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At 60, NATO turning into NOT-O

Synopsis: NATO celebrated its 60th anniversary last week in Strasbourg, France.  The military/defense group had clarity of purpose back in 1949: stop Soviet aggression/expansion. However, since the fall of the USSR in 1991, the group has lost a bit of focus of mission and today’s NATO is nowhere near the cohesive tight military unit it once was.  The Plaid Avenger highlights a variety of issues that the organization is currently NOT doing so well at, from its relationship with Russia to the current war in Afghanistan.

At 60, NATO Faces Challenges Both Old and New

Kremlin ‘pushing Nato divisions’

NATO Struggles With Conflicting Views on Russia

Lukewarm Afghan commitment raises credibility issues for NATO

Keywords: NATO,  Cold War, USSR, Soviet, Russia, US, Western Europe, Eastern Europe, Afghanistan, Obama, Sarkozy, Merkel

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Gargantuan Global Gathering: G-20

The G-20 met this week, in what the Plaid Avenger predicts will be looked back upon as a hugely historic event. This meeting is the first time a truly representative group of the biggest movers and shakers has gotten together to truly try and solve some global problems. Unlike the UN, this tight 20-entity group has the capacity to actually get stuff done without the bloated bureaucracy bogging it down. It represents big changes in the global outlook of how to solve global problems…perhaps for the first time in history. The G-20 is now the premier institutions for problem solving on the global scale. How exciting!

The G-20: saying farewell to the ‘blue-eyed blond men’?

G-20 Meeting May Give Impetus to WTO Accord

Sarkozy: G20 Results “Beyond His Expectations”

Take heed from the G20’s emerging focus

Keywords: G-20, G-7, G-8, global economy, global issues, UN

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Hugo Almost Hu-Gone

Synopsis: Controversial Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez has successfully lobbied his country to scrap their constitutional clause on presidential term limits, thus allowing him to run for the office indefinitely. However, the Plaid Avenger argues that the world economic recession (which has not yet fully impacted Venezuela) combined with plummeting oil prices are going to seriously affect Chávez’s ability to continue to prop up his ‘Bolivarian’ socialist revolution. This will in turn erode his support base, leading to an extremely close election in 2012…and perhaps Hugo’s last.

Chavez steps up state control in food sector

Chávez orders takeover of US agriculture giant

Chavez Wins Referendum to Scrap Venezuela Term Limits

Chavez wins referendum vote as Venezuela’s crisis deepens

Venezuela says economic outlook stable in 2009

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Uncle Sam Kicked Out of Kyrgystan

Kyrgyzstan announced that it was closing a major US air base in their country which is a strategic center of the US-led NATO mission in Afghanistan. This comes one week after a promise of huge amounts of aid to Kyrgyzstan from the Russians, as well as a joint security venture including these two sates and others.  But the Russian motives are more complex than just pissing off the US. This move increases western reliance on Russia’s aid and influence to fight the Afghan campaign….thereby having a strategic lever by which to get what is wants out of the US/NATO, namely no more NATO meddling in Ukraine and Georgia, and possibly stopping the development of the proposed NATO missile defense shield in eastern Europe.

In the news:
Analysis: US base falls victim to Kyrgyz crisis

Russia’s Silver Bullet for Afghanistan

Kyrgyz vote on US base held up by Russian aid

Kazakhstan helps out US on Afghanistan

Russia Kicks U.S. Out of Kyrgyzstan

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