Atlantic Council

 John F. Kennedy, the last presidential candidate with outsized imbalance of political sex appeal and experience, sought some advice from one of America's great thinkers after his 1960 election and before he took office.

Hillary Clinton, John McCain and Barack Obama were all that Europeans wanted to talk about in the hallways and at the dinners of the annual Munich Conference on Security Policy over the weekend.

With the fall of the Berlin Wall, the face of Europe has been transformed. Most Americans have focused on the geopolitical and security dimensions of these changes, overlooking another signifi cant aspect: the evolution and expansion of the European Union.

In late November, the leaders of the nato nations will gather in Riga for “a transformation summit.” Yet, if the agenda develops as currently planned, the Alliance will not even consider a fundamental element of transformation — building a new partnership with the European Union.

Russia’s rapidly declining population will soon no longer be able to support the current size of the Russian military. The number of Russian males turning 18-years-old is forecasted to drop by about 50 percent in the next 10 to 15 years. This approaching population decline requires significant structural reform within the Russian military.

During the recent football extravaganza, the world discovered a Germany that at last seemed confident and optimistic. Can this new self-esteem last? This is a key question, not only for Germany but also for Europe and the U.S., who depend on Berlin's willingness and ability to help defend Western interests around the globe.

Hamburg, Germany—On a sunny Sunday afternoon this summer, aging couples window-shop on the chic Neuer Wall Street at the center of this port city in Germany’s northwest.

The stunning rout of the proposed EU constitution a year ago in the referenda in the Netherlands and France leads one to wonder, a year later, where Europe goes from here. One must also consider what went wrong and whether circumstances have changed, or will change, sufficiently to allow another approach to a European charter, as proposed by the European Council at their June gathering.

The Atlantic Council will host a presentation and discussion on the forthcoming Foreign Affairs article "The End of French Europe?" with Dr. Steven Kramer, Professor of Grand Strategy, National Defense University.  

Since 1989, the security environment facing the United States and its European allies has changed beyond recognition. The Soviet Union has disintegrated, as has the division of Europe between East and West, and new threats have arisen. The disintegration of Yugoslavia in the 1990s demonstrated that instability and war emerging from failing states could affect the peace and security of Europe.