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New Transatlantic Compact for NATO
Forging a Strategic U.S.-EU Partnership
Resetting the Transatlantic Economic Council
Council Highlights
Frederick Kempe at Davos
Atlantic Council President and CEO Frederick Kempe spoke with the BBC's Nik Gowing about his experience at Davos this year, touching on the future of American power and divergent views of capitalism after the crisis.
Hagel, Scowcroft Appointed to Department of Energy Nuclear Commission
Atlantic Council Chairman Senator Chuck Hagel and International Advisory Board Chairman Brent Scowcroft were appointed by Energy Secretary Steven Chu to a new Blue Ribbon Commission on America’s Nuclear Future.
The Future of Iran
Jonathan Paris, a nonresident senior fellow with the Atlantic Council's South Asia Center and adjunct fellow at the London-based Legatum Institute, co-authored an editorial in the Wall Street Journal with Nazenin Ansari entitled "The Future of Iran."
FEATURED ISSUE
NATO Steps up to the Plate
Afghanistan has eroded support for NATO in Washington. An alliance that has long enjoyed strong bipartisan support is now facing bipartisan skepticism.
A Senate hearing this fall made clear that many on Capitol Hill are asking what the value of the alliance is in the future if it cannot succeed in Afghanistan today.
Canada's Conservative Government Nears Collapse
James Joyner | November 29, 2008Stephen Harper's government, given a new mandate only five weeks ago, is on the verge of collapse, Reuters reports.
Canada's minority government teetered on the edge of collapse on Friday, less than two months after its re-election, as opposition parties talked of forming a coalition to replace the ruling Conservatives. Both the Conservatives and the three opposition parties were engaged in high-stakes brinkmanship over the fiscal update that Finance Minister Jim Flaherty presented on Thursday.
The opposition said the update did not contain needed stimulus for an economy increasingly squeezed by the global downturn, but they were most angered by a planned end to direct public financing of political parties. The official opposition Liberals prepared a motion declaring a lack of confidence in the government and expressing the opinion "that a viable alternative government can be formed within the present House of Commons."
Prime Minister Stephen Harper -- who won a strengthened minority in an October 14 election -- said the government would not allow the motion to be presented or voted on until December 8. "While we have been working on the economy, the opposition has been working on a back room deal to overturn the results of the last election without seeking the consent of voters. They want to take power, not earn it," he told reporters.
If neither side blinks, the government will likely fall, and Canada would either head into another election or into some sort of coalition led by the Liberals. The other two opposition parties are the separatist Bloc Quebecois and the left-leaning New Democratic Party.
[...]
If the Conservatives were defeated, Harper would go to Governor General Michaelle Jean -- the representative of Canada's head of state, Queen Elizabeth -- to say he has lost the confidence of Parliament. Jean is in Europe until December 6, but says she is monitoring the situation and is ready to come home early if needed. Harper would undoubtedly ask her to call an election but constitutional experts say she could well decide to invite the opposition to form government instead.
While seemingly an absurd result, Harper's plurality is not a majority. It's doubtful, however, that a Liberal-Quebecois-New Democrat coalition would be any more successful.
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