Scowcroft Center Commentary, Analysis, & Reports

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Commanders Series

Sep 10, 2009

General Jean-Louis Georgelin: France in NATO

French Chief of Defense General Jean-Louis Georgelin joined the Atlantic Council for a discussion on France’s normalization of relations with NATO.  It was the first major speech in the U.S. by a senior French official on NATO since France’s reintegration into the alliance’s integrated military command.

New Atlanticist

Sep 10, 2009

NATO Can Survive Afghanistan Failure

By James Joyner

In my latest for The National Interest, I argue that, despite the constant urging otherwise by former  Secretary General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer, NATO can survive failing in Afghanistan.

Afghanistan NATO

New Atlanticist

Sep 9, 2009

Chinese Autocracy vs. American Democracy

By James Joyner

Thomas Friedman, heretofore perhaps the world’s leading evangelist for free market globalism, devotes his latest column to explaining why Communist China’s system is preferable to ours.

China United States and Canada

New Atlanticist

Sep 9, 2009

Looking Down the Afghan Road

By Don Snow

What must the United States do in Afghanistan in order to be able to maintain at the end of our overt military involvement that we have succeeded?

Afghanistan

New Atlanticist

Sep 9, 2009

Germany is ISAF’s Weakest Link

By Joshua Foust

The Bundeswehr has evolved from refusing to kill known militants to calling in air strikes based on flimsy evidence. The German deployment has been a complete failure. The Bundeswehr is consistently undermining the allied tasks in Afghanistan and should either reevaluate or withdraw.

Germany

New Atlanticist

Sep 4, 2009

The Domestic Politics of Foreign Policy

By Hugh De Santis

In politics, as in everyday life, good deeds often don’t go unpunished.  Intent on bridging the toxic ideological divide in the US, Barack Obama has chosen to govern from the center.  As the debate over healthcare legislation glaringly illustrates, however, the political center has all but vanished in domestic politics.  The president is about to […]

New Atlanticist

Sep 3, 2009

Afghanistan, Vietnam, and the Limits of Force

By Chuck Hagel

The other night I watched the film “The Deer Hunter.” Afterward, I remembered why it took me so many years to be able to watch Vietnam movies.

Afghanistan

New Atlanticist

Sep 3, 2009

Washington’s Afghan Brawl

By Thomas Rid

The debate on the pros and cons of Afghanistan is raging inside the Beltway. And it is a bit unsettling. On the one side are those who say no, America has no national interests in Afghanistan — and yes, it’s a war of choice: let’s leave the hellhole and get out asap. On the other […]

Afghanistan

New Atlanticist

Sep 3, 2009

When Tactics Displace Strategy

By Raymond Pritchett

ISAF’s mission is to help the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan (GIRoA) defeat the insurgency threatening their country. Protecting the Afghan people is the mission. The Afghan people will decide who wins this fight, and we (GIROA and ISAF) are in a struggle for their support. The effort to gain and maintain that support must inform […]

Afghanistan

New Atlanticist

Sep 2, 2009

NATO’s Afghanistan Dilemma

By Harlan Ullman

Gen. Stanley McChrystal, commander of NATO and U.S. forces in Afghanistan, has just submitted his first assessment of what needs to be done to turn the tide in that battered and war-torn nation long known as the graveyard of empires dating back to Alexander. While classified, that assessment summarizes the situation as “serious but still […]

Afghanistan NATO

New Atlanticist

Sep 1, 2009

Afghanistan, Pakistan, and Nuclear War

By Bernard Finel

As the foreign policy community has started to seriously question whether the war in Afghanistan serves America’s strategic interests, regional experts Jari Lindholm and Joshua Foust have offered up a new rationale: preventing a nuclear war between India and Pakistan.

Afghanistan India

New Atlanticist

Sep 1, 2009

Afghanistan War All Over But The Shooting

By Judah Grunstein

Does the U.S. have a vital strategic interest in Afghanistan-Pakistan that justifies our continued military presence there? Sadly, the answer is No.

Afghanistan Pakistan

New Atlanticist

Aug 31, 2009

Afghanistan: New Strategy or “New Math”?

By Don Snow

It is being reported that the U.S. commander in Afghanistan, General Stanley McChrystal, is planning what is variously described as a “new strategy” for dealing with the Taliban or as simply a refinement of the current AfPak strategy based in counterinsurgency doctrine.

Afghanistan

New Atlanticist

Aug 31, 2009

Afghanistan’s Opportunity Costs

By Paul Bauman

The Afghan debate in the blogosphere is reaching new heights of late, mainly due to the recent Afghan elections and Admiral Mullen’s comments concerning the deteriorating US position vis-à-vis the Taliban.  One issue that seems to be lost in this discussion is the opportunity cost of US involvement in Afghanistan. 

Afghanistan

New Atlanticist

Aug 28, 2009

US-China Climate Accord a Game-Changer

By Banning Garrett and Jonathan Adams

Did the United States and China recently take a game-changing step on climate change and clean energy? Quite possibly so.

New Atlanticist

Aug 28, 2009

Azerbaijan Key Caspian Energy Player

By Alexandros Petersen

Associate Director of the Eurasia Energy Center at the Atlantic Council in Washington, Alexandros Petersen, spoke with Trend Capital in an exclusive interview.

New Atlanticist

Aug 26, 2009

Pakistan: Reason for a Glimmer of Optimism?

By Harlan Ullman

Despite a continuing flow of depressing reports from Pakistan about the safety and security of this strategically vital American ally, on the eve of President Asif Ali Zardari’s first anniversary as president, the latest news, at least anecdotally, offers a glimmer of optimism. Predictions of dire outcomes leading to a failed government overthrown by an […]

Pakistan

New Atlanticist

Aug 24, 2009

Afghanistan: War of Necessity?

By Arnaud de Borchgrave

Afghanistan is not only President Obama’s war, but it’s also what he now calls “a war of necessity.” But for Richard Haass, the head of the Council on Foreign Relations who was head of policy planning at the State Department in the run-up to the Iraq War and who voted for Obama, Afghanistan is a […]

Afghanistan

New Atlanticist

Aug 24, 2009

Hillary Clinton’s Quiet Revolution?

By James Joyner

David Rothkopf argues that, while the commentariet is distracted by Hillary Clinton’s celebrity, the new secretary of state is “overseeing what may be the most profound changes in U.S. foreign policy in two decades — a transformation that may render the presidencies of Bill Clinton and George W. Bush mere side notes in a long transition […]

New Atlanticist

Aug 21, 2009

Afghanistan Effort Shooting Behind a Moving Target

By James Easaw

A wise man once said “we can’t kill our way to victory” in Afghanistan.  And, I might add, we can’t keep shooting behind a moving target either.  If you want to hit a moving target, you have to lead it.

Afghanistan
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