Scowcroft Center Commentary, Analysis, & Reports

Task Force on Security Cooperation with the Transitioning Arab Democracies Trip to Egypt and Tunisia

On July 6-13, the Atlantic Council’s Task Force on US Security Cooperation with the Transitioning Arab Democracies, co-chaired by Congressman Jim Kolbe and General George Casey, launched a study tour in Cairo and Tunis.

Let’s Hear It for the European Union and the Euro

By Sarwar Kashmeri

It took the United States 100 years to set up its single currency and the Federal Reserve Bank. The European Union launched one in half the time. Now, with the agreement on June 28, 2012 to start the process of building a euro banking union and strengthen the European Central Bank, the stage is set to complete […]

US and NATO Options for Dealing with Assad

By Sarwar Kashmeri

“Assad must go” seems to be the only refrain in Washington and Brussels. However, America’s national interests may lie in a different direction. Kurt Volker, former US Ambassador to NATO, joins in conversation with Sarwar Kashmeri, senior fellow at the Atlantic Council. (8 minute audio podcast)

Stilling a Stormy Relationship

By Shuja Nawaz

With the word “sorry,” Secretary of State Hillary Clinton recently opened the door for the United States to continue to supply its forces in Afghanistan through Pakistan.  Getting to this word took months of effort on both sides but “sorry” may not be enough to keep the relationship on an even keel for too long. […]

America’s “Please Punch” Pakistan Policy

By Ayesha Jalal

Pakistan’s decision to reopen NATO supply lines after eight months of rancorous exchanges over the killing of 24 of its soldiers by American forces at a border post is a belated exercise in damage control. Precious time has been lost; the few shreds of trust remaining between the two countries have been stretched to the […]

Supporting Human Rights in Russia Should Be a Core Strategic Interest for US

By Anna Borshchevskaya

On Tuesday, July 10, the Russian Duma will vote on ratification of the agreement for Russia’s entry into the World Trade Organization (WTO). Policymakers in both countries view Russia’s entry as a foregone conclusion. The question before Congress therefore is how best to pressure Russia to respect human rights following its repeal of the Jackson-Vanik […]

July 4th and September 11th

By Harlan Ullman

For polar opposite reasons, two dates currently loom large in the American psyche. This July 4th marked the 236th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence and the war that would turn 13 English colonies in America into the United States. Sept. 11, 2001, was the day al-Qaida turned four American airliners into […]

Rising Iraqi Oil Output Greases Iran Sanctions

By Barbara Slavin

Iraq’s once-battered oil sector is further eclipsing production in Iran, relieving pressure on world oil markets and facilitating the imposition of draconian new sanctions on Iran.

US Strategy for the 21st Century Needed

By Harlan Ullman

All leaders are easily criticized for either having the “wrong” strategy or “no” strategy at all regardless of the issue. In politics, elections exacerbate these critiques without always offering an alternative. In 1968, trapped in Vietnam, U.S. President Lyndon Johnson’s (flawed) strategy was to continue the status quo of defeating the North Vietnamese army and […]

Former Turkish Official: Assad Fall May Lead to Chaos in Syria

By Barbara Slavin

Former Turkish Foreign Minister Yasar Yakis, one of Turkey’s longest-serving diplomats, said the situation between Turkey and Syria might actually get worse if President Bashar al-Assad leaves or is overthrown because chaos will hurt Syria first and Turkey second.

Euro Crisis Threatens Global Security

By Steven Grundman and A.J. Wilson

“Things fall apart; the center cannot hold,” wrote the Irish poet William Butler Yeats of the dark time he envisioned in the aftermath of World War I. Today, the converse of this proposition overshadows our future: if Europe fails to respond to the euro-zone crisis in a way that reinforces its center, things will begin […]

In the United States-Pakistan Impasse the Winner Is Russia

By Sarwar Kashmeri

The continuing impasse between the United States and Pakistan over the accidental killing by American forces of 24 Pakistani soldiers last November means Pakistani territory is off-limits for the evacuation of American and NATO military equipment from Afghanistan.