“North Atlantic Treaty Organization” on The Daily Caller

ISTANBUL (AP) — In past decades, the Turkish military showed displeasure with civilian leaders by overthrowing them. This time, the upset generals quit, a move that only strengthened the hand of an elected government that has in turn been accused of targeting opponents at the expense of democracy. (more)

The freshmen class roared into Congress vowing to get federal spending under control. And even though many of them recognize and revere the constitutional requirement to “provide for the common defense,” they refused to take the defense budget “off the table.” Good for them. (more)

Interventionists are cheering the United Nations for authorizing a no-fly zone over Libya. The U.N.’s imprimatur, they say, is necessary for U.S. participation, which is essential for the mission’s success. But Mr. Obama’s war on Libya is a mess because he gave the United Nations the role of the decider. (more)

WASHINGTON—U.S. authorities disclosed charges and sanctions against operators of an alleged smuggling network that was accused of purchasing millions of dollars in equipment for Iran’s nuclear and missile programs. (more)

Hugo Chavez, the yanqui-hating dictator of Venezuela, will not accept Washington’s proposed emissary and has dared the United States to break diplomatic relations. It seems Ambassador-select Larry Palmer’s sin is that he did not applaud Chavez when he used his rubber-stamp parliament to perpetuate his dictatorial regime. The State Department’s limp-wristed response was to cancel the visa of the Venezuelan ambassador. That, and silence from the White House, told the megalomaniac in Caracas exactly what the United States will do when Iran finishes building a nuclear missile base in Venezuela — absolutely nothing. (more)

The unspoken reality underlying President Obama’s update for the nation on the war in Afghanistan Thursday was that U.S. troops will likely be fighting for many years to come in a conflict that has already gone on for almost a decade. (more)

As President Obama prepares to give the nation a status update on the war in Afghanistan Thursday, some in Washington are calling on him to “own” the conflict in a way they say he has not, and to articulate a clearer long-term commitment to the region than he has so far. (more)

Statement from the President on Richard Holbrooke: (more)

The coming Congress will bring new opportunity for bipartisan consensus on a traditionally contentious policy matter — advancing missile defense. On November 20th at the Lisbon summit, NATO officially announced it would move forward with a missile defense system for Europe that will use the U.S. plan called the “European Phased Adaptive Approach” as its cornerstone. Although the administration has pledged to move forward with the EPAA, it is not enough that President Obama simply wants to deploy some missile defense over the next several years. The administration will have to do four things in order to ease the concerns and earn the backing of staunch missile defense supporters. (more)

More than 500 suspected Taliban fighters detained by U.S. forces have been released from custody at the urging of Afghan government officials, angering both American troops and some Afghans who oppose the policy on the grounds that many of those released return to the battlefield to kill NATO soldiers and Afghan civilians. (more)

The US and Nato have drawn up plans to defend the Baltic nations against Russia, latest US diplomatic cables disclosed by Wikileaks show. (more)

The Internet Age has given us much to celebrate: finding old friends and making new ones; communicating in seconds what previously might have taken hours or even days, and having breaking news at our fingertips, to name only a few . (more)

With the TSA handling more packages than Fed-Ex this holiday season, we need to revisit our overreaction to the sucker punch that was 9/11. (more)

The U.S. believes Russia has moved short-range tactical nuclear warheads to facilities near North Atlantic Treaty Organization allies as recently as this spring, U.S. officials say, adding to questions in Congress about Russian compliance with long-standing pledges ahead of a possible vote on a new arms-control treaty. (more)

KABUL, Afghanistan – An Afghan border police officer opened fire on U.S. troops during a training mission in the east of the country Monday, killing six American service members before he was shot dead, U.S. and Afghan officials said. (more)

The media have it wrong. According to the media, the big news out of the NATO summit in Lisbon, Portugal, is the 2014 withdrawal date from Afghanistan. (more)

In a May 2009 speech, President Barack Obama announced that Ahmed Ghailani, a Guantanamo detainee suspected of involvement in the 1998 U.S. embassy bombings in Kenya and Tanzania, would be transferred to the United States for trial in federal court.  The president assured his audience that civilian courts were “tough enough” to prosecute terrorists like Ghailani and that justice would be served. (more)

A Washington Post interview with Afghan President Hamid Karzai has Washington’s political-media complex buzzing. But our media mavens and politicos should know better: Karzai’s remarks demonstrate nothing more than that he is a wily politician saying what he thinks he must say in order to survive. (more)

WASHINGTON — The Obama administration has decided to begin publicly walking away from what it once touted as key deadlines in the war in Afghanistan in an effort to de-emphasize President Barack Obama’s pledge that he’d begin withdrawing U.S. forces in July 2011, administration and military officials have told McClatchy. (more)

KABUL, Afghanistan — Talks to end the war in Afghanistan involve extensive, face-to-face discussions with Taliban commanders from the highest levels of the group’s leadership, who are secretly leaving their sanctuaries in Pakistan with the help of NATO troops, officials here say. (more)