Scowcroft Center Commentary, Analysis, & Reports

Explore the Scowcroft Center for Strategy and Security’s latest insights, commentary, articles, media hits, and in-depth reports

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New Atlanticist

Jun 10, 2011

Tribute to Ron Asmus: Remembering an Architect of a Europe Whole and Free

By Damon Wilson

Today in Wroclaw, Poland, the Atlantic Council will posthumously award Ron Asmus its annual Freedom Award for his contribution to building a Europe whole, free and at peace. Many U.S. leaders played a critical role in advancing this vision and giving the United States a defining role in post-Cold War Europe. President George H.W. Bush, President Bill […]

New Atlanticist

Jun 9, 2011

Military Attack on Iran Recedes, but Tensions Remain High

By Barbara Slavin

The likelihood of a U.S. or Israeli military attack on Iran’s nuclear installations seems miniscule during the remaining months of the Barack Obama administration’s first term. The U.S. is focused on domestic economic problems, winding down wars in Iraq, Afghanistan and Libya, and stabilising emerging democracies in Egypt and Tunisia. Israel is preoccupied with Arab […]

New Atlanticist

Jun 7, 2011

Russia Reset Gone Wild: European Arms Sales to Russia

By Ian Brzezinski

As NATO Ministers of Defense convene in Brussels on June 8 and 9th, they face a full plate. They will review the operations in Afghanistan and Libya. They will give thanks to Secretary of Defense Robert Gates for his leadership, and they will address how the Alliance will sustain and exercise its capabilities in a […]

New Atlanticist

Jun 7, 2011

Gates to deliver provocative farewell speech to European allies

By Jorge Benitez

Beware Brussels; Secretary of Defense Robert Gates is coming to “put a bit of stick about.” Gates is planning to deliver a major speech with critical language while he is in Europe this week for his final meeting with NATO Defense Ministers.

New Atlanticist

Jun 6, 2011

Turkish Elections Primer

By Ross Wilson

Ross Wilson, director of the Dinu Patriciu Eurasia Center at the Atlantic Council and a former U.S. Ambassador to Turkey, provides this backgrounder on this weekend’s elections in a pivotal state.

New Atlanticist

Jun 6, 2011

Merkel’s Visit to Washington: Where do Germany and the US Stand?

By Sarwar Kashmeri

German Chancellor Merkel arrives in Washington this week to receive America’s highest civilian honor, the Medal of Freedom. But is the German-American relationship heading upwind after Germany’s refusal to support the war in Libya, and an about turn on nuclear energy? How to interpret these developments?

New Atlanticist

Jun 6, 2011

D-Day: The High Water Mark of Anglo-American Defence Relations?

By Julian Lindley-French

D-Day. June 6. London. Good news – it is raining. Good to see the natural order restored. Back in 1944 Americans, Britons and Canadians were struggling ashore onto Norman beaches under heavy fire to rid Europe of the Nazis. On this day of days it is right and proper to look back and remember and […]

United Kingdom

New Atlanticist

Jun 2, 2011

China Undercuts Sanctions on Iran

By Barbara Slavin

Since the failure of a brief effort at engaging Iran, the Obama administration has pivoted to economic pressure, piling sanction after sanction on the Islamic Republic to try to persuade it to curb a program that could give it the capacity to make nuclear weapons. Last week, the U.S. penalized seven foreign companies for selling […]

New Atlanticist

Jun 1, 2011

The 79th Day

By Harlan Ullman

Next Tuesday marks the 79th day of NATO’s military campaign to protect Libyan civilians and force Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi to abdicate power. A dozen years ago, 78 days were required to compel then Serbian President Slobodan Milosevic to withdraw his army from Kosovo. The comparison is inexact as both crises are quite different. But, […]

New Atlanticist

May 31, 2011

Pakistan Has a Mountain to Climb

By Shuja Nawaz

In an interview with Ullekh NP of The Economic Times, Atlantic Council’s South Asia Center Director Shuja Nawaz warns that attacks on soft targets are going to rise rapidly in the subcontinent.

New Atlanticist

May 31, 2011

Select Foreign Response to the U.S. International Cyber Strategy

By Jason Healey

The Obama Administration’s International Cyber Strategy, launched last week, was met by the Russian and Chinese press with a mix of generally negative reactions. The most negative were rooted in skepticism and mistrust about U.S. motives as well as perceived hypocrisy underlying the proposed cyber standards.

Cybersecurity Security & Defense

New Atlanticist

May 31, 2011

Time for Peace Talks

By Maleeha Lodhi

In more ways than one, Osama bin Laden’s death has changed the dynamic in the region and offered a new opportunity to pursue a political settlement to end the almost decade long war in Afghanistan. Bin Laden’s killing by a covert American mission has injected unprecedented strains in the long troubled Pakistan-US relationship. But in […]

New Atlanticist

May 27, 2011

Warsaw, Wroclaw and Transatlantic Priorities

By Ian Brzezinski

This week Poland will host President Obama and twenty European heads of state. The Warsaw summit presents an important opportunity to reinforce consensus and joint action in the realms of security, economic cooperation, and the promotion of democracy in and beyond Europe. The meeting will set the tone for Poland’s approaching EU Presidency and is […]

Europe & Eurasia

New Atlanticist

May 26, 2011

Obama’s Crucial Moment in Poland

By Kurt Volker Vejvoda Damon Wilson

President Obama’s visit to Europe this week is giving him the opportunity to bury once and for all perceptions that have dogged his administration from the outset: that the US has lost interest in Europe, and has put a higher priority on resetting relations with an authoritarian Russia than it has on the completion of […]

New Atlanticist

May 26, 2011

USA and the ICC: An Unfinished Debate

By Robert Bracknell

 I recently returned from a week in Iraq, where I trained an elite security force unit on human rights and the law of combat operations. Discussions regarding the responsibility of commanders for the acts of their forces migrated to the issue of the United Nations’ International Criminal Court. One Iraqi officer asked me, "If the […]

New Atlanticist

May 26, 2011

The Incredible Shrinking Ahmadinejad

By Barbara Slavin

Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is now discovering what his predecessors in Islamic Iran’s unique dual system of government all learned to their sorrow: You serve at the pleasure of the supreme leader, and he prefers his presidents weak. In the aftermath of a failed attempt by Ahmadinejad to fire Iran’s intelligence minister last month, Supreme Leader Ali […]

New Atlanticist

May 25, 2011

Time for a NATO-China Council?

By Jorge Benitez

NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen recently expressed a desire for NATO and China to develop a deeper relationship, comparable to the NATO-Russia Council.   He observed that NATO has formal relationships with four of the five permanent members of the UN Security Council. The US, UK, and France are founding members of the Alliance and […]

China NATO

New Atlanticist

May 22, 2011

US-Pakistan Relations: No More Business As Usual

By Shuja Nawaz

The US-Pakistan alliance is fraying. But there may yet be some hope.

NATOSource

May 21, 2011

NATO and the EU: Centrifugal Forces and Fragmentation?

By Ioan Mircea Pascu, the New Atlanticist

From Ioan Mircea Pascu, the New Atlanticist:  While we, the former allies of the Soviet Union were watching attentively that behaviour, drawing the right conclusions in regard to our future security

European Union International Organizations

New Atlanticist

May 20, 2011

Taking the Long View on the Middle East Revolts

By Barry Pavel

The President’s speech on the Middle East yesterday finally outlined the Administration’s initial principles for addressing one of the most significant developments in international relations in a generation.  Until yesterday, the debate about options in Libya and how to approach the Middle East revolts in general was far too narrow in scope and too near-term […]

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