Cold war era fades further as Russia, NATO agree to 'reset' relations - Christian Science Monitor

Lisbon, Portugal

?In a speech last week to “young Atlanticists” - young people from Europe, the US, and Canada – NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen said he realized that to them, talking about the cold war must be akin to discussing the Peloponnesian War.

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Yet the six-decade-old North Atlantic defense alliance between Europe and North America has its origins in the cold war. And that is one reason that anyone a little older than Mr. Rasmussen’s audience could have been justifiably amazed at the degree of cooperation launched between NATO and its old nemesis, Russia, at this weekend’s NATO summit.

As Russian President Dmitry Medvedev joined NATO leaders including President Obama on Saturday, Russia formally agreed to expand its cooperation with the NATO effort in Afghanistan. Russia will allow more NATO supplies to pass through its territory, and for the first time agreed that non-lethal military equipment leaving Afghanistan can also exit across its borders.

Perhaps even more striking for anyone with memory of the cold war, Russia not only accepted NATO’s decision at the summit to develop a missile defense system to protect Europe’s territory and population from ballistic missile attack, but Mr. Medvedev also agreed to a plan for Russia and NATO to study missile defense cooperation and how the two might eventually coordinate their systems.

In a post-summit press conference, President Obama said that one advantage of launching NATO-Russia cooperation on missile defense was to demonstrate how “a topic of past tension can become a point of cooperation in the future.” Obama, who referred to Medvedev as “my friend and partner” – a characterization that hinted at what is one of the few warm relationships Obama has developed with a foreign leader – said that just as the US and Russia have “reset” their relations, “we are also resetting the NATO-Russia partnership.”

NATO’s reinvigorated cooperation with Russia – a process that began earlier in the decade, but was cut off in 2008 over Russia’s incursion into Georgia and occupation of two Georgian regions – was only one of the summit’s signs of the cold war era retreating further into history books. More broadly, the new “strategic concept” or mission statement the Alliance leaders adopted was a re-orientation of NATO away from the 20th-century threats of its origins to those of the 21st century.

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Opposition Mounts to US Plan for Israeli Settlement Freeze - Voice of America

Robert Berger | Jerusalem 21 November 2010

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu chairing the weekly meeting of his Cabinet (file photo)

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu convened his Cabinet to try to shore up support for a 90-day moratorium on settlement construction in the West Bank that is aimed at reviving Middle East peace talks.

Israel ended a 10-month moratorium in late September, prompting the Palestinians to suspend negotiations.

The United States has offered to sell Israel 20 advanced stealth fighter jets and to block anti-Israel resolutions at the United Nations Security Council in exchange for the settlement freeze.

But Mr. Netanyahu is having trouble winning support from his right-wing coalition partners.

Cabinet Minister Eli Yishai said his ultra-Orthodox Shas party opposes the freeze. But he said the party might reconsider, if the U.S. guarantees that it will not demand any further restrictions on settlement construction when the 90-day period expires.

The dovish Labor Party, on the other hand, supports the freeze.

Labor Cabinet Minister Avishai Braverman urged the prime minister to move quickly to get the peace talks back on track.

Outside of the Cabinet meeting, some 2,000 Jewish settlers held a noisy protest against the moratorium.

"We will never allow the Land of Israel to be divided!" said settlement leader Dani Dayan.

Speaking in Cairo, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas also rejected the freeze because it only applies to the West Bank.

He said he would not return to peace talks, unless Israel also stops settlement construction in disputed East Jerusalem, which the Palestinians claim as the capital of a future state. Israel says Jerusalem is not a settlement, and it reserves the right to build anywhere in the city.

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Ireland to apply for bail-out: Your comments - BBC News

21 November 2010 Last updated at 11:40 ET Ireland is set to apply for a multi-billion euro bailout from the EU and the IMF.

Finance minister Brian Lenihan put no figure on how much may be borrowed, but told RTE radio it would be "tens of billions" of euros.

BBC News website readers in Ireland have been e-mailing their reaction. You can read a selection of their comments below.

I am really worried for the future of this little country and I am unsure of the outcome of the IMF moving in here. If I had a choice I would leave here tomorrow. Kate Kelleher, Monard, County Tipperary

As an Irish citizen, I'm actually relieved that the IMF and EU are finally at the economic helm. I don't think any Irish political party, of any colour, has the guts or policies to implement the policies that will now be enacted under the bail-out. Mike, Ireland

We have a severe winter ahead with many hardships and a country reeling and shuddering from calamity to calamity. Terms and conditions that are part of any bail-out will have to be severe and so should be the treatment of unbelievably irresponsible so-called bankers. N R de Mowbray Jeffrey, Bantry, County Cork

I am most definitely worried. Ireland is about to be bought out and taken control of by some insurmountable legal contract - one more country to be gobbled up by the EU to do with as they wish. These are very worrying times. Ian, Ireland

As hard as things will be, I'm more hopeful for the future now. This country is screaming for a general election and this is now almost guaranteed within the next four months and maybe sooner. David O'Brien, Portlaoise

If Ireland was a limited company, it would have been placed into liquidation by now and the directors would be investigated and prosecuted for the reckless activities they engaged in. Andrew Bonehill, Dublin

I'm worried about the IMF terms but there is a sense that with the IMF here, at least we have people who know what they're doing. I want corporation tax to stay the same and I want senior bond holders of the banks to feel some of the pain. Lar O'Toole, Kilkenny

I think the arrival of the IMF and EU is positive for the country. They will impose economic measures on the Irish government which it has proved incapable of doing in the national interest. The Irish people will be informed of the true extent of the financial difficulties facing the country. Hopefully it will result in economic and political change for the good. David Fitzgerald, Kerry

The government should never have bailed out the banks. Every time the government pumps taxpayer money into the banks, their share prices go up only to fall again. Some people out there are making a lot of money. Anthony, Dundalk

Ireland would have been better served in the long term to default on the debts of its banks and perhaps leave the Euro. Taking responsibility for the failures of banks, both at home and abroad, is unjust. Robert Barrett, Kilkenny

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