Atlantic Council

Sure as eggs is eggs, the arrival of a new American president heralds fresh fretting in the British press over the precise state of the so-called "Special Relationship".

Atlantic Council senior fellow David L. Phillips published an op-ed at the Boston Globe entitled, "A counterterrorism plan for Obama."

Standing in front of Sameba Cathedral in Tbilisi on a recent trip, I couldn’t help but be in awe of this striking building. The new church is a work in progress, abuzz with activity, and well attended by the city’s residents, including many of its young people.

NATO must "find a political voice or collapse," says Times of London defense editor Michael Evans.  "It has become so multi-tasked, so desperate to get involved in everything from cyber warfare to anti-piracy and missile defence, let alone a hugely draining and complex campaign in Afghanistan, that it has lost its way."

Retired brigadier and author Allan Mallinson writes in the Times of London that the special relationship between the UK and the US "needs repair work."

Washington and London have proposed dropping the NATO MAPs for Georgia and Ukraine, favoring instead an open-ended development plan to bring both countries closer to membership. While Germany and France protest such unorthodoxy, this more flexible approach may allow NATO to prudently balance its interests with Russia and for eventual Georgian-Ukrainian expansion.

At the new year, France will hand over the EU presidency to the Czech Republic.  In addition to a probable marked decline in summits (Mr. Sarkozy's specialty as of late), the incoming Czech leadership has many European bureaucrats worrying: the French successor, Czech president Václav Klaus, is a fervent Euroskeptic. 

It's official – NATO will not offer Georgia and Ukraine Membership Action Plans (MAPs), Secretary General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer said after a two-day summit of NATO foreign ministers in Brussels. 

It's an article of faith that Barack Obama's inauguration will usher in a new era of transatlantic comity.

Polish foreign minister Radoslaw Sikorski, speaking at the Atlantic Council today, declared that Russia's justification for invading Georgia, that it was defending its friends abroad, is one that has been used by Russian autocrats for centuries to justify a doctrine of imperialism.