Scowcroft Center Commentary, Analysis, & Reports

West Africa Vital To Transatlantic Security

By Anthony Calandra

The United States and our transatlantic partners are rightly working together to address the very real problems off the coast of East Africa. But it’s time for us to start paying more attention to West Africa, which is on the verge of catastrophe that would have far more negative impact our our interests.  This is an […]

Foreign Policy After the US Mid-Term Elections: Avoiding a New Isolationism

By Kurt Volker

Having worked to convince NATO allies to stay committed in Afghanistan, President Obama now returns home, where questions about America’s role in the world may be growing in the wake of this month’s mid-term elections.   Clearly, the U.S. mid-term elections were not about foreign policy.  Yet they may have a significant impact nonetheless, with […]

Plugging The WikiLeaks

By James Joyner

The latest WikiLeaks document dump by five Western newspapers — this time, victimizing the State Department  — will start some uncomfortable conversations among America’s friends.  It will also force further evaluation about how we handle our internal business. The editors at the New York Times and The Guardian make strong arguments about the public’s right to know and the fact […]

After Lisbon, Execution Is Key

By Peter Flory

Russian Ambassador: We Want to Be Partners But Need Guarantees

By Sarwar Kashmeri

In the latest installment of the New Atlanticist Podcast Series Atlantic Council senior fellow Sarwar Kashmeri interviews Dmitry Rogozin, Russia’s Ambassador to NATO.

Stuxnet: Signs Could Point to Russia

By Chris Demchak

No smoking gun cleanly identifies the author of Stuxnet but three broad streams of evidence point away from the usual suspects of Israel, the US, or China.

Obama Woos, Wows, and Wins India

By Mohan Guruswamy

President Barack Obama must have left India an extremely satisfied man. When he arrived, the civilian nuclear deal announced by George Bush and the gushing warmth of Bill Clinton set high water marks for him to surpass. He exceeded expectations and won Indians over with his cool and cerebral approach to issues and his soaring […]

Rising India

By Ehsan Ahrari

From India’s point of view, President Barack Obama’s trip could not have come at a better time.  The "Obama glaze" or even "Obama magic" that brought him to office in 2009 is damaged, if not permanently gone after the "shellacking" he received during the mid-term elections. 

The Obama Visit to India: Looking Back

By Raja Menon

President Obama and Michelle won Indian hearts in the way he won the US presidential elections – with charm, wit and a rare way with words, which he interspersed with references to Gandhi, Vivekananda and Ambedkar. The people to people relationship is of huge significance, being the reason why India and the US are on […]

American Options Limited in Korea

By Patrick deGategno

Earlier today, North Korea killed two ROK marines and injured at least 16 others in an artillery barrage near the Yellow Sea’s Northern Limit Line.  South Korea has promised "stern, manifold retaliation" if it happens again. Meanwhile, the U.S. and others are still absorbing the implications of new information about advancements in North Korea’s nuclear […]

Enhancing NATO-EU Cooperation

By Stanley Sloan

The Atlantic Council hosted an excellent discussion on the eve of the NATO Lisbon Summit on the problems facing the alliance. In particular, it focused on the fact that transatlantic security cooperation remains handicapped by issues between Greece and Turkey that continue to block effective NATO/European Union collaboration. The panelists all appropriately agreed that the […]

Global Challenges Absent from New Strategic Concept

By Rob de Wijk

NATO’s new Strategic Concept seeks to explain how the Alliance will address 21st century security challenges including energy security, proliferation of weapons of mass destruction to rogue actors, terrorism, and cyber security. But the document should also have taken into account the dramatic new security challenges that will change the world and will impact the […]

NATO Summit Reality Check: Brilliant Policy vs. Real World Resistance

By Kurt Volker

The recently concluded NATO summit did all the right things: outline an ambitious role for NATO in a complex world; renew and recalibrate NATO’s role in Afghanistan; relaunch the NATO-Russia Council; and even move the ball forward on missile defense. This will now be followed by negotiations on implementation documents. To someone who has worked […]

NATO’s Lisbon Summit: All the Right Words

By James Joyner

NATO’s Lisbon Summit exceeded all reasonable expectations.  Yet it leaves critical questions about the Alliance unanswered. Once upon a time, the meeting was supposed to launch a new NATO, building on the experience in Afghanistan and forging a path for the decade to come.  But the combination of disillusionment with that mission and the devastating […]

The Lisbon Summit: The Good, the Bad and the Ugly

By Ian Brzezinski

Good:  The new Strategic Concept is a good document. It uses firm language to reassert the centrality of NATO’s Article 5 security commitment, affirm the Alliance’s role in guarding against today’s wide array of multi-dimensional threats, and formalize NATO’s roles in crisis management and prevention.

NATO Summit Reaction, Day 2

By Damon Wilson

On the second day of the NATO Summit in Lisbon, Allied leaders approved the Lisbon Declaration, providing an action plan to implement the Strategic Concept in the months ahead and agreed to reconvene in the United States in 2012. They also met with President Karzai and NATO’s partners in Afghanistan to endorse a strategy to […]

NATO Should Focus More on Conventional Arms Control in Europe

By Donald Bandler and Jakub Kulhanek

With the new strategic concept and a revitalized partnership with Russia at hand, it appears that the Alliance is poised to enter a new era with a regained sense of purpose in the aftermath of the Lisbon summit. However, as the West is bent on winding down its military presence in Afghanistan, NATO leaders are […]