Scowcroft Center Commentary, Analysis, & Reports

On Building an Army

By Derek Reveron

For obvious reasons, coverage of Afghanistan is focused on the 150,000 NATO troops. After all, there are Soldiers, Sailors, Airmen, Marines, and even Coast Guardsmen conducting counterinsurgency operations, developing Afghanistan’s infrastructure, and training the Afghan military and police. All three lines of effort are essential, but developing an independent security force is essential for fulfilling […]

Piracy Presents Opportunity for NATO-Russia Cooperation

By Ronak Desai

Combating the scourge of maritime piracy has emerged as a promising area of cooperation between NATO and the Russian Federation.  During last month’s annual NATO-Russia Council (NRC) meeting, Moscow’s Ambassador to NATO, Dmitry Rogozin, called for “detailed discussions” on how best to coordinate counter-piracy efforts off the Somali coast, and proposed organizing NATO-Russian naval patrols […]

Cyber Security and Freedom: Rules For The Road

By James Joyner

"Cyberspace is changing the way we view and conduct foreign policy as well as transforming our everyday lives," British Foreign Secretary William Hague told the Munich Security Conference today. He offered to host an international conference to establish global norms. Hague noted just how far ranging the cyber arena has become, touching most aspects of […]

Leviathan in the Levant

By Alexandros Petersen

The recent discovery of the Leviathan natural gas field off the coast of Israel, though not a game changer like shale in terms of global gas supplies, promises to have major implications for the country’s energy security and even the energy balance of the region at large, while setting off competition over other finds in […]

Iran Cracks Down While Egypt Cracks Up

By Barbara Slavin

While the world’s attention has been riveted by Arab uprisings in Tunisia and Egypt this month, Iran’s government has taken the opportunity to execute a record number of prisoners in an apparent bid to head off the return of the dramatic street protests that pushed President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s government to the brink in June 2009. […]

Turkey’s Dynamic Resurgence in the New Global Era

By Zeynep Dereli and Jean-Pierre Lehmann

In a recent article in Newsweek, Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan branded the EU “geriatric” and “comatose.” This reflects not only Ankara’s frustrations with the EU accession process, but also the global transformations of the early 21st century.

Egypt Needs Reform, Not Revolution

By George Grant and Alexandros Petersen

The mounting pro-democracy protests in Egypt against the 30-year tyranny of Hosni Mubarak are an encouraging development in the wake of Tunisia’s ousting of its own long-time autocrat, Zine El Abidine Ben Ali, earlier this month. It is tempting, indeed altogether proper, to hope for “people power” changes of governance across the autocratic Arab world. […]

Time to Think, Not Spend, Our Way Out of Danger

By Harlan Ullman

The traditional U.S. solution to military threats has generally been to spend rather than think our way clear of danger. With the wind down of the wars in Iraq and hopefully Afghanistan and the state of the economy with debts and deficits that seem endless, U.S. defense budgets will and must decline, probably dramatically. In […]

NATO SecGen explains meeting with President of Uzbekistan

By NATO

From NATO:  Excerpts from press conference by NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen.

Is China Trying to Divide U.S. and Europe?

By Banning Garrett

Chinese President Hu Jintao held talks with President Barack Obama this week on the heels of Vice Premier Li Keqiang’s charm offensive in Europe early this month. Li, the presumptive future premier, made deals to purchase European government bonds, buy European goods and invest in European countries. Should the United States — and Europe — […]

Jihadists Losing Momentum?

By Arnaud de Borchgrave

The fourth issue of Inspire, al Qaeda’s online English-language magazine, appears to be running out of ideas to provoke mayhem among the heathen nations and the Muslims who do their bidding. Women jihadis are praised for their courage and men chastised for sitting on their hands. Singled out is Roshanara Chaudry sentenced to life in […]

China’s Seat At The Big Table

By James Joyner

A great line was going around Twitter last night:  "The 2009 Nobel Peace Prize winner holds a State Dinner for a man who has the 2010 winner under House Arrest." And, indeed, there was some amusing irony in President Obama, the 2009 winner, hosting Chinese President Hu Jintao for a massive state dinner.  Among his […]

Franklin Kramer: US Should Aim for Cyber Resilience

Vice Chair of the Atlantic Council and former Assistant Defense Secretary for International Affairs Franklin D. Kramer delivered a speech at the Black Hat Federal Briefings in Arlington, VA. In his speech, Kramer reinforced the need for the United States to strengthen its information technology infrastructure. The full text of the speech can be found […]

Afghanistan: Sparking a New Debate on an Old War

By James Joyner

The center-left New America Foundation has enlisted an unlikely ally, conservative tax foe Grover Norquist, to help build a coalition against the war in Afghanistan. At first blush, this would seem unnecessary.  A CNN poll released January 3 found a whopping 66 percent of Americans opposed the war, with only 35 percent supporting it.  And opposition is […]