Russian gas, and the power it gives Moscow, has become one of the main issues in international politics. Last year, Moscow used its ability to control Ukraine’s gas supply to interfere in Kiev politics. As European leaders huffed and puffed over Russia’s invasion of Georgia, the threat of having gas supplies cut off to parts
Barack Obama’s win yesterday signals, like nothing else could, that “America is back” – and back to deal with many of the world’s foreign policy challenges. After eight years of trying relations with the Bush administration, many European leaders have been looking forward to this day. However, these expectations carry significant risks. Many – mostly,
Every time the world seems a little more predictable – and even the most intractable conflicts develop a recognisable if horrifying humdrum – something explodes onto our TV screens to shock and surprise even the most hard-nosed conflict-watchers. That is what happened when fighting resumed in North Kivu province on October 25 between the Congolese
A few weeks ago, Gordon Brown appointed former first minister, Jack McConnell MSP, as a Special Envoy for Conflict Resolution – provoking accusations that the move was “blatant political manipulation” to avoid the possibility of a by-election defeat in McConnell’s Motherwell and Wishaw seat. The idea had originally been to appoint McConnell as the High
The news coming out of Afghanistan has gone from bad to worse. Now General Sir Michael Rose, ex-SAS chief and the former commander of UN forces during the Bosnian War, believes NATO forces in Afghanistan have “reached their limit”. Though he believes the insurgency can be held back by the international military campaign, NATO needs,
With an Obama administration almost statistically inevitable, attention is turning to the post-election struggle for positions and power. His current aides include Gregory Craig, Scott Gration, Ben Rhodes, Richard Danzig, Samantha Power, Tony Lake, and Susan Rice – a team which is said to funnel through Denis McDonough, an Obama confidante, who briefs the senator. But when it
This week William Hague is visiting Bosnia, trying to highlight the problems in the country 13 years after the Bosnian War that saw 100, 000 civilian die. His visit provides welcome attention to the country’s slide towards conflict; while he can helpfully distance the Tory party from the dastardly Conservative policy at the time, which
The appointment of Sir General David Richards as head of the British army, effective from August 2009, is the government’s first inspired military appointment for a long time. A former Nato commander in Afghanistan and the “Saviour of Sierra Leone”, General Richards will bring to the job a keen understanding of the military’s new tasks
Peter Mandelson is to take his seat in the House of Lords on Monday following his surprise return to the cabinet. But for one week he held the job of Secretary of State for Business, Enterprise & Regulatory Reform without having a seat in either the Commons or the Lords. He was presumably allowed to
The appointment of a new Defence Secretary is one of the best things in Gordon Brown’s reshuffle. Des Browne had grown tired at the MoD, struggling to maintain the respect of the rank and file, battling to oversee two ministerial portfolios and failing to manage crises, like the Iranian capture of British sailors. John Hutton’s
I don’t know if it’s a word, but it should be: Blog-crow intr.v. blog-crowed, blog-crow•ing, blog-crows 1. To exult loudly, as when a blogpost is proven right or prescient. First George Osborne picked up on CoffeeHouse’s proposal of a tax stop. On 19th August 2008 we wrote that a tax freeze “would bridge the gap between
With the departure of a Commissioner who is seen as an intellectual New Labour-style cop, there will be a desire for a copper’s copper at the head of the Met: someone who has risen up through the ranks, commands respect on the beat and is seen as focused on crime, not convention. But the Commissioner’s
Gordon Brown likes to think of himself as above anyone else when it comes to dealing with world of finance. A few years ago, he was late for a meeting with policy wonks in the Treasury and chortled condescendingly that he had just come off the phone with the fifth French Finance Minister in five
One of the Tory’s main plans is to cut the number of consultants working for various government departments. Without it, it is doubtful that a Conservative government would enable local authorities to freeze council tax (a policy that incidentally makes this blogger think the Shadow Chancellor reads Coffee House). The desire to cut the cost
The crisis in Georgia is now moving into the next phase, with the European Union about to deploy a team of unarmed monitors to police the EU-brokered agreement reached between Georgia and Russia. Further talks are expected to start up in Geneva in a month’s time between the parties, under the stewardship of French EU
After months of squabbling and years of tension, Ukraine’s ruling pro-Western coalition has officially collapsed. The country’s scar-faced President Viktor Yushchenko could no longer work with his photogenic Prime Minister, Yulia Tymoshenko. Tensions have been running high between the two leaders of the Orange Revolution for years and have recently been exacerbated by Russia’s war
Tonight at a fringe meeting at the Liberal Democrat conference, Paddy Ashdown gave a talk about Afghanistan. In the speech he quoted from a confidential memo he provided Gordon Brown in March when it looked like he would become the UN chief in Kabul. We do not have enough troops, aid or international will to
David Cameron’s recent visit to Afghanistan and Pakistan received relatively little press attention; showing just how exceptional the amount of coverage that Cameron’s statements on Georgia and trip there garnered were. In his address in Pakistan, Cameron once more set out his ‘liberal conservative’ agenda. Here’s the key passage of the speech: “A liberal Conservative
A few days after the EU summit to discuss Russia’s aggression in Georgia, debate across Europe is dividing into two camps. Not between those who back Russia and those who are baying for conflict, although this dividing line exists and is well-reported. The real division is over the meaning of the war for the future
On both sides of the Atlantic, foreign policy types are busy drawing up wish-lists of what they want the other to do once a new U.S. President is elected. More troops for Nato’s Afghan mission, says Barack Obama. No, retorts John McCain, support for sanctions against Iran is more important. Progress on Kyoto, say some
