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

May 9, 2009

Azerbaijan the Energy Partner Europe Needs Most

By Borut Grgic

Yesterday’s meeting in Prague on the ‘Southern Corridor’ – the pipelines that will bring gas and oil to Europe – produced a decent result, though still missing are agreements on a transit regime with Turkey and on the volumes to be sold on the European market. The key lies in Azerbaijan.

New Atlanticist

May 9, 2009

Australia Prepares for U.S. Decline

By James Joyner

The release a week ago of an Australian defense plan calling for a substantial upgrade in forces based on the assumption that the United States will be reducing its commitments to the Asia-Pacific region has slowly gotten the attention of the foreign policy commentariat.

STOCK - China

New Atlanticist

May 9, 2009

US-China Naval Coordination Urgently Needed

By Damien Tomkins

An encounter between the  USNS Victorious and Chinese trawlers in the Yellow Sea marks the fifth such incident within two months, China Post reports. Pentagon spokesman Bryan Whitman asserted that “a couple of Chinese fishing vessels maneuvered close to the Victorious in what was an unsafe manner.” Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Ma Zhaoxu countered, “The […]

New Atlanticist

May 2, 2009

China Must Do More in South Asia

By Damien Tomkins

In an open letter to the China Daily while on a trip to China last February, Pakistan President Asif Ali Zardari described the Sino-Pakistan relationship thusly:  Perhaps no relationship between two sovereign states is as unique and durable as that between Pakistan and China.

New Atlanticist

May 1, 2009

Russian Oil and Gas Starts Flowing East

By Boyko Nitzov

Since the beginning of the modern petroleum industry around 1850, oil exports from Russia and other countries in the North Caspian have flown almost exclusively one way: west. The Baku refineries in Azerbaijan were already linked to the Batumi port on the Black Sea by a kerosene-carrying pipeline in 1906. Once the oil treasures of […]

Afghanistan Cattle

New Atlanticist

Apr 27, 2009

Afghanistan is Irrelevant

By Bernard Finel

It is now a deeply entrenched conventional wisdom that the decision to “abandon” Afghanistan after the Cold War was a tragic mistake. In the oft-told story, our “abandonment” led to civil war, state collapse, the rise of the Taliban, and inevitably terrorist attacks on American soil. This narrative is now reinforced by dire warnings about […]

Afghanistan

New Atlanticist

Apr 24, 2009

Taliban AfPak Strategy: A Jihadi Preemptive War

By Walid Phares

As the U.S. administration and its allies are devising a new strategy for the next steps in Afghanistan, the jihadists have already begun their next move — but this time it’s inside Pakistan. As I’ve written over the past few months, we need to look at Afghanistan, Pakistan and India as one regional battlefield where […]

New Atlanticist

Apr 24, 2009

Pakistan Solution Begins in India

By Bernard Finel

Coming on the heels of the imposition of Sharia rule in the Swat Valley in Pakistan comes news that the Pakistani Taliban has seized a foothold in the Buner district, a mere 70 miles from the capital Islamabad. Worse, the Pakistani military seems largely unwilling to confront this rising Islamist tide.

Pakistan

New Atlanticist

Apr 24, 2009

Tactical Options for Fighting Somali Pirates

By Raymond Pritchett

There have been a number of ideas floated regarding options for dealing with the pirate activity around the coast of Somalia.

Somalia

New Atlanticist

Apr 23, 2009

Pakistan Nearing Collapse

By James Joyner

“The move by Taliban-backed militants into the Buna district of northwestern Pakistan, closer than ever to Pakistan’s capital of Islamabad, have prompted concerns both within the country and abroad that the nuclear-armed nation of 165 million is on the verge of inexorable collapse.” So begins a report from TIME‘s Aryn Baker.

Pakistan

New Atlanticist

Apr 23, 2009

Optimism on Afghanistan

By James Joyner

This afternoon, Ashraf Ghani, former Afghan finance minister and member of the Atlantic Council International Advisory Board and Strategic Advisors Group, unveiled his report “A Ten-Year Framework for Afghanistan: Executing the Obama Plan and Beyond.”

Afghanistan

New Atlanticist

Apr 22, 2009

India’s Fragile Democracy

By Habeeb Noor

Elections are now underway in India and will be for the next month. While the particular method employed in the world’s largest parliamentary democracy may strike American as unusual, the system has largely worked. If underlying social schisms are not addressed, however, that may soon change.

New Atlanticist

Apr 21, 2009

Critical Pause in the Thai Political Crisis

By Catharin Dalpino

The round of political protests in Bangkok following the violent shut-down of the ASEAN-Plus-Three meeting have abated after Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva issued an emergency decree, which is still in effect.

NATO Somali Pirates

New Atlanticist

Apr 19, 2009

NATO Foils Pirate Attacks

By James Joyner

NATO forces thwarted two pirate attacks over the weekend. BBC reports that an attempted attack on a Norwegian tanker was “foiled by NATO warships and helicopters after an overnight pursuit in the Gulf of Aden.”  Dutch commandos also freed 20 Yemeni fishermen who had been taken hostage, Reuters reports. 

Somalia

New Atlanticist

Apr 17, 2009

NATO Supply Route Through Caucasus Needed

By Tamerlan Vahabov

Instability along the Afghanistan-Pakistan border is making alternative supply routes for NATO troops increasingly necessary.

Afghanistan NATO

New Atlanticist

Apr 15, 2009

5 Questions for Robert Oakley

By James Joyner

Robert Oakley served as U.S. ambassador to Zaire (1979-82), Somalia (1982-84), and Pakistan (1988-92) and as Special Envoy to Somali (1992-1994) and directed State’s Office of Combatting Terrorism (1984-86).  I had the opportunity to get his thoughts on some key issues of interest to the Atlantic Council community.

New Atlanticist

Apr 13, 2009

Publicly Funded Energy Research Needed Yesterday

By Boyko Nitzov

The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (ARRA) has been touted as a major step towards a more secure and cleaner energy future. This much is quite true. The question is, is the step big enough to span the void and aren’t we risking being pushed into it before the step could be actually […]

New Atlanticist

Apr 10, 2009

When Bubbles Burst: Daewoo All Over Again

By Peter Beck

I have been teaching a class called “The Global Marketplace” this semester, but often I begin class by stating, “Welcome back to `The Global Meltdown’ class.”  Instead of studying about rising trade and investment and economic integration, we discuss deglobalization and the prospects for a global depression. 

New Atlanticist

Apr 9, 2009

Central Asia Key to Afghan Success

By Borut Grgic and Alexandros Petersen

As the United States prepares to deploy an additional 17,000 troops to the troubled Afghan theater, Kyrgyzstan to the north vows to close the U.S. air base at Manas, considered vital for continued operations in Afghanistan.

New Atlanticist

Apr 8, 2009

Stopping a Nuclear North Korea and Iran

By Harlan Ullman

North Korea’s unsuccessful attempt to put a communications satellite in space last week was doubtlessly timed to throw a monkey wrench into President Barack Obama’s visit to Europe.

Korea
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