Defense

Sorin Ducaru, Romania’s ambassador to NATO, says that the alliance could play a more proactive role in changing the world.

We should pay more attention to the US president’s departure in part because of what will remain absolutely the same.

NATO and the EU – two organisations facing a crisis of identity, two organisations that need to convince Europeans they are part of the solution in a global world.

Japan shares many of the EU’s foreign defence and peacekeeping interests. But the US still holds sway in Japan’s own backyard.

The shadow cast by the violence of Macedonia’s elections is not as deep as some think – but the country’s prospects for EU membership are darkening.

Responsible leaders need to explain, not just to Irish citizens, but to all Europeans, some fundamentals about European defence.

Political changes reduce French defence pretensions.

Their openness and trust are admirable, but EU institutions should look more closely at who wanders their corridors.

Tensions are rising in Georgia ahead of next week’s presidential elections as Russia reinforces its ‘peacekeepers’ in the breakaway region of Abkhazia.

Javier Solana makes his first visit to Afghanistan since 2004, en route to a high-profile meeting in Pakistan.

Georgian minister tries to drum up EU and NATO support in dispute over Russia’s upgrading of relations with Georgia’s separatist regions.

Why leaving Macedonia out of NATO puts security at risk and why Greece should leave its dispute with Macedonia outside the EU.

Instead of displaying a united front to the world, NATO summits throw up a long list of winners and losers, which undermines the alliance.

… and a new use for the European Parliament? As European Voice predicted last week, NATO has decided its 60th-anniversary summit should be held not just in …

Shiny new satellite dishes on Russia’s western border could be used for communication, but they could easily be used for eavesdropping, too

NATO has one eye on the membership bids of western Balkan states, and one on its sixtieth anniversary. It may not have much to celebrate.

European politicians are being presented with stark practical questions about the role of soldiers in modern peace-keeping and about the relative status of soldiers and civilians.

Serious reform of NATO must mean looking for more synergies with the European Union, according to Jaap de Hoop Scheffer, NATO secretary-general, as he put forward explicit and concrete examples to a Brussels audience.

Being a neophyte in the world of inter-regional polemics, I am honoured to be insulted by the famous Rein F. Deer (‘A goat song for the South’, 14-20 February). But with all due respect, perhaps he should occasionally open the door of his sauna and take a look outside.

Chad and Afghanistan are currently among the two most violent and conflict-ridden corners of the world. That is just about the only common ground between them, since they are several thousand kilometres apart and afflicted by distinct ailments.

Defence is once again creeping up the EU ratings, once again it does so ineffectually.

The conclusion of the lengthy negotiations on a new treaty is meant to bring to an end a period of introversion in the EU. Apparently now that all is harmonious and agreed within the Union, it is time to start a similar process outside it. This sentiment has much to be admired, but perhaps should be confined in the first instance to Brussels. To be precise, to a rather shabby collection of buildings on Boulevard Leopold III in Evere, home of NATO.

Tim King canters through EU terrorism policies, but a slower-paced book might offer greater perspective.

The European Security and Defence Policy is more an aspiration than a reality, writes Toby Vogel.