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NATO 2.0: Five ways Obama should bring "change" to Alliance

Torch passed to Obama, 44th President; top 8 transatlantic relations issues for 2009

Central Europe is its own Best Friend
A few weeks ago, Poland's defense minister made the following appeal, reported in the Telegraph:Radek Sikorski, Poland's foreign minister, said he was alarmed by recent military exercises conducted by the Russian army in Belarus, a country that borders Poland, and wanted the US military as a counterweight. "We would like to see US troops stationed in Poland to serve as a shield against Russian aggression," he said."If you can still afford it, we need some strategic reassurance." It is hard to

Europe's New Chairman and Envoy
The New York Times writes about the two new (or upgraded) posts that were filled in for the European Union yesterday: Leaders of the 27 countries of the European Union on Thursday night chose Herman Van Rompuy, the Belgian prime minister, as the European Union’s first president, and Catherine Ashton of Britain, currently the bloc’s trade commissioner, as its high representative for foreign policy. The vote was unanimous. Both officials are highly respected but little known outside their own countries. After the European Union’s eight-year battle to rewrite its internal rules

Germany Blocks EU-US Bank Data Agreement
An agreement negotiated between the US and the EU on sharing bank data in the context of antiterrorism has just been blocked by Germany, France, Finland and Austria. This shift in German policy signals general political changes that will continue to impact transatlantic relations. Sabine Leutheusser-Schnarrenberger, German Minister of Justice, has a strong socially liberal profile. She had the same post in a CDU/CSU-FDP coalition in the '90s and resigned when her party agreed to far-reaching surveillance measures, eventually turning to bring a case before Germany's constitutional court that overturned

Our Defining Choice: Afghanistan or Health Care
“America’s Defining Choice” is a simple one, writes Nicholas Kristof in the NY Times: What’s the best way to spend $100 billion per year? Health reform or troops for Afghanistan? Simple, because lack of insurance kills far more Americans than the Taliban does. And Europe has made that decision already a long time ago...

Afghanistan: Blame Game rather than Great Game
Who is to blame that we are not winning in Afghanistan? Karzai, Obama, NATO, the Europeans, or Jimmy Carter again? Afghanistan's President Karzai was criticized a lot lately. Now the Wall Street Journal's Bret Stephens comes to his defense and puts the blame on NATO. He makes the dubious claim that: Matters went abruptly south in Afghanistan after several years in which they had gone swimmingly well under Mr. Karzai, including a thriving economy, girls back in school, people having access to health care and so on. The answer has a lot less to do with Mr. Karzai's performance