From Judy Dempsey, Strategic Europe:  The Russian exclave of Kaliningrad plays a special role between Moscow, Warsaw, and Berlin.

From Julian Lindley-French, New Atlanticist:  On 29 April the French published their first defense review in over twenty years.

From Sven Biscop, New Atlanticist:  In December 2013 the heads of state and government of the European Union (EU) will discuss defense.

From Steven Lee Myers, New York Times: The Arctic Council agreed on Wednesday to expand to include six new nations, including China, as observer states, as a changing climate opens the Arctic to increasing economic and political competition.

 Occasionally a public opinion survey surfaces that signals a seismic event. That is the case with a new report from the Pew Research Center that measures the widening tremors of a political earthquake now shaking Europe.

The debate about European defense tends to focus on the need to spend more and deploy more. One deceptively simple question is usually ignored: why? Americans seem to assume that more European capabilities will be deployed where it is convenient for the United States. Europeans just seek to avoid the difficult debate that it would provoke – until now.

From Radek Sikorski, Foreign Affairs:  Our relations with Russia, like yours, are pragmatic but brittle.

From Julian Hale, Defense News:  Italian Defense Minister Mario Mauro called for EU leaders to cooperate more on defense at the European Parliament Foreign Affairs Committee meeting here Monday.