There is nothing worse for any country than a civil war. The American Civil War killed more Americans than any war in our history. It was a brutal struggle with outrageous acts on both sides. Even today we have not fully recovered from its historical impact. We again had to struggle through our civil rights… [Read more…]
In Search of a Serious Strategy for Syria Harry C. Blaney III The G-8 and NATO summits are over and one conclusion that can be made is that at least in public there was no specific or concrete action taken to deal with the serious conflict and civil war (there can be no other word for it) in… [Read more…]
NATO Summit: Outcomes and Challenges by Harry C. Blaney III With the end of the Chicago NATO summit, we can assess the results of this meeting as well as the long term continued challenges. There has been a plethora of uninformed opinions and “short-termism” in much that has been said from the sidelines. We need to keep… [Read more…]
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2012 Elections, Afghanistan, Defense Spending, Europe, Foreign Relations, Middle East, National Security, NATO, Pakistan, Peacekeeping/peacemaking, Role of Multilateral Institutions
The NATO Summit and G-8: Nuclear Policy, European Disarray, and the Future of NATO by Harry C. Blaney III America will be hosting a NATO Summit in Chicago on May 20-22 and the setting is a difficult one for all its members. The question is whether any “grand decisions” can come out of it when… [Read more…]
The Republicans in the House of Representatives Armed Services Committee on Thursday May 10th voted a raise of nearly $4 billion over the Administration’s requested funding for defense programs. As the New York Times editorial today said, the House Republicans “have insisted on preserving bloated military spending and unjustifiably low tax rates for the rich.” That is an understatement! They… [Read more…]
The French presidential election between François Hollande and Nicolas Sarkozy had dramatic results, which were not only a return to power of the socialists but a strong voice of the people in France rejecting the failed policies of blind austerity. They said enough is enough! This seems to be the rising voice of most of Europe.… [Read more…]
With Rick Santorum out of the race, Mitt Romney’s nomination as the Republican presidential candidate is inevitable. We have continuously kept track of interesting quotes by the 2012 candidates on this blog (and there have been many), but with only two viable options left, it’s time to step back and look at Obama’s and Romney’s… [Read more…]
An all day conference on April 26th, “EU’s Common Security & Defense Policy” (CSDP), was an EU effort to inform the American security and defense experts and diplomatic residents of Washington on the accomplishments and hopes for the EU’s hopeful capabilities in the security arena. The good news is that some progress is being made,… [Read more…]
Wednesday the UK statistical office announced that Britain was in recession. Wednesday’s economic data established that Britain’s gross domestic product fell 0.2 percent in the first quarter of 2012 on top of a 0.3 percent decline at the end of 2011. While the data can be revised and some conservative voices are questioning it, it… [Read more…]
This weekend the first round of the French presidential election has taken place. Socialist Hollande came out first by just a bit but betting is he will win also by a bit in the second round. Already commentators are either crying he would be a “disaster” or just another reorder of the deck chairs. The… [Read more…]
June 1, 2012
by Harry C. Blaney III
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