Transatlantic Focus:
A U.S. Foreign Policy Newsletter

WELCOME FROM OUR AMBASSADOR

Welcome to the US Mission to NATO’s new bi-weekly electronic foreign policy newsletter – Transatlantic Focus.  Transatlantic Focus will feature articles and speeches relevant to NATO and U.S. policy.  Our goal is to highlight important issues that are critical to the Alliance in the twenty-first century. 

Over the past decade, NATO has transformed itself into an alliance that is able to use a full range of military and political assets to confront today’s greatest security challenges: terrorism, weapons of mass destruction, instability and trafficking in persons.  NATO forces are on the front lines of the War on Terror working to stabilize Iraq, Afghanistan, and the Balkans.

In addition, NATO has launched numerous cooperative endeavors with non-NATO countries.  Its renewed Partnership for Peace, its strengthened ties with Russia, and its initiatives to work with the nations of the Middle East to promote peace and security, all offer opportunities to extend outward the zone of peace and stability built on the Atlantic Alliance.

Thank you for your interest in the U.S. and NATO and I hope that you will find our newsletter useful and informative.

Ambassador R. Nicholas Burns
Permanent Representative
U.S. Mission to NATO

NATO and the Transatlantic Relation (2004-11 08) Remarks by R. Nicholas Burns, U.S. Permanent Representative to NATO Forum Bundeswehr and Gessellschaft 2004 Berlin, Germany 

FOCUS ON FOREIGN POLICY

Bush Reaches Out to International Community After Re-election (2004-11-04). One day after winning re-election, President Bush reached out to leaders around the world, calling for global cooperation in the war against terror. Bush said he would seek to work with U.S. friends and allies, including the EU and NATO, "to promote development and progress, to defeat the terrorists, and to encourage freedom and democracy as alternatives to tyranny and terror read more

Armitage Urges Active NATO Approach to International Security (2004-10-26). U.S. Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage says NATO is making "important progress" on the goals it established at the Istanbul Summit in June concerning operations in the Balkans, Afghanistan and Iraq, as well as the future of the alliance.  read more FR version française

U.S. Committed to Strong, Vibrant NATO, Bush Says(2004-11-10). The U.S. is committed "to a strong and vibrant NATO," President Bush said November 10 during a joint press briefing with NATO Secretary General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer. Bush praised NATO's "very constructive" role in Afghanistan as well as in the training of Iraqi security personnel.   read more

eJournal - U.S. Foreign Policy Agenda: The U.S. & NATO: An Alliance Of Purpose.  Adobe Acrobat version |zipped ASCII version. | FR version française

BACKGROUND BRIEFING

NATO’s assistance to Iraq NATO is helping Iraq provide for its own security by training Iraqi personnel and supporting the development of the country’s security institutions.
read more

Ayad Allawi, the Interim Prime Minister of Iraq, addressed NATO’s North Atlantic Council on 5 November 2004, thanking the Alliance for its support to his country.

>What is the aim of the operation?
>What does this mean in practice?
>How did this policy evolve?
>Who is in charge?
>Further details on this topic:

Hunter, Robert E.  A Forward-Looking Partnership, Foreign Affairs, September/October 2004, pp.14-18.

Robert E. Hunter is a Senior Adviser to the Rand Corporation. From 1993 to 1998, he served as U.S. Ambassador to NATO.

Full text available upon request
(to addresses in Belgium only)

New online publication "Road to Democracy" on Democracy in Afghanistan. read more

Transatlantic Focus: A U.S. Foreign Policy Newsletter
is published and distributed by the Public Affairs Section of the United States Mission to NATO - Brussels.