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

IranSource

Oct 10, 2018

Sanctions or Liquidity—Which One Is More Dangerous for Iran’s Economy?

By Hoorozan

The Iranian rial was traded at 150,000 against the US dollar on October 2, indicating a 12 percent appreciation in just one day. Bonbast, a website which tracks free market rates in Iran, stopped posting rates for the day, while state news agencies reported that the free market rial value kept appreciating as high as […]

Iran

New Atlanticist

Oct 9, 2018

SWIFT action risks unintended consequences

By Samantha Sultoon

Unilateral, isolated policy making that implicates SWIFT risks hampering the flow of global financial transactions and trade, harming US businesses as well as further antagonizing European allies.

International Financial Institutions Trade and tariffs

In the News

Oct 8, 2018

Manning Joins Radio Free Asia to Discuss North Korea Talks

By Robert A. Manning

Listen to the full discussion here.

Nuclear Nonproliferation Security & Defense

In the News

Oct 7, 2018

Manning in Global Times: Can Pompeo Trip Turn Vague Commitment Into Actions?

By Robert A. Manning

Read the full article here.

Korea

In the News

Oct 5, 2018

Manning in Foreign Policy: The United States Needs an Afghanistan Exit Strategy

By Robert A. Manning

Read the full article here.

Afghanistan

In the News

Oct 5, 2018

Hasik Quoted in Fox News on New Report Detailing Vulnerabilities in Industries Vital to National Defense

By James Hasik

Read the full article here.

In the News

Oct 5, 2018

Manning Quoted in USA Today on Nobel Peace Prize

By Robert A. Manning

Read the full article here.

IranSource

Oct 5, 2018

How Iran and the Gulf Arab States Can Start a Dialogue Again

By Hussein Ibish

It’s hard to overstate the regional impact of the rivalry between Iran and several Gulf Arab states—most notably Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates—bordering in recent years on enmity. While these countries haven’t come close to direct warfare, tensions have impacted many regional conflicts in the Middle East including in Syria, Yemen, and Iraq, […]

International Organizations Iran

New Atlanticist

Oct 4, 2018

Pence takes aim at China

By David A. Wemer

"It is no longer unclear what the Trump administration’s trade strategy is. It has become clear that the administration views tariffs as the solution to everything," said Marie Kasperek, associate director in the Atlantic Council’s Global Business and Economic Program.

China

IranSource

Oct 4, 2018

The Hidden Message of Iran’s Syria Strikes: A View From Israel

By Shemuel Meir

An unusual strategic event took place this week in the Middle East. For the second time in over a year, Iran fired ballistic missiles on targets in Syria, a country that borders Israel. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who never misses an opportunity to respond in the strongest terms—usually within hours—to any Iranian testing of […]

Iran Israel

IranSource

Oct 3, 2018

China: Iran’s Lifeline to Overcome Oil Sanctions

By Brendon Hong

If the relationship between Iran and China is not severed, US sanctions on the Tehran will never be fully effective, and the Trump administration’s dream of forcing a new deal will never come to fruition.

China Iran

Strategic Insights Memo

Oct 3, 2018

Artificial Intelligence and National Security

By Matthew Kroenig and Anastasia Kazteridis

TO: US National Security Community FROM: Matthew Kroenig and Anastasia Kazteridis DATE: October 3, 2018 SUBJECT: Artificial Intelligence and National Security This Scowcroft Center for Strategy and Security Strategic Insights Memo briefly frames the emerging issue of artificial intelligence (AI) and its implications for national security. It provides: A brief primer on AI; Its possible […]

China Defense Technologies

IranSource

Oct 1, 2018

Netanyahu’s UNGA Accusations Give Iranians a Rare Good Laugh

By Holly Dagres

“I really, really think someone set him up,” Iran’s deputy foreign minister said in an initial reaction to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s speech at the United Nations General Assembly on September 27. In an interview with state media, Abbas Araghchi and Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif, who is seated next to Araghchi, are […]

Iran Israel

In the News

Oct 1, 2018

Woods Quoted in Express UK on the Facebook Hack

By Beau Woods

Read the full article here

Cybersecurity Security & Defense

In the News

Sep 29, 2018

Woods Quoted in The Telegraph on Facebook Breach

By Beau Woods

Read the full article here

Cybersecurity Security & Defense

IranSource

Sep 28, 2018

Europe Unlikely to Avoid Trump’s Iran Sanctions

By SAMANTHA SULTOON

Prompted by the United States’ unilateral withdrawal from the nuclear deal with Iran (the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action or JCPOA), the remaining signatories are urgently seeking ways to maintain the agreement—both for strategic reasons and to preserve its trade benefits. A British, French, and German proposal to launch an independent channel for maintaining trade […]

Iran
The 13th Battalion of the Golani Brigade during a drill held in the Golan Heights in northern Israel. Photo credit: Wikimedia Commons

Issue Brief

Sep 27, 2018

The evolving Iranian strategy in Syria: A looming conflict with Israel

By Nader Uskowi

Iran began its military involvement in Syria in 2011, at the outbreak of the civil war. Tehran’s immediate objective was to defeat the Syrian opposition militarily to save Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. The maintenance of the Shia-Alawi-dominated regime in Damascus was key to the Islamic Republic’s long-term regional strategy, the creation of a contiguous Shia […]

Iran Security & Defense

IranSource

Sep 27, 2018

Beware of Following Another Chalabi Figure Into an Iranian Quagmire

By Borzou Daragahi

A tale from more than a decade ago serves as a warning for both the US and Iran in the wake of the devastating September 22 terror attack on a military parade that killed at least twenty-five people in the provincial capital of Ahvaz. It was around 2006 when reports started emerging of a man […]

Iran

In the News

Sep 26, 2018

Metzl in the Hill: US has an Ace up its Sleeve in the Great Race with China: Immigration

By Jamie Metzl

Read the full article here.

China

IranSource

Sep 26, 2018

Not My Fault: Trump and Rouhani Exchange Blame Over Failure to Meet

By Holly Dagres

“Now I’m Trump’s lovely man!” one Persian language tweet read with a picture of a smiling President Hassan Rouhani. The tweet was from hashtag #LovelyMan, an Iranian social media response to US President Donald Trump’s tweet. On September 26, shortly before he addressed the United Nations General Assembly, Trump wrote on Twitter: “Despite requests, I […]

Iran
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