Scowcroft Center Commentary, Analysis, & Reports

Iran Sanctions: Failing But Multiplying

By James Joyner

America’s regime of sanctions on Iran are ineffective but we’re likely to see more of them.  That’s the conclusion of a panel of experts assessing the state of US-Iran relations at an event rolling out a comprehensive compendium of policies, laws, and regulations pertaining to Iran.

U.S.-Iran Relations: Policy Compendium

This Compendium contains the text of major regulations, laws, and other documents governing U.S. interactions with Iran. Also provided are the text of U.N. Security Council Resolutions, agreements between Iran and several other countries on various issues, and other documents that represent major policy decisions in U.S. relations with Iran.  The publication was launched at […]

What Should NATO’s Strategic Concept Say About Russia?

By Tomas Valasek

Since the fall of the Berlin Wall, NATO has strived to reduce mutual suspicions with Russia and to build a more co-operative relationship. So it is vexing that 20 years on, Russia continues to view NATO as a hostile alliance.

Russia: NATO Member?

By James Joyner

Should NATO invite Russia to join?  The idea isn’t as crazy as it sounds.

Are Nuclear Weapons Obsolete?

By James Joyner

Do all sane people agree that a nuclear weapons-free world would be best?  Are nuclear weapons militarily obsolete, desirable only for political posturing? That seems to be the consensus of an influential group of European leaders making the rounds in Washington this week. Earlier this week, the Atlantic Council hosted a delegation from the  Pugwash […]

Iran: China 1972 or Russia 1987?

By James Joyner

Should the United States try to reach a grand rapprochement with Iran in the manner of our opening to China under Nixon?  Or should we instead overtly support domestic reformers and try to topple the regime as we did with the Soviet Union under Reagan? 

Face of the New NATO: Lillelund Bech at Atlantic Council NATO Forum

The Atlantic Council hosted Danish Minister of Defense Gitte Lillelund Bech for a NATO Forum strategy session on her first visit to the United States as Minister and only days after she took office. Atlantic Council Board Director and former Supreme Allied Commander, Europe General Joseph Ralston, now Vice Chairman at The Cohen Group, hosted […]

Lord Robertson: Time for Grown-up Argument on NATO Resources

By James Joyner

Lord Robertson believes that it is time for NATO to take "a less gentlemanly approach to capabilities" and to "be honest and brutal" that much of the current defense budgets are "a pure waste of taxpayer’s money."

Lord Robertson: If We Lose in Afghanistan, They Will Be Back Over Here

By James Joyner

Asked by Atlantic Council president Fred Kempe to explain to Europeans why they should continue fighting and dying in Afghanistan, Lord Robertson replied that the initial case was "If we don’t go to Afghanistan it will come to us."  Now, it’s, "If you lose there, they will be back over here again" as they were […]

Lord Robertson: NATO on Edge of a Precipice

By James Joyner

Lord George Robertson, NATO Secretary General from 1999 to 2004, says that the Alliance and its constituent members are "on the edge of a precipice looking down on a world of growing disorder and discontent and only blunt talk and straight language will save us from falling over."

Dutch Afghanistan Exit a Game Changer

By Julian Lindley-French and Kurt Volker

The Dutch Government has fallen over Afghanistan. As a result the August 2010 withdrawal of Dutch forces from Uruzghan, the Afghan province into which the Netherlands has invested money and lives for eight years, will be confirmed.

NATO’s Future: Realism Required

By James Joyner

In his speech on revising the NATO Strategic Concept, Defense Secretary Bob Gates termed European reluctance to adequately staff its militaries and shoulder a proportionate share of the operational burden "an impediment to achieving real security and lasting peace."

Marja and the Battle for Helmand Province

By Don Snow

The battle for the Helmand provincial town/city (population around 80,000) is now well underway. It has been advertised as the center of the current “surge” in Afghanistan, an entirely unveiled reference to and comparison with the 2007 exercise in Iraq that lowered the level of violence there sufficiently.