Scowcroft Center Commentary, Analysis, & Reports

French NATO Return Provides Opportunity to Reflect

By James Joyner

Kenneth Weisbrode, a fellow at the European University Institute, argues in a U.S. News essay that the return of France to NATO’s military command offers an opportunity to clarify the institution’s missions but is otherwise no great panacea.

Pakistan: Peril or Promise?

By Harlan Ullman

You are president of Pakistan.  Your country faces seemingly intractable and simultaneous crises. You rightly believe that an existential threat to your nation is posed by the insurgencies led by religious zealots and extremists.

Obama’s Iran Initiative

By James Joyner

Then-candidate Barack Obama avowed in the YouTube debate of July 23, 2007 that, yes, he would “be willing to meet separately, without precondition . . . with the leaders of Iran, Syria, Venzuela, Cuba and North Korea, in order to bridge the gap that divides our countries.”   While he took a lot of flak for […]

Does De Gaulle Still Matter?

By Jeffrey Lightfoot

Forty-three years after General Charles de Gaulle’s removal of France from NATO’s integrated command structure, Nicolas Sarkozy announced in an important speech that his country will reverse this symbolically important legacy of Gaullist heritage at the upcoming NATO summit.

A U.S. Backed North-South Corridor

By Alexandros Petersen

It is a pet peeve of many a “Eurasianist” geopolitical analyst that the U.S. State Department groups Central and South Asia together in its organizational structure.  There may be historical links across Afghanistan, they argue, but these pale in comparison to the Caspian-Central Asia region’s links to Russia, the West, and even China.  Indeed, the […]

Pakistan Army Hits Back at Taliban

By Peter Cassata

Pakistan’s military has successfully driven Taliban militants from Bajaur Agency, a small chunk of the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA) sandwiched between Afghanistan and the Northwest Frontier Province.  The news is welcome, but Bajaur’s relatively small area and milder terrain make the victory much more difficult to replicate in other regions of the FATA.

Wanted: New Afghan Supply Routes

By Peter Cassata

On top of its decision to close the U.S. airbase at Manas, Kyrgyzstan’s parliament voted yesterday to end agreements with eleven other countries that also use the base, including several European states, Australia, New Zealand, and South Korea, Reuters reports.

Russian Elections Follow Latin America Model

By James Joyner

Russia held local elections Sunday but most observers are crying Foul! Prime Minister Vladimir Putin’s party has swept local elections that other parties and independent observers said were awash with voting irregularities.

NATO’s Three Faces

By James Joyner

In a new essay at The National Interest, Richard Betts makes a point I’ve been making since before this blog started:  The North Atlantic Treaty Organization is one of the most successful alliances of all time, but after the cold war and the successful completion of its mission, NATO suffered an identity crisis. It now […]

Iran: Next Stop, Nuclear Weapons

By Peter Cassata

Iran now possesses enough fissile material to produce at least one nuclear bomb, Joint Chiefs of Staff chairman Admiral Mullen said over the weekend.  Mullen’s statement follows a February 19 report released by the IAEA that concluded it had underestimated the amount of Iran’s enriched uranium by about one third.

Poland Expects Worst on Missile Defense

By James Joyner

Warsaw seems resigned to the Obama administration reneging on an agreement signed by its predecessor to put a missile defense system in Poland.

Trust Deficit Undermines U.S.-Pakistan-Afghanistan Cooperation

By James Joyner

Over the next three days, a high level delegation of U.S., Afghan, and Pakistani officials will meet to “seriously deal with the hard issues: how do the Afghans want to deal with [the insurgent activity on] their border, how to do this better, how to undermine those insurgents that run across their territory,” Laura Rozen […]

Pakistan-India Kashmir Talks Revealed

By Peter Cassata

Indian and Pakistani officials engaged in secret talks from 2004 to 2007 that almost resulted in a deal over Kashmir, according to New Yorker journalist Steve Coll.  The talks fizzled out in 2007 and have since been set back even further.

Chuck Hagel on CNN’s American Morning: Transcript

Transcript from CNN, February 19, 2009. […] ROBERTS: Joining us now from Washington to talk about the new strategy, former Nebraska Senator Chuck Hagel, who is the new chairman of the Atlantic Council. Congratulations on your new position. It’s good to see you, sir. CHUCK HAGEL, FMR. NEBRASKA SENATOR: John, thank you very much. ROBERTS: […]