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A careful selection and summary of editorials, commentaries, and analyses from the world’s leading newspapers and magazines to help you stay on top of the latest debates and developments in the transatlantic agenda. See list of monitoring sources.
Readers can also see how the perspectives and priorities diverge in different regions.

Wiki Leaks Illustrate Pakistani Double-Dealing

The documents posted by Wiki Leaks show that Pakistan continues to double deal the West. ++ While accepting aid money, Islamabad persists in “using militant Islamists to further its ideological and strategic goals.” ++ The United States needs to increase pressure on the Pakistani military to sever its ties to the Taliban. ++ In the long term, however, the destabilizing role Islamabad plays regionally and internationally will not change unless “Pakistan ceases to be a garrison state.”

Economic Opportunity Trumps Terrorism

Clearing insurgents is only the first step in ridding Afghanistan and Pakistan of terrorism. ++ If economic opportunities are not made available, local populations will continue to turn to the Taliban and al-Qaeda. ++ The current congressional bill on Reconstruction Opportunity Zones, which would reduce the U.S. tariff on textile exports from the two countries, must overcome disagreements over labor standards. ++ “It seems a bit surreal to be planning against exploitation on an impoverished frontier where any job is better than none at all.”

EU Tries to Get Iran to Talk

With new sanctions in place, the European Union is attempting to get Iran back to the table for talks on its nuclear program. ++ "A new diplomatic window of opportunity" is opening at the end of Ramadan, as EU High Representative Catherine Ashton plans to meet with the Iranians in Istanbul. ++ Up to now, Iranian proposals have constituted no more than a smoke screen. ++ As a result, there are fears that unsuccessful talks will renew "the question of Europe's political salience and the efficacy of its sanctions."

Turkey Turning East but Looking West

Western opinion holds that Turkey is turning East, but Ankara is actually pursuing a policy centered on its economic and geographic power. ++ Europe remains a key goal, but Turkey has diversified its alliances and no longer depends on the will of its American and European partners. ++ It has isolated the PKK by cultivating relationships with its neighbors, and this peace pays extra dividends in the form of economic growth. ++ "Common national interests rather than old geopolitical blocs" shape Turkey’s new relationship with the West.

Beef Up the Budget of the I.M.F.

The International Monetary Fund needs to increase its available resources and adjust its policies to new economic realities. ++ Flexible and precautionary credit lines that guarantee some measure of protection against the aftershocks of a global financial crisis are a step in the right direction. ++ The Fund’s credibility would be enhanced in the developing world if it would abandon its Eurocentric leadership policy. ++ “A strong, credible and well-financed fund is absolutely essential for global economic stability.”

Torpedoing Russian-Kyrgyz Friendship

Following the New START Treaty with the United States, the "Shkval" torpedo is more important than ever to Russian naval defense. ++ Key components are manufactured in Kyrgyzstan, where control over the factory has become an important bargaining chip of interim President Otunbayeva's dealings with Moscow. ++ Yet the Kyrgyz are dragging their feet. ++ This may well be due to Chinese efforts, since it is more of "a realistic geopolitical goal for China rather than the Americans" to sabotage the process.

Pakistan and India: The Keys to Kabul

Even though the Afghanistan Conference resolved to withdraw troops by 2014, the Kabul government has little incentive to take on the responsibility "as long as NATO remains the guarantor of Kabul's security." ++ However, the handover should not be put off indefinitely. ++ India and Pakistan should promote the peace process by cooperating more on the Afghan issue. ++ This would foster relations between the two states as well. ++ For that to happen, however, Islamabad will have to stop pretending "that it holds all the keys to Kabul."

Missile-defense Cooperation is a Joint Priority

North America, Europe, and Russia should work together to create a Euro-Atlantic security system based on trilateral missile-defense cooperation. ++ Political rather than technical obstacles have been the main stumbling blocks. ++ The design and implementation of the new security architecture must be based on a joint assessment of threats and shared equally by the three partners. ++ This moment must not “slip by, or be sabotaged by narrow-minded concerns, or take a back seat to things easier done.”

Georgian Lessons for the Ukrainian Opposition

The fact that Georgia has had a more successful democratic transition than the Ukraine may be a generational matter. ++ Members of Saakashvili's administration are on average ten years younger than most Ukrainian politicians. ++ To emulate the Georgian successes, members of the Ukrainian opposition need a crash course in English and economics. ++ It would also help their cause if they paid a few well-connected lobbyists in Brussels and Washington to write at least one editorial a month for a major Western news outlet.

The Special Relationship is No Longer So Special

David Cameron’s first visit to the White House will be accompanied by the usual pomp and circumstance, but the special relationship between the UK and the US is devoid of any real substance. ++ Obama and Cameron do not share common ground on domestic or economic issues, and the UK has lost its significance in trade to the EU. ++ With the legacies of 9/11 and Iraq fading, the relationship with the UK is far down the list of US priorities. ++ Cameron and the Tories must accept reality: the UK needs Europe.