Part I: Series IntroductionPart II: NATO Reintegration and European Defense PARIS — In assessing the strategic environment to which the Livre Blanc, France’s strategic posture review, must respond, none of the French officials and experts interviewed by World Politics Review could really speak with much certainty. Taken together, the conversations we had gave the distinct impression that outside of the stable if evolving configurations of the European Union and the Atlantic alliance, France’s emerging strategic vision is driven more by questions than by answers. Russia’s determination to reclaim its former influence presents both opportunities for partnership and more alarming scenarios [...]
Twenty-six Americans are presently being tried in absentia in an Italian court for the 2003 abduction of the Egyptian cleric Osama Mostafa Hassan Nasr: better known, as “Abu Omar.” The Americans are accused of having kidnapped Nasr as part of the CIA’s program of “extraordinary renditions.” They are supposed to have held him in an American military base before “rendering” him to Egypt for interrogation. Seven Italian intelligence officials who allegedly aided in the operation have been charged as well. Last month, the New York Times, Associated Press, and Los Angeles Times all ran stories citing in dramatic and sometimes [...]
The macroeconomic analysis site RGE Monitor (subscription only) reports that Africa appears to be in the midst of a telecommunications boom. “Mobile phones now account for more than 90% of lines in Africa as mobile-phone technology has made owning a phone affordable and convenient for the first time,” the site says. “Africa has added 65 million new subscribers during 2007.” Roughly 250 million people in Africa are now cell phone subscribers, but with a contintent-wide population of 900 million, there remains a lot of room for growth. The RGE Monitor also says that developing-world multinationals are taking advantage of the [...]
