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Thinking Global

Mar 31, 2011

Global Watercooler: Mission Creep or Regime Change for Libya?

By Frederick Kempe

Around the watercooler today: Decision time on Libya regime change; four crises that could sink the global economy; and successors to two global titans. Gaddafi: Mission Creep or Regime Change? Fareed Zakharia is as persuasive his arguments against the ongoing mission creep in Libya—but so is the Atlantic Council’s Walt Slocombe in explaining why the U.S. and its […]

Thinking Global

Mar 30, 2011

Global Watercooler: Scowcroft on Cyber

By Frederick Kempe

Around the watercooler today: the similarity between nuclear- and cyber-war; al Qaeda in Libya; and Greenspan takes on Dodd-Frank.

Cybersecurity Security & Defense

Thinking Global

Mar 22, 2011

NATO: Better in Theory than In Practice

By Frederick Kempe

War is messy and unpredictable–on the diplomatic battlefield as much as the kinetic one. Relations were so tense during alliance meetings in Brussels yesterday, reports the FT, “that the French and German ambassadors to NATO walked out of a meeting of the North Atlantic Council, the alliance’s decision-making body, after Anders Fogh Rasmussen, secretary general, criticized […]

Thinking Global

Mar 22, 2011

Global Watercooler: An Obama Reset with Europe?

By Frederick Kempe

Around the watercooler today: A US-Europe Reset; Yemen may be the next to fall; Obama seeks stronger economic ties in Latin America; and Palin seeks stronger GOP support by visiting Israel.

Thinking Global

Mar 21, 2011

Libya Through the Georgia Lens

By Frederick Kempe

Georgian President Mikhail Saakashivili discussed the Libyan situation at an off-record dinner for the Atlantic Council’s Georgia Task Force late last week. Both for those who favor and oppose the West’s military intervention in Libya, Saakashvili serves as Exhibit Number One.

Thinking Global

Mar 16, 2011

Obama’s Piecemeal Mideast Strategy

By Frederick Kempe

Atlantic Council board director Zalmay Khalilzad, a former ambassador to Afghanistan and the United Nations, worries in the Washington Post today about what he calls the Obama administration’s “country-specific” Mideast strategy.

Thinking Global

Mar 15, 2011

Global Watercooler: Saudis Go Where West Fears to Tread

By Frederick Kempe

Around the watercooler today: Gulf states have stopped waiting for the West to act in Libya; Japan’s nuclear disaster is having fallout in Europe; and parallels between Barack Obama and John Kennedy. Saudis Go Where West Fears to Tread With Gadhafi’s forces closing in on rebel forces in eastern Libya for the kill, Saudi rulers […]

Thinking Global

Mar 11, 2011

Global Watercooler: Clapper’s Dose of Reality

By Frederick Kempe

Around the watercooler today: America’s top intelligence man warns Gaddafi might survive; France leads the way on Libya; the Economist pushes back on Eurozone collapse; and Joe Nye vs Fareed Zakaria on American decline. Clapper’s Dose of Reality Leave it to the General James Clapper, the dour Director of National Intelligence, to provide a needed […]

Thinking Global

Mar 9, 2011

Global Watercooler The Eurozone’s Survival

By Frederick Kempe

Around the watercooler today: Wolf bullish on Europe; the plight of refugees in Libya; and Serbia and Kosovo try to build confidence.

Thinking Global

Mar 4, 2011

Is China a Superpower?

By Frederick Kempe

Victor Chu, the chairman of First Eastern, reminded a small Atlantic Council dinner that Napoleon once said of China, “Let China sleep, for when she wakes, she will shake the world.” So the wide awake China is busily agitating friends and competitors, but is it a superpower? Without quoting individuals (this was an off-record setting), […]

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