: “”Will the U.S. keep bailing us out?”

By the Wall Street Journal

From the Wall Street Journal: At the start, the U.S. led the military charge. America flew well over half the aerial raids—1,320 sorties in total—in the first two weeks after the U.N. Security Council voted in March to authorize the mission.

France is Europe’s U.S.A.

By Sam Schulman, the Weekly Standard

From Sam Schulman, the Weekly Standard:  As Maine is New England’s Texas, France is Europe’s U.S.A. It’s big. It’s ornery. Like us, the French are notably more inward-looking than Europe’s other populous, geographically big, and prosperous states.

How much is the entire British defense industry worth? $35 billion

By Defence Viewpoints

From Defence Viewpoints:  Defence worth £22.1bn in 2010, employed 110,000 with £9.5bn in exports says Ian Godden, Chairman of the defence industry trade group ADS.

UK urges defense contractors to look overseas

By Keith Weir, Reuters

Why Ten Years On Britain is Less Secure

By Julian Lindley-French

It has been a bruising decade for Britain. If on 10 September, 2001 an analyst had suggested that within months British forces would be fighting on the ground in Afghanistan, let alone in Iraq less than two years later credentials would have been questioned. 911 quite simply changed all the planning assumptions upon which British […]

Britain Balks at E.U. Defense Plan

By Stephen Castle, the International Herald Tribune

From Stephen Castle, the International Herald Tribune:  In addition to the European Union’s single currency and its passport-free travel zone, Britain now faces a new and unwelcome test of its engagement with Continental partners, this time over defense.