WASHINGTON – As he campaigned for the U.S. presidency in 1952, Republican candidate Dwight D. Eisenhower argued that he would seek to bring “security with solvency” to the American people.  Eisenhower realized that the challenges posed by the Soviet Union could too easily stress America’s finite resources and a strategy to face that threat consider [...]

Read the full story

BRUSSELS—Full details of the Obama administration’s new look in defense spending, force posture, and strategy are not yet out. But enough has been revealed  to venture some thoughts on the logic of the new approach and the longer-term implications for the United States and transatlantic partners. The shift to a “one war, spoil and manage” [...]

Read the full story

PARIS—The Obama administration’s new defense strategy should come as no surprise to observers in France and across Europe. The question of rebalancing American military involvement between Europe and the Asia-Pacific has been a recurring theme of transatlantic relations and of U.S. policy debates since at least the 1950s. In large part, it reflects the historical [...]

Read the full story

WARSAW—The new strategic defense guidance from the Obama administration aims to refocus the U.S. defense posture on the increasingly competitive security environment emerging in the Pacific. It also (despite the Pentagon’s protestations to the contrary) appears to put an end to the era of large-scale counterinsurgency and stability operations. Last but not least, it implies [...]

Read the full story

BUCHAREST—The landslide victory of former speaker of the Parliament Yevgeny Shevchuk in the December 25 Transnistrian presidential elections came as a surprise to observers in Moldova, Russia, and the West. Shevchuk, who won 74 percent of the vote in the run-off, overcame the challenges of the Moscow-backed candidate Anatoly Kaminski and the incumbent of 20 [...]

Read the full story

BRUSSELS – With regard to North Korea, the Obama Administration and China have been united by a common purpose: the avoidance of trouble. Despite some tensions between Washington and Beijing, the primary U.S. concern — containing Pyongyang’s nuclear proliferation and aggressive behavior — was not fundamentally at odds with that of the Chinese, which was to [...]

Read the full story

The enduring image from last week’s UN conference on climate change in Durban, South Africa, was of negotiators “huddling” in full view on the plenary floor to come up with the form of words that allowed the final deal to be reached. The negotiators are in shirtsleeves, visibly tied at the end of talks that [...]

Read the full story

AUSTIN, Texas — Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s landmark visit to Burma this week heralds the potential for breakthroughs on two fronts — accelerating democratic reforms in one of the world’s worst tyrannies and realigning the strategic order of Asia.  Accomplishing both of these objectives is possible and represents a best-case scenario.  Yet optimism should [...]

Read the full story

BRUSSELS — Any banking system relies on its depositors retaining their faith in the soundness of their banks. Investors have traditionally regarded government bonds as a relatively low interest, but safe place to park their funds. And voters have trusted their governments to deal competently with complex financial questions. What happens when these components of [...]

Read the full story

BUCHAREST — In an article published on Tuesday in the Russian newspaper Izvestia, Russia’s prime minister and presidential hopeful Vladimir Putin announced his major foreign policy goal: the creation of a “Eurasian Union.” This Union, he announced, would gradually encompass the countries of the former Soviet Union, but also stay open for other countries to [...]

Read the full story