Cyprus Remains Biggest Hurdle For Turkey’s EU Accession

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Amidst the analysis of Turkey’s “eastern turn” and the ruling Justice and Development Party’s (AKP) alleged ambivalence toward Europe, the ongoing political conflict among Turkey, Greece, Turkish Cypriots, Greek Cypriots, and the European Union over Cyprus remains the largest obstacle to Turkey’s European Union accession.

Guest Post by Jonathan Guyer: Psst. Dick.

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Jonathan Guyer is a program associate at the New America Foundation/Middle East Task Force. Watching Al Jazeera English following President Obama’s Afghan speech, I was struck by Riz Kahn’s question about where Special Representative Richard Holbrooke fits into all of this.

New Media Roundtable on Britain’s Approach to Soft Power

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As part of the New America Foundation/American Strategy Program‘s new media roundtable series, I am hosting a small roundtable discussion today with British Council CEO Martin Davidson and British Council Board Member and communications expert Raoul Shah. The event will run from 3pm to 4pm EST and will stream live here at The Washington Note….

Thoughts on the AfPak Speech

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Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy Here are some of my early thoughts on President Obama’s Afghanistan-Pakistan “Way Forward” speech from a clip I did with Keith Olbermann on Countdown tonight. I said 40,000 troops in my opening comments when I meant 30,000 troops.

Guest Note by Lawrence Wilkerson: Damned if You Do and Damned If You Don’t

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This is a guest note by former Department of State Chief of Staff Lawrence B. Wilkerson. Wilkerson is the Pamela C. Harriman Visiting Professor of Government and Public Policy at the College of William Mary Damned if You Do and Damned If You Don’t President Obama is in a corner.

Does Joe Biden Win or Lose in Obama Afghanistan Review?

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From what we know of Joe Biden’s “skunk at the White House picnic” skepticism of increasing troop deployments to Afghanistan during President Obama’s three month strategy review process, it would appear — on the surface — that Biden didn’t come up with the winning hand.

Media Alerts: The Big Afghanistan Speech

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Greetings from Berlin where I’m having a very productive set of meetings organized by the Konrad Adenauer Foundation. Way busy today — much to post on at a later time, but the big news now is that in a few hours President Barack Obama will be outlining his revised Afghanistan policy at West Point.