Section: US & Canada
Ashton Carter likely next US defense secretary: report
Washington (AFP) – The former number-two ranking official at the Pentagon, Ashton Carter, likely will be named as the next US defense secretary, CNN reported Tuesday.President Barack Obama was poised to name Carter to replace outgoing Pentagon chief Chuck Hagel, “barring any last minute complications,” CNN reported, citing...
NATO alliance approves rapid reaction force
Croatian Foreign Minister Vesna Pusic, left, speaks with Czech Republic’s Foreign Minister Lubomir Zaoralek, right, during a round table meeting of the NATO-Ukraine Commission at NATO headquar… …read more Source: The Bismarck...
RCAF aid flights to Ukraine provided photo ops for Conservative MP
Canada’s junior defence minister has twice accompanied the delivery of non-lethal military aid to Ukraine in photo-friendly events which initially caught the air force off guard, Murray Brewster of the Canadian Press reports. Here is the rest of Murray Brewster’s article: A series of documents released under the Access to Information...
The Long Game vs. Today’s Global Challenges
This post is adapted from remarks made at Yale University on December 1, 2014. This is not the welcome I get when I walk into the UN Security Council. I should come here more often. It is, it’s wonderful, truly wonderful, very moving for me to back. I came to Yale from Atlanta, Georgia. I went to a public high school in Atlanta, Georgia;...
Ukraine, rebels agree to new cease-fire
New agreement seeks what many others have failed; hostilities scheduled to end on Friday …read more Source:...
Russia Defiant, EU Says Pipeline’s Demise Shows Need For Diversity
The European Union said Russia’s surprise abandonment of the South Stream pipeline project underscored the need for diverse energy sources, while Moscow vowed to find other ways to get its natural gas to paying clients. …read more Source: Radio Free Europe / Radio...
Change of leadership in Crimea means property grab
[…] an Associated Press investigation throughout this peninsula the size of Massachusetts found many instances of less noble practices: legal owners strong-armed off their premises; buildings, farms and other prime real estate seized on dubious pretenses, or with no legal justification at all; non-payment of the compensation mandated by the...
End Of South Stream: Winners & Losers
Russian President Vladimir Putin on December 1 announced that Russia was abandoning plans for the South Stream natural gas pipeline meant to supply energy directly to Europe without transit through Ukraine. Who are the winners and losers if Putin makes good on his word? …read more Source: Radio Free Europe / Radio...
Change of leadership in Crimea means property grab
YALTA, Crimea (AP) — One day in October, a dozen armed men in masks drove up to the gates of Yalta Film Studios. They weren’t actors, and this was no make-believe…. …read more Source: Associated...
Russia’s Brain Drain Is Astounding
Russia is experiencing another major brain drain. Although emigration was continuously decreasing from 1997 to 2011, there was a sudden spike in people leaving the country around the third term of President Vladimir Putin, according to Rosstat, Russia’s federal state statistics service. In 2012, almost 123,000 people left, and in 2013, more...
