NATO and Israel share many and very important strategic interests. The broader Middle East is where the strategic tectonic plates of our world are colliding now. The inter-German border was the central front of the Cold War for many decades; today if there is a central front between civilization and barbarism it runs through the Middle East. It is no longer just a cause of nationalism, what we see in the region today is a matter of freedom versus fanaticism; of respect to the international norms versus rogue behaviors; of mutual coexistence versus mutual destruction. Download PDF

Engaging in the battle of ideas is something that not because one repeats it over and over, becomes real; it is more a common idea than an idea with content. Neocons, classical liberals, conservatives demand to wage it, but the fact is that they are not waging it. The Right gets stuck in too generic ideas; individual freedom, dignity of man, free market. Download PDF

NATO has lived in a permanent state of paradox over the last few years: on the one hand it is doing more than anyone could ever have imagined; but at the same time this frenetic activity has not prevented doubters from questioning its meaning time and again. The institutional hyperactivity and ongoing operations coexist with doubts about whether NATO will survive the strategic challenges of the 21st century. Download PDF Descargar PDF

So far Zapatero’s post-modern approach to Spain’s economic crisis seems based on three reality-evading pillars: denial, passing the blame, and more denial. His Plan A has involved a pop psychology campaign advising Spaniards that “pessimism does not create jobs.” Plan B blamed “radical liberalism” which in euro-speak means the free market. Zapatero now wants to implement Plan C, a global advertising campaign in the world financial press designed to highlight his economic non-crisis management skills.

So far, Zapatero and his cabinet are locked (smugly) in a state of denial, willfully blinded to the fact that immigration in Spain is spiraling out of control. (The former Minister for Labor and Immigration, Jesús Caldera, says that runaway immigration simply proves that Spain is “the envy of Europe.”) Much easier, it seems, for Zapatero to lecture other countries than to acknowledge his own shortcomings. Download PDF

Spain must learn from other European countries and adopt clear measures for restraining the power of radicalized messages. They cannot worry that they are violating rights or sacrificing liberties. It is not about sacrificing rights. It is instead about protecting democracy and freedom; it is about fighting against the enemies of democracy and freedom that are in our midst and just outside our borders. Download PDF Descargar PDF

French President Nicolas Sarkozy says he will decide by late 2008 or early 2009 whether France will fully rejoin the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO). It is one of the more important issues left unresolved at the recently concluded Bucharest Summit, where Sarkozy proclaimed: “I reaffirm here France’s determination to pursue the process of renovating its relations with NATO.” Download PDF

The issue of influx of foreign Salafist jihadists has become a well-known reality since September 2007. Everyone seems to think that if this influx were stopped, it would substantially contribute to the resolution of this conflict. Because of this new reality, it is potentially easier to fight back. Anthony H. Cordesman’s very well-documented analyses, published by the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) in Washington D.C.,have contributed the understanding ofcomplex issues such as the mysteries of Salafist jihadist terrorism on Iraqi soil [1. However, the intervention by Coalition forces last September in Sinjar, about 10 kilometers from the Syrian border, unraveled a substantial file with more than 700 incidences of foreign jihadists arriving in the country since August 2006. Download PDF Descargar PDF

Voters in Spain will elect a new government on March 9. The highly competitive race pits the leader of the conservative opposition Popular Party (PP), Mariano Rajoy, against the incumbent Socialist Prime Minister José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero. Download PDF

In his well-known Sunday editorial published on November 18, “PP Can Still Win the Elections,” Pedro J. Ramírez, executive editor of the newspaper El Mundo, discussed the need for a “centrist and liberal” project which he feels PP should carry out between now and March, in order to increase its chances of winning the general elections. He suggests they can win over Zapatero if they offer this project as an alternative to socialism. Download PDF Descargar PDF

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