A DEDICATED special forces unit is being assembled alongside the SAS and SBS to infiltrate and destroy Osama Bin Laden’s Al-Qaeda network.
[…]
Much of the core of the unit will be made up of undercover surveillance operators who have honed their skills fighting terrorists in Northern Ireland.
Hopefully they’ll pull the internal security from somewhere else.
[source]
German Foreign Minister Joschka Fischer launched a fresh bid to recruit Indian [IT]professionals, pledging that a new immigration law would make Germany a winning alternative for the best brains.
Given the unemployment rate in Germany, what does this say about the level of technical education in Germany that it needs to import IT professionals? Or maybe IT work is too declassé for the natives?
Matt Welch asks what a White House administration should do (beside not being Republican) to repair our transatlantic aliances. Jeremy Shapiro answers thusly:
Well first of all I don’t think that not being a Republican is an essential requirement to [rebuild] the relationship with Europe, (waits a beat for the punchline) but it’s helpful. But I think that many Republican governments and conceivably a Bush government can do more. But specifically at the question, I think that there is a European side to the equation. Any administration is going to need to show results from the European side; they’re going to need to demonstrate that a policy of according respect to European countries and according respect to international institutions actually delivers something in terms of burden-sharing, and actually deliver something in terms of the problems that the United States sees as security issues. And that really is going to mean demonstrating to the European countries that they’re very serious about getting contributions to the problems, and that they really want to hold, for example, the French to the claim that Ambassador Leaf just made that they recognize that Iraq is a common problem, and that common problems require common contributions. I don’t think that that’s possible, but it does require A) holding them to standards that they themselves proclaim, and B) acknowledging the court of public opinion, and cede authority commensurate with the assets that you get, so that people feel as if they do have a stake and a control over security problems. So for example the Bush Administration is very reluctant to do that, it tends to ask for European assistance without granting a sense or semblance of control. I don’t think this something that the States should be afraid of.
Translated - it’s the USA’s responsibility to see that European nations behave responsibly and live up to their own standards.