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A Deal with the Taliban? -- By Ahmed Rashid, New York Review of Books

Catherine Ashton, the European Union's
foreign policy chief, has set up a group of senior officials to advise
her on the European External Action Service (EEAS), offending MEPs who
wanted to be involved in the preparations. (by Toby Vogel in today's European Voice)

HR Catherine Ashton was in Washington yesterday to meet with Hilary Clinton. Read their remarks
here.

At the moment, the
European Parliament is in a particularly strong position, as the EU
waits for the confirmation of Barroso's new team of Commissioners by
Parliament. MEP's are using this momentum: By forcing the retreat of
the Bulgarian nominee for the post of the Aid Commissioner, Rumiana
Jeleva, and by sharply criticizing the new foreign policy chief,
Catherine Ashton -- who as Vice-President of the Commission also
depends on Parliament's confirmation -- , for an alleged lack of
visibility in the EU's aid efforts for Haiti. On Jeleva's retreat read
the
EU Observer or the

According to Walter Russel Mead (American Interest Online), we'll witness the "disaggregration and death of the West" in the next decade.

IN A crunch, would NATO stand by its weakest members—the Baltic
states of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania? After five years of dithering
, the answer now seems to be yes, with a decision in principle by the
alliance to develop formal contingency plans to defend them. (The Economist)

The EU's response to the earthquake in Haiti has given a first glimpse
into how the bloc's new foreign relations set-up is to work in practice. Meanwhile, EU member states are carrying out the vast bulk of Europe's
response on a bilateral basis with Haiti, with the former colonial
powers in the region - France, Spain, the UK and the Netherlands -
taking the lead. (EUObserver)

These days there is only one EU question in Britain: what kind of
European policy will David Cameron pursue if the Conservatives, as
widely expected, win power in the forthcoming general elections? The
Tory leader will likely follow the policy he laid out in his last EU
speech, i.e. throw anti-EU bones to his party, ask for some
"repatriation" of power from the EU, but otherwise follow a
skeptical-but-pragmatic line. By Daniel Korski on Global Europe