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

Aug 20, 2009

An Alternative Strategy for Afghanistan

By Bernard Finel

One of my great frustrations in becoming more involved in the debate over Afghanistan policy and the utility of population-centric counter-insurgency (COIN) theory is how ruthlessly the pro-escalation side of the debate has sought to caricature the position of the skeptics.

Afghanistan

New Atlanticist

Aug 14, 2009

Pakistan Nukes Misfire

By Shuja Nawaz

Few issues grab more attention on the global stage today than the safety of Pakistan’s nuclear arsenal. The assumption in the West has always been that Pakistan cannot adequately safeguard these weapons and that radical Islamists will grab them, putting Western interests at risk in the region.

Pakistan

New Atlanticist

Aug 14, 2009

German Terrorists Wanted to Kill Americans

By James Joyner

A foiled German terrorist plot against airports, military bases and off duty hangouts of American soldiers was motivated by Islamist zeal and hatred of American foreign policy, the group’s leader has revealed. Their intent was to kill as many Americans as possible to punish us for an alleged “war against Islam.”

Germany

New Atlanticist

Aug 13, 2009

Outside Intervention in Internal Wars

By Don Snow

The most ignored but arguably the most important factor militating against American success in Afghanistan is the dynamic of outside intervention in internal wars. The experience of foreign countries intervening in other people’s civil conflicts is, to put it mildly, dismal.

Afghanistan

New Atlanticist

Aug 12, 2009

Afghanistan Debate Intensifies

By James Joyner

The U.S. ambassador to Afghanistan is the latest senior official calling for additional resources for the effort there.  Meanwhile, the debate over whether NATO should continue its mission at all has taken off.

Afghanistan NATO

New Atlanticist

Aug 12, 2009

How Secure are Pakistan’s Nukes?

By Arnaud de Borchgrave

Is Pakistan’s nuclear arsenal theft-proof? Former President Pervez Musharraf and his successor Asif Ali Zardari and their army and intelligence chiefs repeatedly have assured both the Bush and Obama administrations that their 80-odd nuclear weapons are as secure as the U.S. arsenal of some 7,000 city busters. The Pakistanis have separated warheads from delivery systems […]

Pakistan

New Atlanticist

Aug 12, 2009

National Security in the 21st century

By Harlan Ullman

Last Sunday Barack Obama’s national security adviser, retired Marine Gen. James L. Jones, made the television morning talk show rounds. Perhaps the most provocative question fired at him was why he was playing a far less visible – and critics would add even an invisible – role than his more famous predecessors such as Henry […]

NATO Security & Defense

New Atlanticist

Aug 10, 2009

An Alternative Counter-Terrorism Strategy: International Elements

By Bernard Finel

My colleague Evelyn Farkas challenged me to provide a follow-on to my somewhat critical review of John Brennan’s speech outlining the Obama Administration’s counter-terrorism policy. 

New Atlanticist

Aug 10, 2009

Pakistan and the Taliban: Leaders Caught Betwixt and Between

By Shuja Nawaz

Following the reported death of Baitullah Mehsud from an American drone attack, Pakistan faces a number of challenges. Will it be able to take an offensive against the Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) as it faces disarray? Will it be able to resist the US pressure to “do more” against the Afghan Taliban now that the United […]

New Atlanticist

Aug 7, 2009

There Is a Military Option on Iran

By Chuck Wald

In a policy address at the Council on Foreign Relations last month, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said of Iran, “We cannot be afraid or unwilling to engage.” But the Iranian government has yet to accept President Obama’s outstretched hand. Even if Tehran suddenly acceded to talks, U.S. policy makers must prepare for the eventuality […]

Iran

New Atlanticist

Aug 7, 2009

U.S.-China Strategic & Economic Dialogue

By Patrick deGategno and Damien Tomkins

If you think the first U.S.-China Strategic & Economic Dialogue last week lacked substance, you are wrong.  It was a promising step in the growing bilateral relationship.

China United States and Canada

New Atlanticist

Aug 4, 2009

The Next Stage in U.S.-China Relations

By Banning Garrett

The China-U.S. relationship for the 21st Century is being forged in a new, strategically interdependent world—a globalized world no longer characterized by the zero-sum strategic competition among the major powers that dominated the Cold War and preceding eras. The United States and China are not strategic competitors but rather face common strategic challenges that can […]

China

New Atlanticist

Aug 4, 2009

Rasmussen: Afghanistan NATO’s Top Priority

By James Joyner

New NATO chief Anders Fogh Rasmussen has wasted no time in signaling that the war in Afghanistan is the Alliance’s top priority, holding a teleconference on the conflict, reorganizing the mission’s command structure and calling for more EU help in his first days on the job.

Afghanistan NATO

New Atlanticist

Aug 3, 2009

Kashmir Self-Determination Revisited

By Luv Puri

On 5 May 1946, People’s Age, a communist newspaper, noted in a commentary that granting the right to complete self-determination to all the nationalities living in India would eliminate the possibility of a constitutional solution along communal lines. The right, it continued, could be conceded after a territorial re-division of provinces, done on a scientific […]

New Atlanticist

Jul 31, 2009

Russia’s Energy Weapon Could Take Aim at USA

By Alexandros Petersen

Recently the European Commission urgently recommended that all European Union member-state governments begin filling natural-gas storage facilities in preparation for energy cutoffs from Russia. If Russia’s Kremlin-controlled energy monopoly Gazprom gets its way, such emergency measures may also become a reality in the United States.

Energy & Environment Russia

New Atlanticist

Jul 30, 2009

Congress, Pork, and the F-22

By Bernard Finel

A frustrating tendency in media coverage of the defense budgeting process is the presumption that anything Congress adds to the Department of Defense’s budget request must be political pork (see, for example, “Pork-Laden Defense Bill Weighed“).

New Atlanticist

Jul 28, 2009

Transatlantic Partnership under the Obama Administration

By Damon Wilson

This month’s G-8 Summit in Italy marked President Obama’s third visit to Europe in the first six months of his Presidency.

European Union International Organizations

New Atlanticist

Jul 24, 2009

It’s Time to Get Serious on the Southern Corridor

By Alexandros Petersen

Is Western energy policy in the Black Sea-Caspian region finally coming together? Are the fortunes of the ill-fated Nabucco pipeline finally looking up?

New Atlanticist

Jul 22, 2009

Bush’s Third Term

By James Joyner

In an essay for The National Interest, “Bush’s Third Term,” I catalog the remarkable continuity  between Barack Obama’s foreign policy and that of his predecessor.  While noting that real change may be coming on missile defense, Israel, and Cuba, I point out how little has changed on Iraq, Afghanistan, Iran, Pakistan, al Qaeda, North Korea, […]

New Atlanticist

Jul 21, 2009

The Congressional-Military-Industrial Complex

By Arnaud de Borchgrave

“If the Department of Defense can’t figure out a way to defend the United States on half a trillion dollars a year, then our problems are much bigger than anything that can be cured by buying a few more ships and planes.” So spoke Defense Secretary Robert Gates, angry with the profligate ways of both the Congress […]

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