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Pakistan Report: Comprehensive U.S. Policy Needed
Afghanistan Report: A Ten-Year Framework for the Future
Council Highlights
Chuck Hagel Delivers Keynote Speech for Angela Merkel
Atlantic Council chairman and former Senator Chuck Hagel will deliver the keynote speech at a ceremony in the Library of Congress for German Chancellor Angela Merkel, who will receive the Eric M. Warburg Award from Atlantik-Brücke.
The Key to Kiev
Atlantic Council senior fellow Adrian Karatnycky and Rutgers University Political Science Professor Alexander J. Motyl, a contributor to the Council's New Atlanticist blog, co-authored an essay entitled "The Key to Kiev: Ukraine's Security Means Europe's Stability" in the May-June edition of Foreign Affairs.
What To Do About North Korea
Shuja Nawaz, director of the Atlantic Council's South Asia Center, commented on North Korea's recent nuclear tests as part of a discussion for PRI's The World.
FEATURED ISSUE
Obama Should Reach Out to Muslim Youth
As President Barack Obama prepares to address the Muslim World from Cairo on Thursday this week, he would do well not to dwell on the past but to look to the future. His speech should be the first salvo in a battle to meet the expectations of a world dominated by youth. He should not revive memories of past conflicts.
DONATE REGISTER
Canada's Conservative Government Nears Collapse
James Joyner | November 29, 2008Stephen Harper's government, given a new mandate only five weeks ago, is on the verge of collapse, Reuters reports.
Canada's minority government teetered on the edge of collapse on Friday, less than two months after its re-election, as opposition parties talked of forming a coalition to replace the ruling Conservatives. Both the Conservatives and the three opposition parties were engaged in high-stakes brinkmanship over the fiscal update that Finance Minister Jim Flaherty presented on Thursday.
The opposition said the update did not contain needed stimulus for an economy increasingly squeezed by the global downturn, but they were most angered by a planned end to direct public financing of political parties. The official opposition Liberals prepared a motion declaring a lack of confidence in the government and expressing the opinion "that a viable alternative government can be formed within the present House of Commons."
Prime Minister Stephen Harper -- who won a strengthened minority in an October 14 election -- said the government would not allow the motion to be presented or voted on until December 8. "While we have been working on the economy, the opposition has been working on a back room deal to overturn the results of the last election without seeking the consent of voters. They want to take power, not earn it," he told reporters.
If neither side blinks, the government will likely fall, and Canada would either head into another election or into some sort of coalition led by the Liberals. The other two opposition parties are the separatist Bloc Quebecois and the left-leaning New Democratic Party.
[...]
If the Conservatives were defeated, Harper would go to Governor General Michaelle Jean -- the representative of Canada's head of state, Queen Elizabeth -- to say he has lost the confidence of Parliament. Jean is in Europe until December 6, but says she is monitoring the situation and is ready to come home early if needed. Harper would undoubtedly ask her to call an election but constitutional experts say she could well decide to invite the opposition to form government instead.
While seemingly an absurd result, Harper's plurality is not a majority. It's doubtful, however, that a Liberal-Quebecois-New Democrat coalition would be any more successful.
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