Pushing for US-Russia ‘reset 2.0’
Posted: 07/02/2013 Filed under: Europe, Non-Proliferation, Russia and Eurasia, Samuel Charap, US | Tags: Barack Obama, Europe, NATO, second term, START treaty, US-Russia 'reset', US-Russia relations Leave a comment »
By Alexa van Sickle, Assistant editor
The US ‘reset’ towards Russia during the first Obama administration had created ‘dividends for European security’, the IISS’s new senior fellow for Russia and Eurasia told an audience in London this week – even if this positive effect was underappreciated. However, relations with Russia in Obama’s second term would be complicated by Vladimir Putin’s recent return to the presidency and Putin’s less apparent warmth towards Washington than predecessor Dmitry Medvedev.
Romney’s Italian Job
Posted: 05/11/2012 Filed under: Europe, US | Tags: Angela Merkel, Barack Obama, Chrysler, debt crisis, EU, Europe, Italy, Mario Monti, Mitt Romney, Silvio Berlusconi, US presidential election Leave a comment »
By Guest Blogger Giacomo Tagiuri
In the final days of the US election campaign, my home country of Italy has stepped into a cameo role. It is, to be sure, the role of a villain. Republican candidate Mitt Romney has invoked Italy as the kind of bad example that America should do everything possible to avoid. Even so, as an Italian accustomed to a diminishing presence in the international debate, I have been amused and even a little proud.
Charting the shift in defence spending
Posted: 08/03/2012 Filed under: Defence, Military Balance | Tags: Asia, chart, China, Defence, defence economics, Europe, US Leave a comment »Much of the press coverage of yesterday’s launch of the Military Balance 2012 has focused on the continuing shift in relative military strength away from the West and towards Asia. Many reporters have understandably honed in on the fact that Asian defence spending is set to overtake Europe’s this year, for the first time in modern history. Here are some of last year’s raw figures.
