Atlantic Council

In the aftermath of last week’s elections in Greece, in which voters resoundingly rejected further austerity, Europe is struggling to come to terms with Greek voters’ conflicting desire to stay in the Euro while also delaying necessary reforms.

A few weeks ago there was a wild rumor that Greece's debt crisis had been dealt with. The hope was that with enough debt relief and a "managed" default, Europe had bought time for global growth to lift the Greek economy, and Greek politicians would wring the country through massive austerity.

Tal-y-Wern, deepest, darkest Wales. Plinlimmon, Cader Idris, and Mount Snowdon slumber around me as I write.  Those great, sleeping Welsh dragons that legend has it will awake in the hour of Cymru’s (Wales) greatest peril.

The crisis in Syria and the confrontation with Iran over its nuclear program have highlighted the renewed importance of one of the oldest and most enduring relationships of the United States: its alliance with Turkey.

"Germany today is an economic powerhouse, but a second-rate military power," declares a new Atlantic Council report which warns, "Europe’s future relevance as a global strategic partner of the United States is contingent on Germany taking its full place as a much stronger political and military leader within Europe and the transatlantic Alliance."

Today François Hollande has taken office as president of the French Republic. He has pressing priorities in his next five weeks but also a chance to make history in the next five years.

A new world order is being built today by seven billion global citizens.

America’s responsibilities in this new world and to future generations are as enormous as they are humbling. The challenges and choices before us demand leadership that reaches into the future without stumbling over today. They also require challenging every past frame of reference.

Whether NATO can avoid the "dim and dismal future" Bob Gates warned about "will largely be determined by the quality of leadership demonstrated by its largest and most influential allies: the United States, Germany, France, the United Kingdom, and Turkey," warns the Atlantic Council in a new report.

The Obama Administration’s recent announcement that it would begin a “targeted easing” of the decades-old sanctions regime currently in place against Burma has once again put into sharp focus questions surrounding the efficacy of sanctions as a tool of American foreign policy.

Coming off the heels of a very successful NATO summit in Lisbon, Portugal, in November 2010, it looked like President Obama would make the coming NATO summit in Chicago May 20 and 21 – an election-year meeting of America’s strongest allies on American soil – a centerpiece of his campaign, highlighting great successes in his foreign policy.