Scowcroft Center Commentary, Analysis, & Reports

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 […]

Déjà Vu, Again

By Shuja Nawaz

We have seen this movie before, under civilian and military governments‚ and it does not have a happy ending. Pakistan again stands at a precipice. While there is much to be said for the indomitable spirit of the Pakistani people‚ our leadership appears blindfolded and unworthy‚ focused only on the short-term.   In 2010‚ we […]

Continuing Instability in South Asia is in the Cards

By Gurmeet Kanwal

Though 2010 was relatively peaceful in South Asia – with the exception of the conflict in Afghanistan, the unstable regional security environment, India’s unresolved territorial and boundary disputes with China and Pakistan and continuing internal security challenges are a cause for concern.  After West Asia, this region is perhaps the most trouble prone in the […]

Pakistan Futures

By Raja Menon

Pakistan’s prospects have dimmed quite alarmingly over the past year. My book, The Long View from Delhi, written early last year, built a transparent structure for arriving at the possible scenarios for countries that will decide India’s Grand Strategy of Foreign Policy in 2025. Pakistan had hugely uncertain futures, swinging from a Pakistan Shining (9% […]

Pakistan: Living on the Edge

By Maleeha Lodhi

Worsening political turmoil and an unraveling economy cloud prospects for Pakistan’s stability in the year ahead. When the ruling coalition led by President Asif Zardari lost the support of two key allies the country plunged into a fresh political crisis. The defections left the government well short of a parliamentary majority and struggling to avert […]

AfPak Imbroglio

By Arnaud de Borchgrave

What does one call an impoverished nuclear weapons power where 80 percent of its 180 million people say things are moving in the wrong direction; 64 percent claim the United States is their enemy; 18 percent view al-Qaida favorably; almost 40 percent say they approve of al-Qaida’s 9/11 attacks on the Twin Towers; and 56 […]

Defense Austerity, American Style

By James Joyner

 The age of austerity for NATO defense budgets is finally hitting the United States.   Here, though, it’s a bit different, with "cuts" coming in the Washington sense of "spending more than last year but less than projected." To be sure, this isn’t the impression one would get scanning the headlines.  NYT blares "Pentagon Seeks […]

Enterprise Incident: More Than Bad Judgment

By Robert Bracknell

The relief of the commanding officer of the Enterprise resounds far beyond the person of Capt. Owen Honors. It impacts a storied warship, the Navy and the nation – all of whom deserve better. Leaving aside the separate issue of the propriety of Capt. Honors’ conduct, I am perplexed at his failure to recognize how […]

British CHoD: Not a Time for Strategic Shrinkage

By James Joyner

UK defense chief General Sir David Richards declared that, despite painful cuts in his country’s military budget, they "will continue to be the best ally the United States could hope for." Richards made no bones about how painful austerity would be, noting that it will require manning a smaller force than he would like and […]

British Defense Chief: Afghanistan Situation ‘Radically Better’

By James Joyner

General Sir David Richards, the chief of Britain’s armed forces, told an Atlantic Council audience that the situation in Afghanistan is "radically better than it was in 2008," when he turned over command of the NATO mission. He noted that little has changed in terms of the strategic vision. The essential understanding of how to […]

Military Aid and Supplies for Pakistan

By Alan Kronstadt

Much has been spoken and written about the United states aid program for the Pakistan military and the sales or grants of material to the military in Pakistan since 2001. But specifics about the nature of the flows and their changes over time have not been understood widely. We are grateful for the following two […]