The alliance is comprised of 26 nations, which normally are represented on the North Atlantic Council by an ambassador or permanent representative who is supported by a national delegation composed of advisers and officials who represent their country on different NATO committees. NATO has added new members seven times since forming in 1949. Albania and Croatia are expected to formally join the alliance in April 2009.

NATO at 60

THE THREE FACES OF NATO. Richard K. Betts, The National Interest, March-April 2009, pp. 31-38. "The cold war is over, but NATO lives on. Without a unifying Soviet threat, the alliance is facing an identity crisis. Torn between being a club for democracies and a means for fighting offensive wars, NATO has expanded right up to Russia’s front door, becoming ever more threatening to the resurgent power. Without a serious rethink of NATO’s fundamental purpose, the alliance could well come apart and create conflict with the former Soviet Union in the process." READ MORE

THE MYTH OF A NO-NATO-ENLARGEMENT PLEDGE TO RUSSIA. Mark Kramer, The Washington Quarterly, April 2009, pp. 39-61. "Recently declassified evidence undermines the contention that top-level assurances were provided to Gorbachev in 1990 not to enlarge NATO either eastward or to former Soviet states. No such assurances were ever given or sought." READ MORE

DOES A MULTI-TIER NATO MATTER? THE ATLANTIC ALLIANCE AND THE PROCESS OF STRATEGIC CHANGE. Timo Noetzel, Benjamin Schreer, International Affairs, March 2009, pp. 211-226. "This year NATO will celebrate its 60th anniversary. So far the world's most powerful military alliance has been a remarkable success story. However, as the first decade of the new century draws to a close there appears to be a widening strategic rift among the allies. 'Two-tier NATO' is by now an established piece of shorthand in international strategic debate to indicate an 'alliance à la carte ' divided into two or more factions of member states with divergent interests. Evidently, the alliance increasingly struggles to reach consensus on a whole range of strategic issues. So is NATO on a path to disintegration and, ultimately, to failure?" READ MORE

NATO AT 60. Mats Berdal and David Ucko, Survival, March 2009, pp. 55-76. "As NATO turns 60 in April 2009, celebrations will be tempered by the continuing difficulties it faces in Afghanistan. The Alliance's first operation outside the Euro-Atlantic area has revealed a major gap between grand ambitions and actual capability. Central to this problem is the political disunity among NATO's member-states. The Strasbourg-Kehl summit may provide an opportunity to rethink what can most realistically be expected from NATO in terms of its contribution to international peace and security. Here, much can be learnt from the manner in which it has thus far responded to changing strategic circumstances since the Cold War, and the constraints, internal and external, that have impinged on its activities and are likely to continue to do so. The evidence points to a need for NATO to bring its exalted political purposes into closer alignment with its actual military missions and capabilities. The Alliance still has a potentially important role to play, but greater realism is needed both as to its strengths and its weaknesses." READ MORE

NATO's 60TH BIRTHDAY. Strategic Comments, March 2009, var. pages. "While celebrating 60 years of achievement at their upcoming April summit, NATO members must also face the difficult challenges ahead. France's recently announced return to the alliance's integrated military structure will be important. However, the new Obama administration will also be seeking extra contributions in Afghanistan, relations with Russia must be discussed and a new strategic concept needs commissioning. READ MORE

Vanishing Jobs

VANISHING JOBS: WILL THE PRESIDENT'S PLAN REDUCE UNEMPLOYMENT? Peter Katel, The CQ Researcher, March 13, 2009, pp. 225-248. "The news is grim and getting grimmer. The jobless rate recently hit 8.1 percent — the highest level in a quarter-century. American workers lost 651,000 jobs in February alone. All told, more than 12.5 million Americans are jobless — including 2.9 million who have been unemployed for at least 27 weeks. The nation is banking on the Obama administration's newly enacted, $787 billion 'economic stimulus' bill to spark job growth through government spending on infrastructure projects and other programs. Conservatives argue that the spending won't help, and some liberals say the magnitude of the crisis calls for still more stimulus money. The huge spending measure also includes funds to encourage states to expand eligibility for unemployment insurance, though some governors are resisting on the grounds that their states will wind up footing future bills. With no quick turnaround predicted, creating or saving jobs will remain the top priority for President Barack Obama and the millions of citizens counting on his administration's rescue plan." READ MORE

CHINA'S MILLIONS OF JOBLESS MIGRANTS. Michael Anti, World Policy Journal, Spring 2009, pp. 27–32. "Tens of millions of China’s internal migrants are finding the city and manufacturing jobs for which they left their hardscrabble life in remote rural areas of the interior have all but evaporated as the Western world no longer can afford billions upon billions of pairs of snazzy footwear they once turned out for what now seems like the princely wage of $10 a day." READ MORE

RECESSION HITS HOME, FROM ABROAD. Eva Sanchis, World Policy Journal, Spring 2009, pp. 53–59. "Across Latin America, but especially in the more fragile corners, such as Haiti and vast stretches of Mexico, the emigration of millions of their citizens to the United States, often illegally, has meant survival, even prosperity over the past several decades. The remittances, or money transfers sent back home, have allowed families and communities left behind to move from shanties to houses, build health care facilities and schools, feed and clothe the most deeply impoverished, and open factories and businesses that could lead, eventually, to self-sustaining economic growth without recourse to the wired funds that helped them emerge from bare subsistence. But with increasing unemployment among the migrant communities abroad, the well no longer appears bottomless." READ MORE

Web 2.0

HILL TUNES IN TO NEW MEDIA. Casey Winter. National Journal. March 7, 2009.  Lawmakers' growing awareness of the Internet's importance to campaigns and of their constituents' increasing desire to connect and gather information on the Web has led to a growing use of social media in Congress. Members are hiring new-media experts to extend their reach on the Web, Facebook, MySpace, Twitter and YouTube. Some new-media staffers like Matt Lira, who works for Representative Eric Cantor of Virginia, attends senior staff meetings so that integration with new media is considered on a daily basis. New-media staffers hope members of Congress will continue to expand their use of these tools as they come to see it as essential for promoting their agendas. READ MORE

MODERN WAYS TO SELL TRADITIONAL ART.  Stephen Doherty. American Artist, April 2009, pp. 30-6.  Today's Van Goghs aren't sending letters; they're probably Hogging and starting conversations with many other artists and collectors, thus creating what may someday be a historic archive of artistic development What all this means is that an aspiring artist can visit a website like those maintained by Terpening or American Artist and watch a painting demonstration, read the list of recommended materials, invite critiques from other artists, learn about other artists painting the same subjects in the same styles, upload paintings and solicit comments, enroll in a distance-learning course, enter a juried competition, or read blog posts written moments ago about a painting in progress. [...] the artists I admire most are the landscape painters who capture the vitality and character of nature. READ MORE

Politics

THE FUTURE OF THE GOP.  CAN REPUBLICANS STAGE A COMEBACK?  Alan Greenblatt.  CQ Researcher, March 20, 2009, PP.  251-271.  Last November's sweeping election of Barack Obama and further losses in Congress presented Republicans with their worst defeat in more than a decade. Republicans recognize that they are at a low ebb but believe they still have a firm foundation for success. Congressional Republicans have decided to oppose Obama's spending proposals, rather than trying to collaborate in a bipartisan fashion. They believe a clear statement of core party principles — lower taxes and limited government — will still be popular. Others aren't convinced, arguing that the party must adapt to challenges it faces among minorities, the young and voters outside the South. Other parties have snapped back quickly from similar losses, but some predict that Republicans face a long period in the political wilderness. Meanwhile, it's not clear who speaks for the party — the congressional leadership, potential presidential aspirants such as Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin and Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal, or even radio talk-show host Rush Limbaugh.

Transparency and Government

WHAT WE DIDN’T KNOW HAS HURT US.  Clint Hendler.  Columbia Journalism Review, January/February 2009, pp.  The author contends that some of the measures to maintain the extreme secrecy of the executive branch enacted by the Bush presidency may be easy to unpick by an executive order of the Obama administration. Others, resulting from court rulings or entrenched bureaucratic traditions, will be more difficult to reverse. President Obama promised in his campaign and since his election he would restore transparency and improve information sharing. The author details some of the battles fought over freedom of information during the Bush administration, including the Sunshine in Government Initiative formed by the Associated Press. READ MORE

The future of Journalism

THE FUTURE OF JOURNALISM.  WILL NEWSPAPERS' DECLINE WEAKEN JOURNALISM? Tom Price.  CQ Researcher, March 27, 2009, pp. 275-295.  Thomas Jefferson once famously remarked that if he had to choose between government without newspapers or newspapers without government, he wouldn't hesitate to preserve newspapers. Today, however, newspapers across the country are declining in circulation, advertising and profitability. Some are ceasing to publish. Others are reducing or closing Washington and state-capital bureaus, laying off staff and cutting back the news coverage they provide. Many journalists, scholars, political activists and government officials worry that government without newspapers could be on the horizon, and that citizens then would be unable to obtain sufficient information for effective self-government. As more Americans turn to the Internet and cable television for news, however, others are hopeful that new forms of journalism will fill the gaps. Meanwhile, newspapers are attempting to give themselves new birth online. READ MORE

Middle East Elusive Peace