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Changing German Views Point to a Brighter Future for EU Foreign Policy

The European Union is not known for its hard power. Despite its status as an economic and regulatory superpower, the EU has consistently failed to exert true influence in crises …

Jeff Rathke on European Defense Agenda with Smaller U.S. Footprint in DefenseNews

AGI President Jeff Rathke discusses German defense minister Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer’s call for the European Union to prepare for the possibility of a U.S. disengagement from European security–regardless of election outcome: …

Jeff Rathke discusses Neo-Nazis in German Army Ranks with CBSN

AGI President Jeff Rathke spoke with CBS News about the recent report by The New York Times on growing evidence of neo-Nazis infiltrating special forces in the Germany’s military. Mr. Rathke …

Helmut Kohl and NATO Enlargement: The Search for the Post-Cold War Order

NATO Enlargement as Order-Building Diplomacy Helmut Kohl’s achievements as a statesman go well beyond Germany’s unification. In the second half of his sixteen-year tenure, Kohl played a major role in …

Jeff Rathke discusses U.S. troop withdrawal from Germany with Washington Post

AGI President Jeff Rathke discusses President Trump’s plan to withdraw one-third of U.S. troops stationed in Germany with The Washington Post’s Karen DeYoung. He notes, “For those who think this …

Promoting Integration and Avoiding Isolation. A Brief History of Germany’s Participation in NATO’s Nuclear Statecraft

Currently, Germany is struggling to decide on a successor for its aging Tornado aircraft. Some of the ancient Tornados are essential to carry forward deployed U.S. nuclear bombs and thus …

Returning to the Past to Win the Future: The SPD in Search of a Long-Term Strategy

Still in the midst of a pandemic and trying to unify a dispirited party with low poll numbers, Germany’s Social Democrats are now trying to revive the uplifting spirit of …

SPD Asks Others to Hold the Nuclear Umbrella

One of Germany’s most significant political figures grabbed and shook an important pillar of transatlantic security a few days ago. Rolf Mützenich, leader of the Social Democratic Party’s (SPD) Bundestag …

A Strategic Outlook

Report of the International Security Forum 2019 The Forum noted that the global political climate today is marked by a new competitive edge in international politics, the rise of systemic …

Yearning for Familiar Wine In Well-Known Bottles

Parsing the leitmotif of this year’s Munich Security Conference (MSC)—Westlessness—is worth the effort as it does not merely equal semantic pondering. The term invented by the organizers of the MSC …

The Future of Transatlantic Security Cooperation: Past Successes and Emerging Threats

The AGI-BAKS Transatlantic Series “The U.S. and Germany: Partnership under Stress” held its fourth and final workshop, “The Future of Transatlantic Security Cooperation: Past Successes and Emerging Threats,” on November …

Jeff Rathke on defense agenda in DefenseNews

AGI President Jeff Rathke discusses the German defense agenda after this year’s Munich Security Conference with DefenseNews. Of efforts to protect global shipping lanes, he says “It’s the mission that …