On Wednesday I had the privilege of providing evidence to the House of Commons Defence Select Committee at its first meeting to consider the 2015 British Strategic Security and Defence Review alongside Lord Hennessy and Major-General Mungo Melvin.  Perhaps the most important contribution I made was to suggest to collected British politicians of all shades that whatever reforms are made to Britain’s strategic security and defense structures little will change unless the political class imposes effective oversight. 

From Ekathimerini:  Greece’s ambassador to Bulgaria, Thrasyvoulos Stamatopoulos, was appointed to the post of NATO assistant secretary general for political affairs and security policy on Friday.

From Steven Erlanger, New York Times:  Alarmed by years of cuts to military spending, the NATO secretary general, Anders Fogh Rasmussen, issued a dire public warning to European nations, noting that together they had slashed $45 billion, or the equivalent of Germany’s entire military budget, endangering the alliance’s viability, its mission and its relationship with the United States.

From Dan Williams, Reuters:  Not only Syrian air defences worried Israel when its warplanes bombed a suspected Hezbollah-bound arms convoy near Damascus on Jan. 30. Also probing the skies were the potent radars of an unfriendly NATO member close by: Turkey.

From Sally A. Painter, EurActiv:  Macedonia has made dramatic progress in its effort to join both NATO and the EU.

From Peter App, Reuters:  Situated at the northern end of the Suez Canal, the Port Said Container Terminal is one of the busiest in the region, vital for shipments not only to Egypt but also much of Europe and the Middle East.

From Deutsche Welle:  In a national referendum, Austrians have voted to keep military conscription, bucking the trend towards professional armies in the rest of Western Europe.

From Judy Dempsey, International Herald Tribune:  During the height of the global financial crisis of 2008, Greek defense expenditures accounted for 3.1 percent of gross domestic product. Over the past two years, Greek defense spending still amounted to 2.1 percent of G.D.P.