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MENASource

May 22, 2012

SCAF’s Plan to Clarify Presidential Powers Leads to Confusion and Alarm

By Mara Revkin and Tarek Radwan

With the ups and downs of unreliable polling data, it is no surprise that observers of Egypt’s landmark presidential election have been fixating on the near-term competition between the presidential candidates. What remains in question is the legal and constitutional framework in which the next president will operate. A bold decision by the Supreme Council […]

New Atlanticist

May 22, 2012

The Lost Alliance: NATO in Chicago

By Tomas Ries

A ship is adrift in a foggy sea. The crew are in their bunks, the officers argue about their mortgages, and the captain has left. The captain has left because the United States no longer believes NATO can contribute significantly against any serious global strategic challenges. An occasional bit player, yes: a partner with the […]

Europe & Eurasia NATO

MENASource

May 22, 2012

Top News: Egypt Allows International Monitors to Begin Work

By Tarek Radwan

Egyptian authorities have finally allowed observers of this week’s presidential election to start work, monitoring groups said on Tuesday, too late for them to draw a full picture of Egypt’s first genuine leadership contest. Many international monitors arrived in April but waited weeks for the necessary paperwork, forcing them to miss most of an election […]

MENASource

May 22, 2012

Egyptians Asked for Change … But Are They Ready for It?

By Hoda Youssef

Nothing expresses a desire for change more powerfully than a revolution. The word “revolution” itself has always been synonymous with fundamental shifts and processes of change. In politics, “revolution” refers to an upheaval in which the incumbent government or system is replaced, but it also has an equally important significance in sociology, where it refers […]

New Atlanticist

May 22, 2012

Why Centcom Chief Really Wanted Third Aircraft Carrier in the Gulf

By Barbara Slavin

Eli Lake of the Daily Beast reports that Gen. James Mattis, the head of US Central Command, unsuccessfully sought permission to send a third US aircraft carrier to the Persian Gulf region in January in an effort to deter Iran from escalating tensions in the Gulf.

Iran

New Atlanticist

May 22, 2012

NATO Muddles Through in Chicago

By James Joyner

The twenty-eight NATO heads of state just met for two days in Chicago and agreed that NATO was a very fine organization, indeed. They then kicked several cans down the road before posing for pictures and having a nice meal. The Chicago Summit Declaration was mostly boilerplate, declaring commitment to the transatlantic bond, the Washington Treaty, the troops […]

Afghanistan NATO

MENASource

May 22, 2012

Views from the Brotherhood on the Eve of Egypt’s Presidential Election

By Michele Dunne

In conversations with several Freedom and Justice Party (FJP) and Muslim Brotherhood activists in Cairo over the last few days, I was struck by two dominant attitudes: A calm confidence that Egypt’s future lies in the Brotherhood’s hands combined with concern that electoral victory might yet slip through their fingers.  The news that candidate Mohammad […]

New Atlanticist

May 21, 2012

To Survive, NATO Must Globalize

By Anne-Marie Slaughter

Sixty-three years after the North Atlantic Treaty was signed, binding the United States, Canada, and ten European states to consider an attack on one an attack on all, NATO is transforming itself into a twenty-first-century global security organization. The result will be a safer world.  In 1949, the world was rapidly dividing into two principle […]

Afghanistan NATO

MENASource

May 21, 2012

The Presidential Election: Last Battle of the Egyptian Revolution / الانتخابات الرئاسية: المعركة الأخيرة للثورة في مصر

By Haitham Tabei

A few days before Egypt’s first presidential election since the January 25 revolution, Egyptian voters are feeling tremendous confusion toward the eleven candidates vying to succeed former president Hosni Mubarak, overthrown by the popular uprising fifteen months ago. But activists and observers here in Cairo fear that this election will restore the former regime to […]

New Atlanticist

May 21, 2012

Anchoring NATO with Leadership

By R. Nicholas Burns and Damon Wilson

The long-term need for stronger political leadership is NATO’s most important challenge. The eurozone debt crisis and substantial reductions in defense spending have badly weakened Europe’s military capabilities and sapped its ambitions for global leadership. The decline is so severe that former Secretary of Defense Robert Gates warned of a “dim, if not dismal” future […]

NATO Security & Defense