Scowcroft Center Commentary, Analysis, & Reports

India and the Afghanistan Conflict

By Sarwar Kashmeri

Naresh Chandra, former ambassador to the United States from India, speaks with Atlantic Council senior fellow Sarwar Kashmeri in the latest installment of the New Atlanticist Podcast Series. While Pakistan’s role in the Afghanistan conflict is well known, India’s interests there are less often discussed.

NATO’s Future Involves More Global Partnerships

By Ian Brzezinski

Ian Brzezinski, resident senior fellow with the Atlantic Council’s International Security program, was recently interviewed about NATO’s current and future roles in global affairs.

India’s Patience Running Thin

By Mohan Guruswamy

What happened at the post-meeting press conference of the Indian and Pakistani foreign ministers in Islamabad last week seemed to have come as a bit of a surprise to most observers here. On the other hand if recent events were objectively analysed what happened had to happen. Recent gains made by Pakistan despite its "running […]

Kayani and Pakistan’s Civil-Military Relations

By Shuja Nawaz

In a timely though perhaps overly dramatic move, Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani of Pakistan announced last night on national television the extension of army chief General Ashfaq Parvez Kayani for another three years beyond November this year, when his first term was to end. Timely, since any further delay in announcing it would have […]

The Peace Chimera: India and Pakistan

By Cyril Almeida

The India-Pakistan relationship has been fraught. But there are signs of a thaw emerging in what had been a frozen relationship ever since former President Pervez Musharraf’s back channel diplomacy faltered in 2007 as his political power began to wane. As a result, it took a major effort by both sides to reopen the dialogue. […]

Satellite Saga

By David Smith

The Paris Court of Commerce last week handed a victory to the Russian propaganda machine, allowing French satellite operator Eutelsat—one quarter French Government-owned—to bar Tbilisi-based First Caucasus Television from one of its broadcast satellites.  For now, this prevents First Caucasus from reaching most of its intended Russian-speaking audience.  Nonetheless, the station is determined to get […]

OSCE Meeting: Kazakhstan’s Triumph Leaves Much Work to be Done

By Jeffrey Lightfoot and Matt Czekaj

Last week’s informal ministerial meeting of the OSCE in Almaty, Kazakhstan resulted in two important decisions. First, the OSCE agreed to send 52 police officers to Kyrgyzstan to assist and monitor the local authorities in the aftermath of June’s interethnic violence in the south. Second, ministers agreed to convene a summit of heads of state […]

Azerbaijan Accession to NATO Long-Term Project

By Alexandros Petersen

News.Az interviews Alexandros Petersen, senior fellow at the Eurasia Centre at US think-tank the Atlantic Council. Do you view Azerbaijan as a NATO member in the nearest perspective? In the short-term, Azerbaijan will not be a NATO member for two reasons: the Alliance is wary of extending full membership to the South Caucasus countries due […]

800-pound gorillas and other critters

By Harlan Ullman

Despite ubiquitous references to 800-pound gorillas inhabiting imaginary rooms metaphorically constructed around highlighting or hiding critical issues, few people have had that pleasure in practice. Yet, our patois has accepted and accommodated this interesting turn of phrase to describe a decisive or compelling fact or reality that dominates a particular issue. To turn to the […]

Federalism for Afghanistan: Success Won’t Be Found in Kabul

By Derek Reveron

Even though we are about two months away from “surge force levels” in Afghanistan and five months away from the planned strategy review, a number of commentators have used the Stanley McChrystal – David Petraeus transition as an opportunity to reconsider the mission’s success. Unfortunately, military operations like those in Afghanistan defy the use of […]

It’s Time to Ratify the Defense Trade Cooperation Treaties

By Jonathan Ruemelin, Damon Wilson, and Jeff Lightfoot

During David Cameron’s first visit to Washington as Britain’s Prime Minister, a new Atlantic Council issue brief calls for the White House and Senate to act to ratify the U.S.-UK and U.S.-Australia Defense Trade Cooperation Treaties. To affirm the U.S.-UK special relationship, and to advance timely military, economic and diplomatic interests, Cameron’s visit is the […]

Help Our Friends Fight with Us: Ratify the Defense Trade Cooperation Treaties with the UK and Australia

By Damon Wilson and Jonathan Ruemelin

President Obama will host British Prime Minister David Cameron for the first time at the White House on Tuesday as both sides try to reassure the other that the ‘special relationship’ is indeed special.  There is no better way to calm the waters in the special relationship than by decisive Senate action to approve the […]

AfPak Success Requires India Inclusion

By Ayesha Jalal

Iran Sanctions Saga: Enter the EU

By Emanuele Ottolenghi

Next week the European Union will introduce new sanctions against Iran. These new measures, which expand UN sanctions and follow comparable measures in the United States, will target Iranian energy, air transport and shipping lines, and financial institutions in an effort to compel Tehran to abandon its unlawful nuclear activities. In the past, the EU […]

Kyrgyzstan Sits on a Precipice

By Ross Wilson and Damon Wilson

Sanctions Alone Won’t Work on Iran

By Charles S. Robb and Charles Wald

Crossing the Great Divides

By Harlan Ullman

As the Vietnam War was beginning to split American society asunder, Harvard Professor Stanley Hoffmann icily observed that when it came to strategic thinking, we Americans expected others to reason as we did or be in need of being brought up to our level. Was this sheer arrogance at work? Perhaps. But more likely the […]

What Can Be Learned from Clinton’s Caucasus Visit

By Alexandros Petersen