Scowcroft Center Commentary, Analysis, & Reports

Myanmar Engagement: Time To Change Course

By Luv Puri

The recent elections in Myanmar, far from free and fair, have re-ignited the debate as to how the world should engage with the newly “elected” government. The political analysts and strategists are divided into two camps. The first deems the newly elected government a proxy of the military junta and therefore view any engagement as […]

Al-Qaida in Pakistan

By Arnaud de Borchgrave

U.S. policy in Pakistan is now stuck in a Catch-22 quagmire. Without Pakistan, there is no solution to the Afghan war. And even with Pakistan, the odds aren’t much better. Pakistan’s Federally Administered Tribal Areas on the Afghan border, used by Taliban as safe havens, and by U.S. drones as Taliban targets, are gradually switching […]

5 Questions for Boro Vucinic

By Damon Wilson and Matthew Czekaj

Boro Vucinic has served as Montenegro’s minister of defense since November 2006.  We had the opportunity to get his thoughts on some key issues of interest to our community.

Pakistan At The Brink

By Harlan Ullman

To many observers, Pakistan has long been at the brink of an existential crisis, much of it due to a growing insurgency exacerbated by the war in Afghanistan. But now the economy is in crisis, too. The catastrophic floods have imploded the struggling economy raising the specter of frightening consequences. Compounding that crisis is uncertainty […]

Pakistan’s Extremist Havens

By James Joyner

Shuja Nawaz, director of the Atlantic Council’s South Asia Center, gave a long interview to PBS NewsHour on the subject "Pakistan’s Extremist Havens: What Options Does U.S. Have?"

AfPak After Holbrooke: Replacing an Irreplaceable Man

By Shuja Nawaz

The untimely passage of Ambassador Richard Holbrooke leaves big shoes to fill in the AfPak region. It may take two men to replace him. In a column that Holbrooke wrote for the Washington Post in March 2008, entitled "Hope in Pakistan: the problems are real, but so is progress" he captured the essence of the […]

Medvedev Frowns

By David Smith

“It’s a victory! We are hosting the 2018 World Cup,” a beaming Russian President Dmitry Medvedev tweeted his countrymen, moments after the Fédération Internationale de Football Association (FIFA) made its December 2 announcement in Zurich. It was a big turnaround from the frown he wore just 24 hours earlier as he stormed off from the Astana Summit […]

Vietnam Syndrome?

By Arnaud de Borchgrave

U.S. Army Gen. David Petraeus, the U.S. and NATO supremo in Afghanistan, is as well versed in the history of major post-World War II insurgencies as anyone alive today. From Lawrence of Arabia to Mao’s and Tito’s guerrilla triumphs to France’s 16 years of defeats in Indochina and Algeria, Petraeus knows it all — and […]

Taiwan’s Democracy at Home and Abroad: Implications of 2010 Municipal Elections for Cross-Strait Relations

By Patrick deGategno and Sam Dreiman

Taiwan’s recent municipal elections show a growing de facto consensus among Taiwan’s major parties that officially declaring independence is not an option and that closer economic and cultural ties with the Mainland are a must. According to a panel of experts speaking December 1 at the Atlantic Council, future Taiwan governments, whether led by Taiwan’s current ruling […]

How China, Rest of World Can Get Along

By Banning Garrett

Ending America’s ‘Sea Blindness’

By Butch Bracknell and James Kraska

 The United States suffers from a kind of "sea blindness" — an inability to appreciate the central role the oceans and naval power have played in securing our strategic security and economic prosperity. One symptom of this bipartisan malady has been that the country is failing to take an active role in shaping the world […]

NATO in Lisbon: A Moderate Success

By David Smith

Although the pre-summit hype—mostly generated by NATO itself—had observers thirsting for more, the 19-20 November NATO Lisbon Summit was a moderate success. The alliance took some measured steps toward dealing with new challenges, deftly sidestepped some political landmines and laid a reasonable foundation for the considerable work that remains. Perhaps most important, in Lisbon, NATO reinvigorated itself.

Hitting the Reset Button on U.S.-Russia Cooperation

By Stephan M. Minikes

Stephan M. Minikes, U.S. Ambassador to the OSCE from June 2001 to 2005 and current Eurasia Task Force member, argues how improved U.S.-Russia relations can enable a more active OSCE in “Hitting the Reset Button on U.S.-Russia Cooperation.” Download the PDF

WikiLeaks Show American Diplomats in Good Light

By James Joyner

The WikiLeaks fiasco has doubtless lowered confidence in the American government’s ability to keep secrets and manage classified information.  The latest dump provided some embarrassing moments for the State Department in particular.  But they also showed that those handling America’s day-to-day foreign policy are quite capable.

Modernizing the OSCE: An Agenda Item for Astana

In the Eurasia Task Force Issue Brief: “Modernizing the OSCE: An Agenda Item for Astana,” Kurt Volker, Managing Director of the the Center for Transatlantic Relations at Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies, Atlantic Council senior advisor and member of the Strategic Advisors Group (SAG), proposes strategies for OSCE reform through a historical lens. […]

U.S.-China Relations: Gone Fishin’

By Banning Garrett

When I was about eight years old, my father took me fishing in a stream a few miles from our ranch in California. After a long day, we came up dry. Dad saw I was disappointed, so he pulled into a fish farm on the way home. I eagerly dropped my line into a pond […]

Strengthening the OSCE in Eurasia

By Jeffrey Lightfoot

When leaders of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) gather for a summit in Astana, Kazakhstan this week, they will visit a region in turmoil. Central Asia is beset by ethnic conflict, poor governance and instability in Afghanistan. The spread of transnational threats from this strategic region mean that its security and […]

A Nation Not at War

By Harlan Ullman

The United States is many things, great and good. But, despite last week’s teapot-sized tempest over full-body scanners and intrusive patdowns by the Transportation Security Agency to neuter terrorist airline bombing threats and zealous rhetoric to the contrary, America isn’t a nation at war! Parts of the nation however are engaged in what to them […]