Global NATO
Foreign Affairs, September/October 2006
Analysts Ivo Daalder and James Goldgeier take on the new role of NATO in world politics. Acknowledging the expanded tasks of the Alliance also means devising a wider strategy for its deployment.
" The advent of a new global politics after the Cold War has led NATO to expand its geographic reach and the range of its operations. Now, NATO must extend its membership to any democratic state that can help it fulfill its new responsibilities. Only a truly global alliance can address the global challenges of the day." Read More

The European Union and Energy
Looking to the Future
September 2006
The EU has recently released the Energy Policy Outlook. Energy policy is definitely a most challenging issue in world politics. Occasionally it proved a divisive one in transatlantic relations. The expected "end of oil" and the rise of countries such as China and India with escalating energy demands pose new problems and potential threats.
Addressing energy policy issues timely is thus fundamental, as it may result in preventing possible conflicts. In the words of European Commission's President Barroso:" Together, the European Union and the United States can help shape the post-petroleum world of the 21st century. With shared values and common interests, Europe and America can lead the way and help build an energy economy that is secure, protective of the environment, and conducive to economic growth and prosperity around the globe." Read More

NATO's 21st Century Task: Going From 'Europe' to 'Global'
Howard LaFranchi
Christian Science Monitor
August 21, 2006
[...] The fact that the transatlantic alliance has gone in less than a decade from doubts about its purpose to requests for its participation in even the most intractable international disputes - from the Darfur region of Sudan to the recent Mideast war - suggests the pact's transition is considered a success.

"It's no longer 'What's its purpose?' when the topic turns to Nato, but rather 'How can we best use it?'" says Nato spokesman James Apathurai. "That's a big transition."

But officials say the transition from "Europe" to "global" is still incomplete, with major challenges remaining in areas ranging from capacity for intervention to efficiency and member financial commitments. Some observers worry that demands on Nato are surpassing its abilities and jeopardising its transition process. [...]

[U.S. Ambassador to Nato Victoria] Nuland says Nato has come a long way since its Balkans intervention in the mid-1990s, including reforms that streamlined military operations. "We've gotten a lot more flexible but there's still a lot of work to do in that regard," she says.

For example, she notes that during Nato's bombing campaign against Serbia designed to stop Serbia's ethnic-cleansing operations, each target had to be approved by Nato's highest decision-making structure, the North Atlantic Council. Now in Afghanistan, operations are more in the hands of a country mission command. [...]

This year's [Nato] summit will take up an expansion of cooperation to "global partners", including Japan and Australia, but it is also expected to mark a pause in the 26-country alliance's expansion. [...]

Nato officials acknowledge an in-house resistance to an alliance that is too broad in its membership and aims. France expresses concerns about a "weakened core", while others fret Nato could become a "mini UN" with all the inefficiencies and lethargies that comparison entails. Read More

Israel Joins NATO Cataloguing System
Amnon Barzilai
Globes.co.il
August 15, 2006
Israel joined the NATO cataloguing (codification) system. The IDF Technological and Logistics Directorate will implement the cataloguing procedures in the IDF ahead of the establishment of a national catalogue center.
The agreement for Israel’s participation in the NATO cataloguing system was signed in June, after a year of negotiations. Israel is currently an associate member in the system and will obtain full membership within three years. The NATO cataloguing (codification) system is designed to create a uniform framework of inventory and equipment use in all NATO member states. Read More...

Regulatory Reform on Both Sides of the Atlantic
John Graham
Washington Post
August 15, 2006
Global trade is increasingly connecting the world, bringing consumers lower prices and a wider selection of goods, and creating jobs. But when government regulations vary enormously from one nation to the next, they become roadblocks to the smooth flow of international commerce, and hurt both consumers and workers.
Lessening the differences in regulations between the United States and the European Union can benefit both the American and European economies. Both sides should be receptive to the concepts and practices employed by the other, and the two continents should recognize that redundant testing and certification processes are squandering resources on both sides of the Atlantic.
[...] As the EU-U.S. dialogue on regulation progresses, there are plenty of areas where the United States can reasonably ask Europeans to consider changes. [...] Yet it is equally important for U.S. officials to acknowledge that there are lots of warts in the American regulatory system, including many specific areas where some U.S. movement toward the European position would be worthwhile. Read More

Resurfacing Transatlantic Tensions
Jela de Franceschi
VOAnews.com
August 11, 2006
During the past year, the United States and Europe have worked hard to mend relations that were deeply frayed by differences over Iraq.  But divergent American and European views are resurfacing over how to handle the crisis in Lebanon and Iran’s nuclear ambitions.

Many experts note that since the beginning of President Bush’s second term in office, there has been a clear improvement in U.S.-European relations and that both sides have gone out of their way to heal divisions exposed during the debate over the war in Iraq.  

Charles Kupchan, Director of the Europe Program at the Council on Foreign Relations in New York, says Americans and Europeans looked at the possible weakening of their relations and didn’t like what they saw. Read More

U.S.-EU Cooperation on International Financial Reporting Standards
Mario Sina
Business Updated
August 3, 2006
Charlie McCreevy, European Commissioner for Internal Market and Services, has welcomed the publication of a Work Plan between the Committee of European Securities Regulators (CESR) and the United States Securities Exchange Commission (SEC) that outlines concrete measures to facilitate transatlantic financial activity within a sound and protective framework. Read More See Also

America's Uncomfortable Relationship With Nationalism
Graham E. Fuller
The Stanley Foundation
July 2006
[...]Today nationalism is probably the single most widespread ideology in politics across the globe. That the United States should be tone-deaf to this phenomenon in its dealings with others represents a serious vulnerability in the formulation of its foreign policies.

Because of the strongly multiethnic, multicultural nature of our own country, we have our own strong national predispositions in the way we understand the phenomenon of nationalism. In the United States we also like to distinguish sharply between what we call "patriotism" in the United States and "nationalism" everywhere else. In reality this distinction is somewhat misleading.

[...]This brief will look at the roots of American views of nationalism, and the problems that these views create. This brief will also study the character of American nationalism itself, the nature of the United States as a superpower, and how that status influences our views of nationalism abroad. Finally, we will suggest how the United States might more usefully address the whole phenomenon of nationalism abroad in order to better manage the issue. Read More

Italy's European Vocation: The Foreign Policy of the New Prodi Government
Ettore Greco
U.S.-Europe Analysis Series, August 2006
The Brookings Institution, Washington, DC
No one was surprised when Italy's new resident of the Republic, Giorgio Napolitano, made his first major public appearance on May 21 on the occasion of the 20th anniversary of the death of Altiero Spinelli. Spinelli was an ardent theoretician and tireless promoter of European integration and one of the most venerated icons of European federalists. Italy's new center-left coalition, which elected Mr. Napolitano on May 10, has made the re-launch of Italy's role within the EU the centerpiece of its foreign policy program. This European vocation is reflected in the composition of the new cabinet led by Romano Prodi which took office on May 17. It includes several prominent figures on the European stage, including: Minister of Finance Tommaso Padoa Schioppa, a former member of the executive board of the European central bank; Minister of the Interior, Giuliano Amato, who was one of the architects of the EU's draft constitutional treaty; and the Minister for European Affairs, Emma Bonino, a former European commissioner. With the support of this team, Prodi, who himself was president of the European Commission from 1999 to 2004, hopes to bring the country back onto the center stage of European politics.

In Prodi's view, his predecessor, Silvio Berlusconi, departed from a well-established pro-Europe foreign policy tradition that dates back to Alcide de Gasperi, Italy's eight-time prime minister in the post-Second War World period. Berlusconi never considered the EU a priority. He preferred to concentrate on consolidating his government's relationship with the Bush administration as well as on cultivating his personal ties with top world leaders. His center-right government took a lukewarm, and sometimes openly hostile, stance on several proposals to deepen European integration. Read More

NATO Looks to Expand Mission and Membership
Lionel Beehner
Council on Foreign Relations
July 27, 2006
Members of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) remain divided on whether to enlarge the alliance and expand its mission further. NATO officials will meet this November in Riga, Latvia to discuss enlarging the organization to include Ukraine and Georgia in addition to the Balkan states of Croatia, Macedonia, and Albania at some further date. Some U.S.-based experts say NATO must enlarge to meet the changing nature of transnational threats, from terrorism to typhoons to turmoil in the Middle East. Yet others say expanding NATO may put too much strain on the alliance, weaken its collective defense mechanism, and needlessly upset Russia, which still harbor suspicions of the Cold-War-era bloc. Read More

European Institute Says NATO Can Do More For Transatlantic Homeland Seurity
July 24
Transatlantic cooperation in combating terrorism sometimes raises doctrinal quarrels about what intellectual framework is appropriate in policy-making and what agencies should have the lead role in implementing preventive actions and, if necessary, coordinating the response to a catastrophe. In practice, great strides have been made toward common practices on both sides of the Atlantic in areas of police work ranging from information-sharing on travelers and joint customs work to less public areas such as intelligence-sharing. Some new suggestions are circulating about possible ways to tap into NATO’s resources and capabilities to improve measures of homeland defense in the United States and in Europe. Read More

Terror Index survey assesses US war on terror
July 7
Foreign Policy magazine and the Center for American Progress have released a report about progress in the US effort against terror. The survey, named Terror Index, solicited the opinion of a hundred top experts of US national security. Interviewed experts included members of the academia as well as senior national security officials from both sides of the political spectrum. The amply bipartisan investigation focused not only on perceptions about how the current administration has handled the fight against terror. Issues such as the relationship with US allies and the impact of Iraq and energy prices on the war on terror were also addressed. The outcome is challenging and likely to prompt an intense but productive debate. Synthesis of the Survey Full Survey and Background

EU-US Summit highlights greater cooperation across the Atlantic
July 6
At the EU-US Summit in Vienna American and European leaders point to significant accomplishments since the 2005 meeting. The Summit Report on transatlantic political and security cooperation remarks achievements in terms of human rights promotion and the establishment of the UN Democracy Fund.
The US-EU Regulatory Cooperation Roadmap, launched at the 2005 Summit, has progressed notably. The roadmap has set high standards of institutional teamwork between US-EU respective law making bodies, resulting in the High Level regulatory Forum. Transatlantic Partners have also adopted an Action Strategy for the Enforcement of Intellectual Property Rights and the Anti-Counterfeiting Move.
EU and US officials have also restated their position on Iran and their commitment to devise a joint strategy on the Middle East. Read More

G8 Countries Agree on Energy Security Rules
The Energy Market
The heads of the foreign offices of the G8 countries, meeting in Moscow yesterday, agreed on a document for the summit in St. Petersburg next month. The document is expected to be a foundation for dependable fuel supplies to the world market. In spite of the disagreement over the subject, Russia seems to have convinced the other countries at least to take a common approach to the problem, that of reducing market influences on world oil prices. Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Ivanov announced yesterday that a “solid and all-encompassing” document on energy security was almost ready. According to Lavrov, the document, initiated by Russia, supports “identical market rules of the game on the energy market for all.” U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said the document contained “common sense.” Read More

House committee approves Israel-NATO legislation
June 27
A U.S. House of Representatives committee unanimously approved a resolution that calls for enhancing Israel’s relationship with NATO.
The resolution, introduced by Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R-Fla.) and Rep. Robert Wexler (D-Fla.), was adopted Tuesday by the House Committee on International Relations.
The resolution recommends upgrading Israel’s affiliation to a “leading member of NATO’s Individual Cooperation Program,” a promotion the bill says ultimately will lead to Israel’s full membership in the alliance.
“Incorporating Israel’s vast experience facing daily threats from Islamist terrorists who seek to do it harm will be a great boon for NATO,” Ros-Lehtinen said.
Israeli officials are not enthusiastic about the prospect of full NATO membership, fearing it could limit the country’s ability to strike its enemies without consultation. The resolution is to be considered by the full House next month. Read More

EU – US Summit , Vienna , 21 June 2006
Commission President José Manuel Barroso, President of the European Council and Austrian Chancellor Wolfgang Schüssel and US President George W. Bush will meet at the EU-US Summit on 21 June in Vienna to discuss foreign policy co-operation, energy security, economy and trade, and other global challenges. On energy, leaders are expected to step up EU-US cooperation to a strategic level and to promote a set of principles for responsible energy policies worldwide. Iran , the Middle East and the promotion of democracy are expected to dominate the foreign policy agenda.
Other participants at the summit will be Commissioner Ferrero-Waldner, Commissioner for Trade Mandelson, and Austrian Foreign Minister Plassnik as well as High Representative Javier Solana from the EU side and Secretary of State Rice from the US side. Read More

St. Petersburg drills antiterrorism ahead of July G8 summit
ST. PETERSBURG, June 21 (RIA Novosti) - St. Petersburg will hold exercises Wednesday on counteracting terrorist attacks involving biological and chemical weapons in the run-up to a summit of the Group of Eight most developed nations in July.
The exercises, which will be conducted by the emergencies and interior ministries, will be staged in the Gulf of Finland and the seaport buildings, where law enforcers will practice dealing with poisonous substances being sprayed into air, the aftermath of a powerful explosion, extinguishing fires and recovering the injured people from under rubble. Read More

Hurdle for U.S. In Getting Data on Passengers
Nicola Clark and Matthew L. Wald
New York Times
May 31st 2006
PARIS , May 30 — The European Union's highest court ruled Tuesday that the Union had overstepped its authority by agreeing to give the United States personal details about airline passengers on flights to America in an effort to fight terrorism.
The decision will force the two sides to renegotiate the deal at a time of heightened concerns about possible infringements of civil liberties by the Bush administration in its campaign against terrorism, and the extent to which European governments have cooperated.
The ruling gave both sides four months to approve a new agreement, and American officials expressed optimism that one could be reached. But without an agreement, the United States could take punitive action, in theory even denying landing rights to airlines that withhold the information. That could cause major disruptions in trans-Atlantic air travel, which accounts for nearly half of all foreign air travel to the United States. The European Court of Justice, based in Luxembourg, found that the European Commission and the European Council lacked the authority to make the deal, which was reached in May 2004. Specifically, the court said passenger records were collected by airlines for their own commercial use, so the European Union could not legally agree to provide them to the American authorities, even for the purposes of public security or law enforcement.Read More

NYSE Bids for Euronext to Create Transatlantic Market
May 22 2006
May 22 (Bloomberg) -- NYSE Group Inc. made a cash and stock offer of about 8 billion euros ($10.2 billion) for Euronext NV, Europe's second-largest stock exchange, to create the first transatlantic securities market.
Euronext investors would receive stock in the new company and 21.32 euros ($27.12) in cash for each share, the owner of the New York Stock Exchange said in a statement today. The bid amounts to about 71 euros for each Euronext share, or 4.8 percent less than closing price on the Paris stock exchange on May 19.
NYSE Group Chief Executive Officer John Thain wants to unite the 214-year-old New York Stock Exchange with bourses in Paris, Amsterdam, Brussels and Lisbon, creating a single market bridging two continents. To succeed, he'll have to beat Deutsche Boerse AG, which made a competing offer last week. The board of Euronext will examine the proposals today, and shareholders will consider the bids at the company's annual meeting tomorrow.Read More

Transantlantic Homeland Defense: Special Report
Center for Technology and National Security Policy
Institute for National Strategic Studies
National Defense University
May 2006

This paper proposes an initiative to enhance transatlantic homeland defense at the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) November 2006 Riga Summit and beyond. As NATO develops its capabilities for expeditionary operations, it needs to revitalize plans and capabilities essential to realize its core mission: protecting Alliance territory as outlined in Article 5 of the North Atlantic Treaty. This back-to-basics approach is designed to ensure that Allies can protect the transatlantic homeland against an array of new threats and challenges. This initiative would unfold in the context of broader efforts to protect the Euro-Atlantic community. NATO is but one of many institutions —national and international, governmental and nongovernmental—involved in societal security....
Homeland defense—that is, the military’s role in preventing and defending against terrorist attacks on the territory of Alliance members —is an increasingly important imperative for the United States, Canada and Europe. NATO has the opportunity to articulate a strategic direction and planning process for homeland defense to ensure that relevant Alliance activities and capabilities are adapted and integrated to deal with these new threats. …. This initiative would offer NATO both a 21st-century approach to Article 5 and new meaning and credibility in the eyes of NATO publics who are concerned about threats to their homelands. This report proposes that enhanced transatlantic homeland defense be a major initiative for adoption at the 2006 Riga Summit and completion at the 2008 summit. Accompanying this initiative would be parallel proposals on strengthening partnerships with nonmembers and further improving NATO’s military forces and capabilities for new-era missions. The initiative would include four categories of homeland defense, none of which would address expeditionary, counterterrorism, natural disaster, and humanitarian missions outside the NATO area. In some cases, capabilities created for homeland defense purposes could be used within and outside the NATO area for such civil-military missions. … NATO will need improvements in physical assets and strengthened strategic planning and operating capacities. It also will require close coordination and harmonization with national governments, many of which view control of homeland security resources as vital manifestations of their sovereignty.
Read More

The Real Business of NATO
By Risto E.J. Penttila
International Herald Tribune
May 16 2006

(...) NATO has already become a global policeman. The question now is whether it will turn out to be a good cop or a bad cop.
If NATO wants to be a good cop, it must work out principles and decision- making procedures for the most likely crises of the future - even if those crises are a far cry from the war games played during the Cold War.
If NATO continues to deny that it has become a global policeman, it will act without legitimacy and without a moral compass. In other words, it will be a bad cop.
(...) NATO claims to defend freedom, democracy and liberty. Well, freedom, democracy and liberty are at stake when people are being slaughtered in Darfur. The same principles are also at stake when war-torn countries are trying to rebuild themselves. Read More

Cheney Backs Balkan States for NATO and EU Membership
May 08
United States Vice President Cheney praised the three countries of Albania, Croatia and the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, for their willingness to undertake democratic reforms and for taking part in US-led military operations. His tone was a marked contrast to his criticism of Russia made to Baltic and Black Sea heads of state in Vilnius on Thursday. Read More

State's Fried Says NATO not "Counterweight" to United Nations
By Vince Crawley
May 03

Washington -- The good news is that the United States and Europe are cooperating again; the bad news is that they are facing some of the world’s most dangerous, intractable problems, a senior U.S. diplomat says.
“Unilateralism is out. Effective multilateralism is in,” Daniel Fried, assistant secretary of state for European affairs, said May 2 at a national conference of editorial writers in Washington.
Fried said the United States and Europe are “working to make NATO the centerpiece alliance through which the trans-Atlantic democratic community deals with security challenges around the world.”
But NATO is not a “counterweight” to the larger United Nations, Fried said.  The international organizations are “compatible,” he said, adding that NATO is different from the United Nations because it is an alliance of “trans-Atlantic democracy, so it’s based on underlying values,” and it also is a proven military alliance able to put together and deploy capable forces for specific missions. Read More

Looking to the Future: NATO Training Mission-Iraq
by Rick Lynch and Phillip D. Janzen, Joint Forces Quarterly, Issue 40
May 2006

“The Alliance has struggled to apply outdated mechanisms and policies to the fluid environment of the out-of-area support mission... The most significant lesson from this mission involves supporting political pronouncements with political will. At the Istanbul Summit, all 26 members committed to support the government of Iraq “with the training of its security forces” and sought further proposals for that support “as a matter of urgency.” This statement soon rang hollow as political consensus was overshadowed by political posturing over involvement in Iraq.”