Outside the Beltway

New at New Atlanticist

James Joyner · Friday, December 12, 2008 · 4 comments

After a three month experiment and some discussions with regular readers, we’ve decided to suspend operations on the Atlantic Council’s breaking news blog, Atlantic Update, and to consolidate it into New Atlanticist.  The result, I hope, will be one, livelier blog that becomes a hub of discussion about transatlantic issues.

While I’d still prefer that commenters register and post under their own name, I quickly dropped those as absolute requirements, quietly shifting to a policy of post hoc moderation.

Here’s what’s been happening since we made the switch:

• Big 3 Bailout: View From Europe – I take a look at how the European papers are responding to the government’s attempt to save Detroit. The results may surprise you; they did me.

• Switzerland Opens Borders to Europe – The Swiss have figured out how to simultaneously make themselves safer from terrorists and make travel more convenient!

• Quote of the Day – A rocker whose music is used to torture terrorists is happy to do his part.

• China on a Diet as Consumption Drops? My colleague Peter Cassata looks at how the global downturn is affecting the world’s fastest growing major economy.

• Britain’s Shameful Iraq Withdrawal? Neil Richard Leslie, my former assistant editor who’s now heading back to Scotland, reacts to a Guardian column impugning his country’s military.

• Steven Chu, First Scientist Energy Secretary – Erica McCarthy, assistant director of our Energy and Environment Program, reacts to the appointment Nobel Prize winner Steven Chu as the next Secretary of Energy.

• Russia’s Millionaires Suffering – My snarky take on news that Moscow’s elite are having to think twice about profligate spending.

• Fixing NATO – I react to an Economist editorial on “How the alliance should move forward.”

And that’s just since yesterday!