On March 9, GMF, in cooperation with the Friedrich Ebert Stiftung (FES), hosted an event in Brussels that featured Kevin Rosner's paper, "Russian Coal: Europe's New Energy Challenge." The paper looks at the complex relationship between natural gas and coal within Russia's energy and power sector and how this relationship influences energy security and climate change. Europe receives large quantities of its natural gas from Russia.
In this paper, authors Nigel Purvis and Andrew Stevenson argue that the most dangerous thing Europe and the United States could do is ignore the strategic implications of Copenhagen and fall back into old strategies with a new sense of patience. They recommend a fundamental shift in thinking.
F. Stephen Larrabee, distinguished chair in European Security at the Rand Corporation, and Katinka Barysch, deputy director at the Centre for European Reform, have joined the Transatlantic Academy as Bosch Public Policy fellows.
Prior to the European Commission's confirmation vote in the European Parliament in February, Maria Jose Fialho, Head of the Transatlantic Relations Unit to the executive branch in the European Parliament, spoke with GMF to outline the differences between EU public hearings and U.S. confirmation hearings in the Senate.
On February 24, the German Marshall Fund of the United States (GMF) hosted a luncheon roundtable discussion on NATO and Afghanistan: the Ambassadors’ Perspective, featuring Ambassador Ivo Daalder, permanent U.S. representative for NATO, Ambassador Kim Traavik, permanent Norwegian representative for NATO, and Ambassador Stefano Stefanini, permanent Italian representative for NATO. GMF Executive Vice President Karen Donfried moderated the event. The roundtable focused on the future of Afghanistan, NATO’s mission there, and the implications of that mission for NATO.
In this GMF Podcast, Patrick Messerlin, director of the Group d’Economie Mondiale at Sciences-Po in Paris, discusses how US-EC bilateral services liberalization would benefit consumers and service providers on both sides of the Atlantic. Moreover, Messerlin argues that as bilateral preferential liberalization is inherently costly to both stakeholders, incorporating additional countries could ensure that approximately eighty percent of world production in services is covered. Concurrently, encompassing multiple parties in negotiations would reaffirm a commitment to the multilateral trading system by demonstrating a successful shift from bilateral to multiparty services liberalization negotiations.
WASHINGTON (February 23, 2010) — The German Marshall Fund of the United States (GMF) announced today that 55 emerging European leaders representing 22 countries have been awarded the prestigious Marshall Memorial Fellowship (MMF) for 2010. During the 24-day traveling program, Fellows will develop extensive knowledge of political, economic, and social institutions and issues facing the United States.
On February 18, GMF and the Friedrich Naumann Stiftung Für Die Freiheit hosted a panel discussion entitled "The First 80 Days: Is the Lisbon Treaty Working for Europe? And for the U.S.?" which analyzed the effect of the Lisbon Treaty on the EU and transatlantic relations. The panelists included the Honorable Werner Hoyer, Deputy Foreign Minister at the German Foreign Office and Dr. Charles A. Kupchan, senior fellow for Europe studies at the Council on Foreign Relations and professor of international affairs at the Walsh School of Foreign Service at Georgetown University.
On February 18, GMF’s Balkan Trust for Democracy (BTD), in cooperation with the Belgrade Fund for Political Excellence, hosted EU High Representative for Foreign and Security Policy Catherine Ashton, along with other prominent representatives of civil society for a meeting in Serbia.
The complete remarks of Catherine Ashton are below:
On February 17, the German Marshall Fund of the United States (GMF) hosted a book discussion and debate on A Little War That Shook the World: Georgia, Russia, and the Future of the West by GMF Brussels Executive Director Ronald D. Asmus. Published by Palgrave Macmillan, the book discusses the causes and implications of the Russia-Georgia war of August 2008. Asmus was joined by Stephen Hadley, former national security advisor to George W. Bush.
A summary of the book and its public reception can be found here.
On February 7, Ukraine held a second round of presidential elections in which Viktor Yanukovych defeated Yulia Tymoshenko. This photo essay, by GMF Bratislava Office Director Pavol Demes, highlights five years of developments between these key political figures, as well as Viktor Yushchenko.
This report highlights GMF convening events, networking programs, research, and grantmaking initiatives in 2009. A letter from GMF President Craig Kennedy is included along with financial and partner information. The Annual Report is downloadable as a large PDF file, with interactive links throughout, below:
GMF also releases its second Audio Annual Report, a compilation of highlights from GMF's top podcasts and events in 2009. This audio piece is a supplement the 2009 print annual report and is available for download below:
James T. Kolbe, senior transatlantic fellow at the German Marshall Fund of the United States, has been appointed to the Advisory Committee of the Export-Import Bank of the United States for 2010. The committee provides the Export-Import Bank with expert guidance from various sectors of the economy to strengthen its support of U.S. exports.
GMF launches new analysis series, Focus on Ukraine, about Ukraine's 2010 presidential election. GMF will provide regular analysis briefs by leading American and European writers and intellectuals framing the developments in Ukraine into a transatlantic and international context.
GMF releases new analysis piece for its On Turkey series examining Turkey's EU candidacy. GMF provides regular analysis briefs by leading Turkish, European, and American writers and intellectuals, with a focus on dispatches from on-the-ground Turkish observers.
GMF is now on Twitter! Feel free to subscribe at http://twitter.com/gmfus or @gmfus. GMF will post updates of podcast, publications, and other content to Twitter in addition to here on http://www.gmfus.org.
In 2008 and 2009, the Balkan Trust for Democracy supported the Balkan Community Initiatives Fund program for Youth and Media. This program offers young people in the Balkan region the opportunity to learn about journalism which engages them in their communities and gives them opportunities for employment.
This month’s vote by the Committee on Foreign Affairs in the U.S. House of Representatives condemning the mass slaughter of Ottoman Armenians during WWI as “genocide” is being cast as the final blow to Turkish-Armenian reconciliation. The bill might have been quashed had the parliament in Turkey ratified a set of protocols that would have established diplomatic ties and re-opened the border
between Turkey and Armenia.
Taking stock of recent changes in the natural gas market, this brief explores the implications for transatlantic relations and interdependence between Europe and the Southern Mediterranean.
Could the emergence
of a nuclear Iran be accommodated comfortably in the Turkish security scene? Or would it spell a fundamental and negative transformation of the strategic environment? The answer to this question should inform the Turkish calculus as the international community grapples with the challenge of a near-nuclear Iran.
Don’t jump to simple conclusions about Turkish-Israeli relations. The periodic crises between Turkey and Israel are more a function of structural causes and the changing strategic environment in the region than the proclivities of the principal actors.
A quarrel has erupted within the Turkish judiciary over an investigation into Operation Sledgehammer- an alleged plot by some elements in the military to take over the government. Despite complaints of improprieties committed in the process of arresting people and searching homes, the government has decided to back the investigation.
Valladao’s analysis explores the Latin American experience in building regional cooperation, and offers possible lessons for integration efforts in North Africa.
Everyone is talking about the super alliance between China and America, but there is a new long-term partner for Washington on the rise; its importance for the new evolving world order is growing as rapidly as its economy – this is India.
It would be little exaggeration to say that India-U.S. ties may produce the first egalitarian great power defense partnership since the Sino-Soviet split, and would therefore be unlike any other relationship in recent memory.
As China grows more powerful, the diplomatic game becomes harder, something the Obama administration discovered to its dismay in year one of its China policy.
Why Japan is Important to the West Asia Program
Michael J. Green, Senior Advisor and Japan Chair, Center for Strategic and International Studies
Just as the United States has gone back-and-forth on the strategic importance of Japan, Tokyo has debated the nature of its role in the international system. The resulting oscillation by both states necessitates
a careful examination of Japan’s importance. The U.S.-Japan security alliance enables strategic stability in Asia, and Japan remains both a potent economic force and a democratic anchor in the region. Both the United States and its European allies must consequently step up strategic dialogue and cooperation with Japan.
Nearly a year after Turkish President Abdullah Gül declared that “good things are going to happen concerning the Kurdish issue,” the government’s attempts to solve what remains the country’s knottiest problem appear to have fizzled out. Both sides are blaming the other for this worsening state of affairs.
In this paper, authors Nigel Purvis and Andrew Stevenson argue that the most dangerous thing Europe and the United States could do is ignore the strategic implications of Copenhagen and fall back into old strategies with a new sense of patience. They recommend a fundamental shift in thinking.
On February 7, Ukraine held a second round of presidential elections in which Viktor Yanukovych defeated Yulia Tymoshenko. 
In 2008 and 2009, the Balkan Trust for Democracy supported the Balkan Community Initiatives Fund program for Youth and Media. This program offers young people in the Balkan region the opportunity to learn about journalism which engages them in their communities and gives them opportunities for employment. 
