Category: Event Recap

Adapting US Policy to Local Realities in Syria

As the conflict in Syria enters its fourth year, US policy has consistently failed to achieve its stated object: a negotiated political transition based on the mutual consent of the regime and opposition. The United States and its Western allies have focused on summits and high-level diplomacy as the most effective means to that laudable […]

Tunisia’s Next Chapter

The Nexus Between Politics, Economy, and Security Tunisians made a critical leap in solidifying the country’s path to democratic transition as they approved a new constitution based on general consensus between different parties and factions across the country.  In light of these developments, the Rafik Hariri Center for the Middle East hosted a roundtable discussion […]

The 2014 QDR: An Effective Plan for Future Strategy?

The release of the 2014 quadrennial defense review (QDR) marks a crucial point in which the US Department of Defense reassesses its current capabilities and whether or not the United States is sufficiently prepared for the pressing security challenges posed by the world of the future. On Tuesday, March 04, 2014, Vice President and Director […]

Moldovan Prime Minister: Ukraine Crisis Deepens Our Need to Join Europe

The three-month-old crisis in Ukraine, escalated last weekend by Russia’s invasion of Crimea, has steeled Ukraine’s small neighbor, Moldova, to step up its efforts to reform its economy and political system so it can integrate as quickly and well as possible with Europe, Moldovan Prime Minister Iurie Leanca told diplomats, US officials, and other policymakers […]

Somaliland Democratization Strategy

Atlantic Council’s Africa Center and the International Republican Institute (IRI) hosted the Washington launch today of the new Somaliland International Democratization Strategy commissioned by the United Kingdom’s Department for International Development. Prepared by IRI after extensive consultation and field research, the detailed strategy document will help the international donor community coordinate and plan future democracy-support […]

The Entrepreneurial State: Roles of Government, Research Institutions, and Private Sector in R&D Innovation

By Atlantic Council

On Thursday February 27, 2014 the Strategic Foresight Initiative in the Brent Scowcroft Center for International Security held the captivating event “The Entrepreneurial State.” Experts weighed in on the role governments, research institutions, and the private sector in supporting innovation and research and development in the sciences. Discussants advocated for greater collaboration and cooperation as […]

Strengthening the US-Japan Alliance

On February 26, 2014, the Atlantic Council’s Brent Scowcroft Center on International Security held a not-for-attribution roundtable briefing on the US-Japan alliance and what it portends for US extended deterrence in Asia. The briefing featured Mira Rapp-Hooper, Stanton nuclear security fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations, and was presided over by project co-chair Richard […]

Georgia Seeks US Support and an Early NATO Membership Plan

By James Rupert

As Russia presses its former Soviet neighbors – Ukraine, Georgia and Moldova — to halt their integration with the European Union and NATO, the prime minister of Georgia urged the United States to sustain clear support for the right of ex-Soviet states to turn westward. Prime Minister Irakli Garibashvili spoke February 25 at the Atlantic […]

Pentagon Budget Preview: Implications for US Defense

Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Martin Dempsey previewed the Pentagon’s FY2015 on Monday, February 24. Major highlights included the proposed cutting Army personnel from 480,000 to approximately 440,00; the retirement of both the A-10 Thunderbolt II and the U-2 spy plane; the addition of 4,000 people to […]

Tipping Point? Public Opinion and US Cuba Policy in 2014

Cold War rhetoric and extremist policy were central to the discussion of the Atlantic Council poll on US-Cuba policy, hosted at the Pacific Council in Lost Angeles. Pollster Paul Maslin began the event by explaining that many Americans think the United States has worse relations with Cuba than with Iran. Congressman Howard Berman seized upon this […]