Scowcroft Center Commentary, Analysis, & Reports

2012 Global Citizen Awards Dinner

On September 21, 2012, the Atlantic Council hosted its annual Global Citizen Awards Dinner in New York City. The Council honored Aung San Suu Kyi, Henry Kissinger, Sadako Ogata, and Quincy Jones. We are also proud to announce the official launch of the Atlantic Council’s Brent Scowcroft Center on International Security.

Turkish Ambassador Calls For NATO to ‘Act Decisively’ in Syria

By James Joyner

In the most powerful call for action yet by his government, Turkish Ambassador Namik Tan declared, “The implosion of Syria is a regional conflagration that threatens international peace and security. What we expect from our partners is a serious engagement and meaningful contribution to the resolution of this conflict.”

Free Speech in America Yields Violence in Egypt and Libya

By James Joyner

Dozens of Egyptian protestors climbed the walls of the U.S. embassy in Cairo Tuesday, stormed the compound and tore down the American flag, replacing it with a black Islamist flag bearing the inscription “There is no god but God and Muhammad is his prophet.” Overnight, violent protests at the American consulate in Benghazi killed at […]

Strategy Session with Montenegrin Minister of Defense Pejanovic-Durisic

By Jason Harmala

On September 12, the International Security Program hosted the Montenegrin Minister of Defense Professor Milica Pejanović-Đurišić, PhD, together with prominent representatives from the US Government, allied foreign services and think tank community for a private strategy session over lunch.

Internal Conflicts and Defense Planning

By Derek Reveron

There are 27 active conflicts in the world today; only one of them is a traditional interstate war. 

What Roosevelt Would Do in the South China Sea

By James Clad and Robert Manning

Planting flags on islets, declaring cities where there are too few residents to fill a restaurant, and huffing and puffing over uninhabited rocks are acts more suited to a Gilbert and Sullivan farce than to nations in the 21st century. Absurdities aside, the tensions in the South China Sea could shape the balance of power […]

Afghanistan: An Allotment in a Jungle

By Julian Lindley-French

Nothing makes my blood boil more than recently retired senior government officials suddenly changing their story once retired. Earlier this year I was excoriated for suggesting that our troops were dying in Afghanistan for want of a meaningful political strategy and to avoid the political embarrassment of leaders. Yesterday, Ambassador Sherard Cowper-Coles, London’s former ‘man […]

How Much Is Enough? – Part II

By Harlan Ullman

Given that the United States’ latest defense strategy was crafted earlier this year accounting for a nearly $490 billion defense cut over the next 10 years, if the Pentagon were to undertake a new strategic review, how might it go about accomplishing one, assuming the huge initial resistance against such an effort could be overcome?

Revelations on the Killing of Osama bin Laden

By Robert Bracknell

On Wednesday, the Washington Post reported a purported landslide revelation in the new book “No Easy Day,” which is taking Washington by storm (SEAL book depicts Osama bin Laden shot on sight in hallway, contradicting original account, Washington Post, August 29).

Soft Power through Hard Power Weapon Sales

By Derek Reveron

In a Congressionally-mandated report, Richard F. Grimmett and Paul K. Kerr recently detailed global arms transfer agreements in 2011 of $85.3 billion, which is greater than the economic activity of 119 countries and tops the defense budget of every single country in the world save the United States and China. The United States accounts for […]

UK Support for Military Action in Syria not in America’s Best Interest

By Sarwar Kashmeri

The last time a British prime minister endorsed an American president’s plans for military intervention, it resulted in the US invasion of Iraq – one of the worst foreign policy blunders in recent American history. That is why last week’s endorsement by David Cameron of a warning by Barack Obama that even the threat of […]

The Syria Bluff

By Julian Lindley-French

It is clearly intelligence-led. President Obama and Prime Minister Cameron have said that any recourse to chemical weapons by Damascus would be “completely unacceptable” and would lead the US and UK to “revisit their approach” to the crisis. According to Obama even moving the weapons would cross an American “red line” with “enormous consequences”. The […]