From Deutsche Welle:  Respected diplomat Wolfgang Ischinger talks about Germany's decision to abstain from the UN Libyan vote and why despite the success of the NATO intervention, we won't likely see a spate of similar missions soon.

Recent months have powerfully brought to light that the enthusiasm for the idea of the European Union as a common home without borders is far from internalized by European societies.

From AFP:  Europe's grand defence project, already wounded by divisions over Libya, is stuck in a political no-man's land as Polish ambitions to revive it face indifference among allies.

From Ioan Mircea Pascu, the New Atlanticist:  While we, the former allies of the Soviet Union were watching attentively that behaviour, drawing the right conclusions in regard to our future security

From Ariella Huff, European Union Institute for Security Studies:  The launch of the EU’s Eastern Partnership in 2009 intended to signal a new, elevated level of EU engagement with its Eastern neighbourhood.

From Stephen Castle, Foreign Policy:  The crisis in Libya is a rare instance in which Europeans can plausibly claim to be outdoing Americans in foreign policy, and a rarer one still of the old world being more prepared than the new to use its military muscle.

From the DPA:  The European Union has been toying with the idea of creating a common defence policy for at least a decade. Diplomats say that the Libyan crisis has put an end to that illusion.

From Judy Dempsey, the New York Times:  Prime Minister David Cameron of Britain, President Nicolas Sarkozy of France and Chancellor Angela Merkel of Germany — fell short of calling for the resignation of President Hosni Mubarak of Egypt