.INFO: US, EU seek consensus on securing cargo shipments from terrorists

In the decade since the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks, Washington has sought to implement its own stringent security standards at airports and commercial ports around the world in order to counter the perceived threat of another impending terrorist strike.

In reaction to this threat assessment, the US Congress passed a provision in 2007 that called for all containers to be screened at their ports of departure by 2012, sparking controversy in Europe.

Many European officials argued that the measure would have a direct impact on Europe's internal market, unfairly diverting goods to ports that had implemented Washington's security standards.

"Obviously the US feels much more threatened than the European Union," Patryk Pawlak, an expert on homeland security issues in the US and EU, told Deutsche Welle.

Read the full article at Deutsche Welle

.INFO: Al-Zawahiri named new Al-Qaeda leader

Patryk Pawlak, a research fellow at the European Union Institute for Security Studies in Paris, calls Zawahri a "divisive figure" in the Al-Qaeda network. He says Zawahri's leadership could mean a further decentralization of Al-Qaeda, which some experts say has operated tactically without bin Laden for years.

"Al-Zawahri is not perceived as such a charismatic leader as bin Laden was," Pawlak says. "One of the major features that made bin Laden so powerful was exactly that he was able to get people behind him quite well and he enjoyed pretty big support on the side of different terrorist organizations from the Al-Qaeda movement."

Read the full article at Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty

.INFO: Poles expect more than diplomatic fluff from Barack Obama

It's no mystery that relations between Warsaw and Washington have become ever-more pragmatic over the past few years. The current Polish government - corresponding with public sentiment - has been advancing a more dynamic role for itself in Europe. And Mr. Obama's visit comes at a time where Polish positivity toward the US is rather questionable; it has been steadily declining since 1993. The perception of Mr. Obama himself is changing too. 

 Read the whole text on Deutsche Welle website