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

Dec 22, 2009

Changing Hearts and Minds in Pakistan

By Luv Puri

In April, the announcement that Islamic law would be implemented in Pakistan’s Swat Valley made international headlines. The threat to Islamabad, which is less than six hours away, resulted in a quick assault by the Pakistani military which restored control. Since then, there has been little discussion about the state of the people there and […]

New Atlanticist

Dec 21, 2009

USA Gets in the New Trade Game

By Robert Manning

It was all but unnoticed in the U.S. press, but a recent free trade agreement between the European Union and South Korea is a development worth pondering. In the current environment– with the US Congress reluctant to pursue new trade deals (or for that matter, even ratify the FTAs already concluded with Panama, Columbia and […]

New Atlanticist

Dec 21, 2009

Ending the Culture of Suspicion

By Shuja Nawaz

The 21st century has ushered in changes in the global political landscape that demand a transformation of the mindset of policymakers around the globe. NATO and the European Union no longer inhabit a world of black and white, with a clear and defined set of antagonists and allies. Global issues that bring together North America […]

New Atlanticist

Dec 18, 2009

European Energy Policy Needed

By Borut Grgic

Late to the Caspian energy game, China is the first to plug in in a big way.  This weekend, only two years after the project was announced, Chinese President Hu Jintao opened the 1140-mile long pipeline that will carry up to 40 bcm of gas from Turkmenistan to China. This is a huge boon for […]

New Atlanticist

Dec 18, 2009

Iraqi Oil Contracts: Did America Lose Out?

By Don Snow

The announcement last week that the Iraqi government had awarded foreign contracts for the exploitation of a number of its oil fields created a remarkably mild, one-day reaction in the popular press. The gist of the awards, of course, was that virtually everybody, from the Russians and Chinese to the Malaysians and Angolans, were given […]

Iraq

New Atlanticist

Dec 18, 2009

NATO Steps up to the Plate

By Damon Wilson

Afghanistan has eroded support for NATO in Washington. An alliance that has long enjoyed strong bipartisan support is now facing bipartisan skepticism.

Afghanistan NATO

Event Recap

Dec 17, 2009

Vassilis Kaskarelis: Advancing NATO-EU Cooperation

Vassilis Kaskarelis, Greece’s recently posted Ambassador to the United States, joined the Atlantic Council for a private roundtable discussion to offer his assessment of the U.S.-EU relationship and NATO-EU cooperation.

European Union International Organizations

New Atlanticist

Dec 17, 2009

Pakistan’s Year of Decision

By Shuja Nawaz

Even in its waning days, 2009 continues to be a ‘Year of Decision’ in Pakistan, as its fractured polity struggles to right the ship of state while tackling the rising insurgencies inside its borders. This was the year that Pakistan took the battle to the insurgency, first in Swat and Malakand and then into the […]

New Atlanticist

Dec 17, 2009

Iran Could Learn from China’s New Economic Model

By Donald Bandler and Ralph Winnie

The recent demonstrations by pro-democracy activists should provide a clear warning to President Mahmud Ahmadinejad and the Iranian mullahs, who are responsible for maintaining his authority, that the regime must address the social and economic concerns of its well-educated populace if it wants to stay in power. 

Freedom

New Atlanticist

Dec 16, 2009

Stratcon 2010: A Military Route to Freedom?

By Julian Lindley-French

As NATO establishes a new Strategic Concept, the Alliance is re-focusing on its political and military purpose: to defend freedom in the face of those without ethics.

NATO Security & Defense

New Atlanticist

Dec 16, 2009

Turkey’s Role in Resolving Nagorno-Karabakh

By Alexandros Petersen

Alexandros Petersen, nonresident senior fellow at the Council’s Dinu Patriciu Eurasia Center, was interviewed by Leyla Tagiyeva of Azerbaijan’s News.Az on the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict.

New Atlanticist

Dec 15, 2009

Lord Robertson on the Transformation of NATO

By Simon Michell

George Robertson tells Simon Michell how the fall of the Berlin Wall brought in a period of confusion that saw a transformation in the role and mission of NATO.

Issue Brief

Dec 14, 2009

New Transatlantic Compact for NATO

Kurt Volker, Atlantic Council senior advisor and member of the Strategic Advisors Group (SAG), describes the challenges facing NATO and calls for unity to the divergent goals and ambitions of member states in the SAG issue brief “A New Transatlantic Compact.” Download the PDF

NATO Security & Defense

New Atlanticist

Dec 14, 2009

Tempering Afghan Optimism

By Don Snow

The recent announcements and statements of support for President Obama’s “surge” in Afghanistan have left me a bit confused, and I wonder if readers can help me out here. Something just does not compute.

Afghanistan

New Atlanticist

Dec 11, 2009

Limits of Force: The U.S. in the 21st Century

By Chuck Hagel

We are only now coming to terms with what it will take to lead in the world that has evolved in the 20 years since the Berlin Wall’s fall, instructed by the hard lessons of Iraq and Afghanistan.

New Atlanticist

Dec 10, 2009

Azerbaijan Key Energy Player with Limited Options

By Alexandros Petersen

Azerbaijan’s ongoing dispute with Turkey about transit terms and revenues for natural gas heading to Europe across Anatolia, as well as uncertainties about the Nabucco pipeline project, have compelled highest-level officials at Azerbaijan’s State Oil Company (SOCAR) to publicly consider the option of exporting hydrocarbons eastward, potentially to China and other East Asian markets.

Event Recap

Dec 9, 2009

Gordan Jandrokovic: Croatia and Southeast Europe in NATO

Gordan Jandroković, Croatia’s Minister of Foreign Affairs and European Integration, joined the Atlantic Council for a conversation on Southeast Europe’s prospects for integration into Euro-Atlantic institutions.

International Security Assistance Force NATO

New Atlanticist

Dec 8, 2009

Chicago As a Terrorist Center

By James Joyner

Citing reports that a Chicago man has been arrested for helping to plan the Mumbia terror attacks, Bernard Finel snarks, “I guess we need a surge in Chicago, too?”

National Security Security & Defense

New Atlanticist

Dec 8, 2009

4.5 Acres of Sovereign and Mobile American Territory

By Sarwar Kashmeri

I am flying aboard a Grumman C2-1 Greyhound, a powerful twin-engine turboprop nicknamed “COD” for Carrier Onboard Delivery. It’s the U.S. Navy’s aerial workhorse — its Jeep so to speak — ferrying passengers, cargo, engines, spare parts and whatever else is needed back and forth from land to the fleet’s aircraft carriers.  We’re about 100 […]

New Atlanticist

Dec 7, 2009

Climate Change and National Security

By Derek Reveron

Amid the flurry of discussion caused by “climate-gate” and debates about CO2 emission caps, the relationship between climate change and security is likely to be overlooked in Copenhagen. Unlike traditional security issues like nuclear warheads, missile proliferation, or naval modernization, climate change often escapes national security discussions. Ozone depletion, CO2 emissions, and rising sea levels […]

National Security Security & Defense
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