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New Atlanticist

Apr 23, 2012

Slovakia Can Help with Transition to Democracy

By Jason Harmala

When Damon Wilson, US security expert and executive vice president of the Atlantic Council, visited Bratislava in 2005, he was working to prepare the Bush-Putin summit that the Slovak capital hosted that year. Seven years on Wilson returned to discuss security challenges at the Bratislava Global Security Forum held in mid April. 

Central Europe
NATO

Commanders Series

Apr 23, 2012

Fighting and Rebuilding in Helmand and Nimruz Provinces Revisited: A Commander’s View

By Jason Harmala

The commander of International Security Assistance Force, Regional Command Southwest (RC-SW), Major General John A. Toolan Jr., joined the Atlantic Council on April 23 for a conversation moderated by Barry Pavel, director of the Council’s Program on International Security.

Afghanistan
International Security Assistance Force

New Atlanticist

Apr 20, 2012

The Comprehensive Approach: Groundhog Day?

By Julian Lindley-French

For the past few days I have been acting as rapporteur for a large conference on enhancing and improving civil-military interaction in crises – the so-called Comprehensive Approach. The fifty heavy pages of notes I have before me testify to the intense nature of the debate and the challenge of writing the conference report. Over […]

NATO
Security & Defense

New Atlanticist

Apr 18, 2012

The Kabul Blame Game

By Derek Reveron

Last weekend’s attacks in Afghanistan demonstrates that the Haqqani Network remains committed to conducting attacks, Afghan security forces are effective, and blame game politics are alive and well. Consider President Karzai’s statement: “The fact terrorists were able to enter Kabul and other provinces was an intelligence failure for us and especially for NATO.” In retort, […]

Afghanistan
NATO

New Atlanticist

Apr 18, 2012

Memo to NATO: Stay Out of Syrian Conflict

By Joshua Foust

Despite this weekend’s unanimous UN Security Council vote, which authorized a team of observers to Syria to monitor the tentative ceasefire there, there remain many questions about what can actually be done to stop the fighting. Conventional wisdom, prior to Saturday, seemed to resign the international community to doing very little about the bloodshed, thanks to […]

NATO
Security & Defense

New Atlanticist

Apr 16, 2012

Cheapening NATO’s Security Promise Weakens It

By James Joyner

After an incident last week in which two Syrians were killed by Assad regime forces while attempting to flee to safety in Turkey, Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan declared that “NATO has a responsibility to protect Turkish borders.”

Afghanistan
NATO

New Atlanticist

Apr 16, 2012

Our Pre-industrial Cyber Future: Is the Smart Grid Setting Us Up For a 200-Year Crash?

By Jason Healey

Is it possible, as we rush to implement energy-saving Smart Grid technologies, that we are building a system so vulnerable that a cyber disruption would reduce us to pre-industrial days? This was the topic of a recent panel at the RSA computer security conference and seems, at first look, to be eye-rolling hyperbole. As no one has […]

Cybersecurity
Security & Defense

New Atlanticist

Apr 16, 2012

Iran Hones Asymmetric Diplomacy with Washington

By Barbara Slavin

Outnumbered six to one, Iran deftly maneuvered this weekend (April 13-14) to restart negotiations that could yield formal recognition of its uranium enrichment program, and postponement of more crushing economic sanctions or a military attack. The results of the meeting in Istanbul between Iran and the so-called P5+1—which both sides called “positive”—was a clear example of how […]

Iran
Nuclear Nonproliferation

Event Recap

Apr 12, 2012

GLOBSEC 2012 Bratislava Security Forum

By Jason Harmala

As part of the Atlantic Council’s mission to foster the next generation of transatlantic leadership, the Council hosted its Young Atlanticist delegates from Europe and partner countries at the 2012 GLOBSEC conference. Organized by the Slovak Atlantic Commission, GLOBSEC is the largest NATO-related event in Central Europe, which brought together more than 500 key stakeholders […]

NATO
Security & Defense

NATOSource

Apr 11, 2012

Pentagon expanding international partnerships to address “global cyber arms race”

By Cheryl Pellerin, Armed Forces Press Service

Cybersecurity
Security & Defense

Experts

Events