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

New Atlanticist

May 3, 2011

Is Britain a Pocket Superpower or Super-Belgium?

By Julian Lindley-French

Oh no, not again! The BBC’s Robert Peston has discovered that the two currently under construction and now infamous British aircraft carriers, HMS Queen Elizabeth and HMS Prince of Wales will cost more than originally envisaged. One outlier estimate has the cost as high as £10bn, rather than the £3.9bn budgeted for. This is apparently […]

United Kingdom

New Atlanticist

May 2, 2011

After Bin Laden: The Future of the US-Pakistan Relationship

By Shuja Nawaz

"Over the years, I’ve repeatedly made clear that we would take action within Pakistan if we knew where bin Laden was. That is what we’ve done. But it’s important to note that our counterterrorism cooperation with Pakistan helped lead us to bin Laden and the compound where he was hiding. Indeed, bin Laden had declared […]

New Atlanticist

Apr 29, 2011

A European Perspective on NATO in Libya

By Jason Harmala

The conflict in Libya is NATO’s first war without America in the lead. What is the reaction in Europe? The Dutch just announced a drastic cut in their defense budget. How are they reacting to the Libyan campaign? Will there be European boots on the ground in Libya?In the latest installment of the New Atlanticist […]

New Atlanticist

Apr 28, 2011

Meet the New NATO

By Jorge Benitez

Last November, President Barack Obama wrote that NATO would “transform itself” at the Lisbon Summit through “a new Strategic Concept that recognizes the capabilities and partners we need to meet the new threats of the 21st century.” 

New Atlanticist

Apr 28, 2011

Learning from Afghan History

By Derek Reveron

Today marks Victory Day in Afghanistan, the anniversary of the Mujahedeen overthrow of the Afghan socialist government in 1992. While a cause for celebration in Afghanistan, the subsequent years were marked by civil war, Taliban consolidation, and eventual intervention by the United States in 2001.

New Atlanticist

Apr 22, 2011

Chinese Takeaway

By Arnaud de Borchgrave

While World Bank President Robert Zoellick warns that the world is "one shock away from a full-blown crisis," China has broken ground and taken over the economic future of a country whose nearest island to the U.S. mainland is Bimini, only 50 miles away. The Nassau Guardian editorialized: "The Bahamas has fallen fully into the […]

New Atlanticist

Apr 18, 2011

The Dying Peace Constituency

By Mehreen Zahra-Malik

“Unless it starts to behave, why should India not treat Pakistan like the errant child that it is and simply ignore it?” thundered a journalist from The Hindu. “You can’t ignore it even if you tried,” a Pakistani security analyst said in challenge. “I can tell you from my experience as a parent that ignoring […]

New Atlanticist

Apr 14, 2011

Operation Libyan Freedom

By Harlan Ullman

The stated political aim of NATO and the coalition now conducting military operations over Libya authorized by U.N. Security Resolution 1973 to “use all necessary measures” to protect civilians is to end the rule of Moammar Gadhafi and his regime. But when queried about the seeming inconsistency between the military objective of protecting civilians and […]

New Atlanticist

Apr 13, 2011

Feeding Pakistan’s Paranoia

By Shuja Nawaz

Behind all the talk of a strategic dialogue and strategic partnership between the United States and Pakistan lurks the reality of a persistent transactional relationship, based on short-term objectives that intrude rudely into the limelight every time a drone attack kills civilians inside Pakistan or in the instance when an American “operative” is caught by […]

New Atlanticist

Apr 13, 2011

Georgia Gives Up MAP, but Expects to Join NATO Anyway

By Matthew Czekaj

It should now be crystal clear: Georgia no longer wants a Membership Action Plan (MAP) for NATO accession. But it still expects to become a member of the Alliance. 

New Atlanticist

Apr 7, 2011

How to Win a Kazakh Election

By Joseph Hammond

On Friday Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbaev will officially be sworn in for a new five-year term in office, following an election which saw him take home a staggering 95.5 percent of the vote. Turn out was also officially 90 percent. Like so many elections before it in Kazakhstan, the polls were marred by reports of […]

New Atlanticist

Apr 7, 2011

NATO Renewed from Afghanistan

By Jan Techau

Anders Fogh Rasmussen has won the Afghan War. When he became Secretary General of NATO on the 1st of August, 2009, he took over an organization that was threatened by severe "Afghanistan depression." The Alliance appeared to be over extended. Neither the military mission nor the civil reconstruction projects were progressing, the Americans, Dutch and […]

New Atlanticist

Apr 4, 2011

The Realist Prism: Libya Could Shift NATO Focus Southward

By Nikolas Gvosdev

The commencement of military operations in Libya has led to some unexpected reactions in Eastern European capitals. It was widely expected that Russia, whose uneasiness with the very principle of humanitarian intervention is well-known, would have used its veto at the U.N. Security Council to block the passage of Resolution 1973. After all, Russia’s firm […]

Event Recap

Mar 31, 2011

Prospects for Nordic-Baltic Security and Defense Cooperation

Thursday, March 31, 2011, the Atlantic Council’s International Security Program welcomed Edward Lucas, The Economist’s Central and Eastern Europe Correspondent and International Editor.

New Atlanticist

Mar 28, 2011

When an Ally’s in Trouble, America Responds

By Robert Bracknell

On March 11, America’s perennial ally Japan suffered the double calamity of a magnitude 9.0 earthquake and a powerful ensuing tsunami. Resultant electrical failures at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant caused reactor cooling systems to fail, resulting in overheating, reactor explosions and the release of radiation into the atmosphere. So far, about 7,500 are […]

New Atlanticist

Mar 25, 2011

Unify NATO’s Libya Operation

By Damon Wilson

Fighting effectively requires fighting coherently under a unified chain of command.  In Libya, this means NATO exercising effective command and control of the coalition operations.  The Alliance now has command of two of three pillars of the military operation: enforcing the arms embargo with a naval blockade and (as of a few hours ago) enforcing […]

New Atlanticist

Mar 23, 2011

West’s Goal Must be Gaddafi’s Removal

By Kurt Volker

The launch of Western military operations to implement UN Security Council Resolution 1973 is long overdue, but nonetheless welcome: After weeks of delay, brutal attacks by the regime, and a loss of momentum for the rebellion, Colonel Gaddafi’s counter-revolution might now be halted.

International Organizations Politics & Diplomacy

New Atlanticist

Mar 22, 2011

Libya Primer: Who is In Charge of Allied Forces?

By Jorge Benitez

There is a lot of speculation and misunderstanding about the existing command and control structure for the international military operation in Libya.  The truth in this case is not pretty and in flux. The command and control structure of the coalition is messy and complicated.  But keep in mind that the current structure was created […]

New Atlanticist

Mar 18, 2011

Obama’s Libya Turnabout

By James Joyner

After two weeks of signaling that the United States would continue its pattern of not intervening in the democracy movements in the Middle East, the Obama administration suddenly persuaded the UN Security Council to authorize war to protect civilians in Libya. Was this a deliberate subterfuge or did the president change his mind? My initial […]

New Atlanticist

Mar 18, 2011

Building Afghanistan’s Police Force

By Derek Reveron

For many of the world’s countries, human security is now national security. Afghanistan is no exception. While much attention centers on building an Afghan army while NATO military forces conduct counterinsurgency operations, there is also a concerted effort to build police forces to fill the security deficit created by years of war.  

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