NATO News

Thu, 20 Jul 2017 21:20:25 GMT

Sen. Bob Corker, R-Tenn., left, shows Woody Johnson, owner of the New York Jets, right, where he should sit, as Johnson arrives for a Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearing on his nomination to be Ambassador to the United Kingdom, Thursday, July 20, 2017, on Capitol Hill in Washington.

Thu, 20 Jul 2017 18:59:53 GMT

Former U.S. Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison of Texas is shown speaking at The Texas Tribune Festival on Sept. 20, 2014.

Thu, 20 Jul 2017 14:10:35 GMT

Following up on Colonel Lang's post regarding the Saudi Arabian/Egyptian debacle in trying to bully Qatar , there are two other major developments. First, Donald Trump reportedly has ordered the CIA to pull the plug on arming and training Islamic radicals bent on overthrowing Bashar Al Assad : The program was a central plank of a policy begun by the Obama administration in 2013 to put pressure on Assad to step aside, but even its backers have questioned its efficacy once Russia deployed forces in Syria two years later.

Thu, 20 Jul 2017 09:37:31 GMT

The Baltic nation of Estonia is to become slightly taller after switching the way it measures heights above sea level. It is switching away from the Russian-based datum to the European Vertical Reference System, which adds between 15-24cms to vertical measurements in the country, depending on the area, the Postimees newspaper reports .

Thu, 20 Jul 2017 05:09:40 GMT

Her personal mission, as she recalls, was to "elevate human rights"-first within USAID, and later when she worked for the US Mission to the United Nations. Her initiatives to promote civil society and human rights within small powers such as post-Ben Ali Tunisia are admirable.

Thu, 20 Jul 2017 00:36:13 GMT

From Tallinn on the Baltic to Dubrovnik on the Adriatic, Churchill's Iron Curtain has more or less ascended from Eastern Europe, in no small part owing to the NATO expansion process begun after the dissolution of the Soviet Union. But if policymakers have confidence about the political stability and martial resolve of the former Warsaw Pact states, they are also disquieted by developments on NATO's southern flank.

Wed, 19 Jul 2017 20:01:52 GMT

In 2009, NATO celebrated its 60th anniversary. With its recent deluge of new member states, it needed more space and announced it would build a new HD across the street from the bunker-like 1950s original one.

Wed, 19 Jul 2017 15:25:08 GMT

Tens of thousands of troops are on the move from the Baltic to the Black Sea, as NATO and Russia open up a series of massive military exercises the size of which the continent hasn't seen since the Cold War. Both sides claim the drills, which involve aircraft, warships, tanks and artillery, are purely defensive in nature.

Wed, 19 Jul 2017 10:35:49 GMT

Tunisia's Foreign Minister Khemaies Jhinaoui, left, and China's Foreign Minister Wang Yi, right, shake hands as they pose for a photo before a meeting at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Beijing, Wednesday, July 19, 2017. Tunisia's Foreign Minister Khemaies Jhinaoui, left, and China's Foreign Minister Wang Yi, right, shake hands as they pose for a photo before a meeting at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Beijing, Wednesday, July 19, 2017.

Wed, 19 Jul 2017 06:16:41 GMT

Four Arab nations that cut ties with Qatar urged the tiny Gulf nation Tuesday to commit to six principles on combatting extremism and terrorism and negotiate a plan with specific measures to implement them - a step that could pave the way for an early resolution of the crisis. Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Egypt and Bahrain broke diplomatic relations with Qatar in early June largely over their allegations that it supports terrorist and extremist groups - a charge Qatar rejects.

Wed, 19 Jul 2017 01:59:47 GMT

Turkey and the US-backed YPG forces - which have been helping the coalition fight ISIS in Syria - have been clashing off and on since at least April. At the end of that month, the two sides exchanged rocket fire, which Turkey says killed 11 YPG fighters.

Wed, 19 Jul 2017 01:59:46 GMT

When Thomasz Piatek's publisher released his expose book last month about Poland's controversial defense minister, the well-known investigative journalist was braced for a defamation suit. What he didn't expect was a criminal complaint, lodged with the military bureau of Poland's prosecutor-general's office, charging him with "using force or threats against a public official" and "public insults or humiliation of a constitutional body."

Wed, 19 Jul 2017 01:59:45 GMT

When Thomasz Piatek's publisher released his explosive book last month about Poland's controversial defense minister, the well-known investigative journalist was braced for a defamation suit. What he didn't expect was a criminal complaint, lodged with the military bureau of Poland's prosecutor-general's office, charging him with "using force or threats against a public official" and "public insults or humiliation of a constitutional body."

Tue, 18 Jul 2017 23:35:40 GMT

President Donald Trump speaks about the Senate health care bill during a lunch with members of the US military in the Roosevelt Room of the White House in Washington, DC, July 18, 2017. President Donald Trump speaks about the Senate health care bill during a lunch with members of the US military in the Roosevelt Room of the White House in Washington, DC, July 18, 2017.

Tue, 18 Jul 2017 18:44:58 GMT

NATO confirmed Tuesday that Afghanistan's vice president, Abdul Rashid Dostum, tried to return to the country overnight but that his private plane was denied permission to land in the northern city of Mazar-i-Sharif. Dostum, a 63-year-old ethnic Uzbek warlord, and some of his militia guards, have been under investigation for months over allegations of torturing and sexually assaulting an elderly political rival by the name of Ahmad Ishchi.

Tue, 18 Jul 2017 16:20:39 GMT

"His favorite technique was to keep grants of authority incomplete, jurisdictions uncertain, charters overlapping. The result of this competitive theory of administration was often confusion and exasperation on the operating level."

Tue, 18 Jul 2017 11:34:09 GMT

The United States needs to "immediately" arrest the head of the Fetullahist Terrorist Organization , Deputy Prime Minister Numan Kurtulmus said on July 17. The Islamic preacher Fethullah Gulen, who is accused of orchestrating last year's failed coup attempt, resides in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania as if nothing happened, Kurtulmus said at a news conference at the Presidential Palace in Ankara while a Cabinet meeting was being held separately. Gulen is granting interviews to major global media outlets and, in this way, is trying to motivate the organizational commitment of his supporters, Kurtulmus added.