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New Transatlantic Compact for NATO
Forging a Strategic U.S.-EU Partnership
Resetting the Transatlantic Economic Council
Council Highlights
Frederick Kempe at Davos
Atlantic Council President and CEO Frederick Kempe spoke with the BBC's Nik Gowing about his experience at Davos this year, touching on the future of American power and divergent views of capitalism after the crisis.
Hagel, Scowcroft Appointed to Department of Energy Nuclear Commission
Atlantic Council Chairman Senator Chuck Hagel and International Advisory Board Chairman Brent Scowcroft were appointed by Energy Secretary Steven Chu to a new Blue Ribbon Commission on America’s Nuclear Future.
The Future of Iran
Jonathan Paris, a nonresident senior fellow with the Atlantic Council's South Asia Center and adjunct fellow at the London-based Legatum Institute, co-authored an editorial in the Wall Street Journal with Nazenin Ansari entitled "The Future of Iran."
FEATURED ISSUE
NATO Steps up to the Plate
Afghanistan has eroded support for NATO in Washington. An alliance that has long enjoyed strong bipartisan support is now facing bipartisan skepticism.
A Senate hearing this fall made clear that many on Capitol Hill are asking what the value of the alliance is in the future if it cannot succeed in Afghanistan today.
Kissinger Delivers Atlantic Council's Annual Makins Lecture
January 15, 2009Dr. Henry Kissinger delivered the Atlantic Council’s third annual Christopher J. Makins Lecture on transatlantic relations tonight. The event was hosted by the UK Ambassador, H.E. Sir Nigel Sheinwald, KCMG. Kissinger is an Atlantic Council Board Director; he served as National Security Advisor under President Nixon and Secretary of State under Presidents Nixon and Ford.
Kissinger's comments addressed the challenges and opportunities facing the strategic Atlantic alliance during the Obama administration and beyond. He first spoke about the emergence of transnational sovereignty pooling as traditional nation-states realize they are no longer capable of conducting global foreign policy. The nation-states of Europe, he said, are in the process of ceding much of their sovereignty to the EU, but this process of transition is still ongoing and is sometimes unintentionally trumped by national interests. Kissinger noted that transnational trends also have also emerged in the Middle East, but since the nation-state concept never established itself in the region, the unifying element became a universalist Islamist philosophy.
Because of the continuing financial crisis, Kissinger urged governments to bring their political and economic policies much closer together in the future. A realignment of priorities is required to reform the international economic system. Without arriving at compatible priorities, countries will be acting as individuals rather than collectively at a time when no country really believes that it alone can solve either its own or the world's economic woes. A new international economic system that respects the 21st-century global realities of interdependence needs to be established.
The three largest challenges for the Atlantic community going forward, Kissinger stated, will be relations with Russia, Iran, and Afghanistan. While the U.S. should never abandon its belief in the importance of democracy, it must set realistic time frames for democracy promotion that span many years. He stressed that it is in the interests of Tehran and Moscow to engage in dialogue with the U.S. and was optimistic about the prospects for such action in the coming years.
Read Transcript
Related New Atlanticist Commentary:
- "Henry Kissinger: Optimist!" – James Joyner
- "Kissinger's Formula: Goal + Capability + Staying Power" – James Joyner
- "Kissinger: Iran Diplomacy More Than Just Talk" – James Joyner
- "Kissinger in Quotes" – James Joyner and Peter Cassata
Other Makins Lectures:
More about the Christopher J. Makins Lecture Series:
Quickly becoming recognized as the preeminent annual analysis of transatlantic relations, the Makins Lecture series focuses on the state of the strategic Atlantic partnership, its future direction, and the prospects for the furtherance of common European and U.S. interests. It is directed at policy makers and political leaders around the world and provides a platform for the importance of the Alliance and the need for continued transatlantic cooperation. The Atlantic Council intends the series to be a reference tool for policy makers, legislators, the think tank community, academic scholars, and the media on both sides of the Atlantic.
The lecture series honors the life of Christopher J. Makins, president of the Atlantic Council from 1999 to 2005, who passed before his time in January 2006. After more than a decade in the British Diplomatic Service, he chose to settle in Washington and tackled defense, arms control, and other security issues in the nonprofit community.
The Makins Lecture series complements the Atlantic Council’s ongoing mission to promote constructive U.S. leadership and engagement in international affairs, based on the central role of the Atlantic community in meeting the international challenges of the 21st century.
Atlantic Council photos by Daniel Rosenbaum.
Please contact press@acus.org with press inquiries.
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FEATURED EVENT
Online Security Jam: Security and Defense Agenda

From February 4 through 9, Security and Defense Agenda will host its 2010 Security Jam in partnership with the Atlantic Council.
U.S. Force Posture in Europe: Assuring Allies in an Uncertain World

On Wednesday, February 10, the Atlantic Council's International Security Program will host a conference with senior Administration officials and U.S. and European experts to assess the alternative futures for U.S. force posture in Europe.
Pakistan: Counterinsurgency and Counterterrorism

Ikram Sehgal, Chairman of Pathfinder G4S (Pakistan’s largest private security firm), will join the South Asia Center of the Atlantic Council on Thursday, February 11, for a discussion on counterinsurgency and counterterrorism in Pakistan.
FEATURED INTERVIEW
General Stéphane Abrial on Allied Command Transformation

Sarwar Kashmeri, a nonresident senior fellow with the Atlantic Council's International Security Program, interviewed General Stéphane Abrial, Supreme Allied Commander Transformation, for the New Atlanticist Podcast Series.



















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