Five NATO countries plan to call for the removal of all U.S. tactical nuclear weapons from Europe, reports Agence France Presse (Pascal Mallet, “Allied bid for Obama to remove US European nuclear stockpile,” AFP, 19 February 2010). The five–Belgium, Germany, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, and Norway–include three of the four or five European NATO members that […]
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Dutch government falls over Afghanistan issue
The Dutch coalition government “collapsed” on Saturday due to differences over how the Netherlands should respond to a NATO request to extend the Dutch mission in Afghanistan past its scheduled end in August (“Dutch cabinet ‘collapses’ in dispute over Afghanistan,” BBC News, 20 February 2010). The nearly 2000-strong Dutch force deployed in Uruzgan province has […]
Hard power, fuzzy logic
Prime Minister Stephen Harper used the occasion of a visit to Canada’s aid efforts in Haiti on Tuesday to praise the virtues of his government’s spending on “hard power” items like the C-17 transport aircraft: “This fleet of new aircraft, the C-17 fleet, is a big part of making this response possible. I single out […]
Civilian deaths mar Afghan offensive
A highly-touted offensive to clear Taliban insurgents from a stronghold in Afghanistan’s Helmand province has been marred by reports of numerous civilian deaths. Over the course of two days, ISAF troops have been involved in as many as five separate incidents with civilians, leaving up to 20 non-combatants dead. This includes reports of up to twelve […]
Cluster bomb ban to enter into force August 1st
Good news from the Cluster Munition Coalition: Cluster bomb ban treaty reaches 30th ratification milestone Will become binding international law on 1 August 2010 (London, 16 February 2010) – Burkina Faso and Moldova ratified the international Convention banning cluster munitions today, bringing the total number of ratifications to 30 and triggering entry into force on […]
850 additional German troops to be deployed to Afghanistan
As promised by German Chancellor Angela Merkel at the recent London Conference on Afghanistan, the German cabinet has approved the deployment 850 additional German soldiers to Afghanistan (“The German cabinet approves deployment of an extra 850 soldiers to Afghanistan,” Deutsche-Welle, 9 February 2010). The increase, which still has to be approved by the Bundestag (the lower house […]