Brussels: Last year, the Obama administration released its latest strategic guidance for the Pentagon. The lead headline read “U.S. pivots to Asia.” As a result, virtually every state from the Atlantic approaches to Europe to the distant reaches of the Pacific was angered, frightened, puzzled or stunned by the way the new strategy was rolled out. The Pentagon made the best of a bad situation calling the strategic pivot “rebalancing.” The arguments for shifting focus to Asia are clear if not correct. The growth of Chinese and Indian economies are important reasons for altering American interests, no doubt magnified by the trillions of dollars of US debt and equities held [...]

Last week’s Senate confirmation hearing on former Senator Chuck Hagel’s nomination as Secretary of Defense was contentious and nasty. Hagel almost certainly will be confirmed. But he was badly battered in the process. His former colleague and fellow Vietnam veteran John McCain bullied Hagel on the viability of the surge in Iraq. Lindsay Graham was furious over Hagel’s assertion of intimidation of Congress by the “Jewish lobby” and demanded the name of a singe senator who succumbed to that pressure. And rookie Senator Ted Cruz, after a full four weeks in office, charged Hagel with consorting with a former and controversial U.S. ambassador Hagel had not seen in years. Wow! [...]