Scowcroft Center Commentary, Analysis, & Reports

Explore the Scowcroft Center for Strategy and Security’s latest insights, commentary, articles, media hits, and in-depth reports

All commentary & analysis

In the News

Oct 22, 2018

Benitez Quoted in Defense News on NATO Allies Developing Unmanned Systems at Sea

By Jorge Benitez

Read the full article here.

NATO Security & Defense

IranSource

Oct 22, 2018

Dealing With Saudi Arabia Requires Lessons From Iran’s Global Assassination Campaign

By Gissou Nia

Gruesome details of the possible premeditated killing of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi by Saudi state actors are gradually being revealed. This has invited inevitable comparisons between the brutality of Saudi Arabia to its regional rival, Iran. While the comparisons have prompted a fair number of social media snipes and tu quoque arguments, the parallels here […]

Iran Saudi Arabia

New Atlanticist

Oct 21, 2018

Trump to pull plug on arms control treaty with Russia

By David A. Wemer

White House officials, especially National Security Advisor John Bolton, have been pushing to abandon the treaty as they believe it is limiting Washington’s ability to counter China’s growing nuclear arsenal in East Asia.

China Missile Defense

IranSource

Oct 18, 2018

Iran’s Environmentalists Are Caught Up in a Political Power Struggle

By Tara Sepehri Far

The family of Kavous Seyed Emami, a prominent environmentalist and professor at Tehran’s Imam Sadegh University, broke the horrific news on February 10 that he had died under suspicious circumstances while in detention. Iranian authorities claimed he had committed suicide. Only a few weeks earlier, the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) intelligence arm had arrested […]

Iran

In the News

Oct 15, 2018

Manning Quoted in Newsweek on China Influence Campaigns

By Robert A. Manning

Read the full article here.

China

IranSource

Oct 12, 2018

Iranian Crackdown on Corruption May Only Be Superficial

By Holly Dagres

Since the 1979 revolution, Azadi Square has been the beating heart for major demonstrations in Iran’s capital. So when the Iranian judiciary announced on September 24 that “financial corruptors” would be hung in the square—a first—it was seen as a dire warning to corrupt traders and government officials that they would be made an example of for […]

Iran

IranSource

Oct 11, 2018

Iran Can’t Fulfill Its Hopes of a Shia Corridor Without Iraq

By Avi Melamed

Since the Iranian regime seized power in 1979, its goal has been for Iran to become a regional power and to restore the Shias as the rulers of the Muslim world. A cornerstone of its strategy is to build and control a land corridor stretching from Iran to the Mediterranean Sea. To extend its power […]

Iran Iraq

IranSource

Oct 10, 2018

Sanctions or Liquidity—Which One Is More Dangerous for Iran’s Economy?

By Hoorozan

The Iranian rial was traded at 150,000 against the US dollar on October 2, indicating a 12 percent appreciation in just one day. Bonbast, a website which tracks free market rates in Iran, stopped posting rates for the day, while state news agencies reported that the free market rial value kept appreciating as high as […]

Iran

New Atlanticist

Oct 9, 2018

SWIFT action risks unintended consequences

By Samantha Sultoon

Unilateral, isolated policy making that implicates SWIFT risks hampering the flow of global financial transactions and trade, harming US businesses as well as further antagonizing European allies.

International Financial Institutions Trade and tariffs

In the News

Oct 8, 2018

Manning Joins Radio Free Asia to Discuss North Korea Talks

By Robert A. Manning

Listen to the full discussion here.

Nuclear Nonproliferation Security & Defense

In the News

Oct 7, 2018

Manning in Global Times: Can Pompeo Trip Turn Vague Commitment Into Actions?

By Robert A. Manning

Read the full article here.

Korea

In the News

Oct 5, 2018

Manning in Foreign Policy: The United States Needs an Afghanistan Exit Strategy

By Robert A. Manning

Read the full article here.

Afghanistan

In the News

Oct 5, 2018

Hasik Quoted in Fox News on New Report Detailing Vulnerabilities in Industries Vital to National Defense

By James Hasik

Read the full article here.

In the News

Oct 5, 2018

Manning Quoted in USA Today on Nobel Peace Prize

By Robert A. Manning

Read the full article here.

IranSource

Oct 5, 2018

How Iran and the Gulf Arab States Can Start a Dialogue Again

By Hussein Ibish

It’s hard to overstate the regional impact of the rivalry between Iran and several Gulf Arab states—most notably Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates—bordering in recent years on enmity. While these countries haven’t come close to direct warfare, tensions have impacted many regional conflicts in the Middle East including in Syria, Yemen, and Iraq, […]

International Organizations Iran

New Atlanticist

Oct 4, 2018

Pence takes aim at China

By David A. Wemer

"It is no longer unclear what the Trump administration’s trade strategy is. It has become clear that the administration views tariffs as the solution to everything," said Marie Kasperek, associate director in the Atlantic Council’s Global Business and Economic Program.

China

IranSource

Oct 4, 2018

The Hidden Message of Iran’s Syria Strikes: A View From Israel

By Shemuel Meir

An unusual strategic event took place this week in the Middle East. For the second time in over a year, Iran fired ballistic missiles on targets in Syria, a country that borders Israel. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who never misses an opportunity to respond in the strongest terms—usually within hours—to any Iranian testing of […]

Iran Israel

IranSource

Oct 3, 2018

China: Iran’s Lifeline to Overcome Oil Sanctions

By Brendon Hong

If the relationship between Iran and China is not severed, US sanctions on the Tehran will never be fully effective, and the Trump administration’s dream of forcing a new deal will never come to fruition.

China Iran

Strategic Insights Memo

Oct 3, 2018

Artificial Intelligence and National Security

By Matthew Kroenig and Anastasia Kazteridis

TO: US National Security Community FROM: Matthew Kroenig and Anastasia Kazteridis DATE: October 3, 2018 SUBJECT: Artificial Intelligence and National Security This Scowcroft Center for Strategy and Security Strategic Insights Memo briefly frames the emerging issue of artificial intelligence (AI) and its implications for national security. It provides: A brief primer on AI; Its possible […]

China Defense Technologies

IranSource

Oct 1, 2018

Netanyahu’s UNGA Accusations Give Iranians a Rare Good Laugh

By Holly Dagres

“I really, really think someone set him up,” Iran’s deputy foreign minister said in an initial reaction to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s speech at the United Nations General Assembly on September 27. In an interview with state media, Abbas Araghchi and Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif, who is seated next to Araghchi, are […]

Iran Israel
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