Scowcroft Center Commentary, Analysis, & Reports

Beating Al Qaeda But Losing in Afghanistan?

By James Joyner

 We’re winning the war against al Qaeda, killing its leaders faster than competent replacements can be found, NPR‘s Tom Gjelten reports.

Alliance Reborn: An Atlantic Compact for the 21st Century

We have an open but fleeting moment to forge a more effective Atlantic partnership. We must seize it now. European and North American allies have allowed their relations to become discordant, yet the times demand vigor and unity. Courageous decisions need to be taken to breathe new life and relevance into the Atlantic partnership, which […]

Korea after Kim Coming Soon?

By Peter Cassata

Last week, Kim Jong-il met with a foreign representative, CCP International Department head Wang Jiarui, for the first time since what many intelligence reports believe was a stroke in August.  He “warmly accepted” an invitation from Hu Jintao to visit China and even hinted at working with Obama over nuclear issues.  However, the North Korean […]

Russia Halts Missile Deployments in Europe

By Peter Cassata

Russia has “suspended” plans to deploy Iskander missiles in its European enclave of Kaliningrad.  Unveiled in November, the plans were intended to be a response to the U.S. missile defense installations scheduled to be built in the Czech Republic and Poland.  A Russian military official said the announcement is related to indications from the U.S. […]

Obama’s New Afghanistan Strategy

By James Joyner

The Obama administration will be stepping up the pressure on the Karzai government and NATO to do more in Afghanistan while simultaneously sharply cutting back the goals of the mission there.

The End of Piracy: Can NATO Contribute?

By James Easaw

Now that the piracy crisis centered off the Somali Coast/Gulf of Aden, the Horn of Africa and, to a lesser degree, the West African Coast in the Gulf of Guinea has become big news, the international community, most recently the United Nations, has sprung into action.  The end of piracy draws nigh.  In fact, those […]

Russian Naval Base to be Built in Abkhazia

By Peter Cassata

The ITAR-TASS news agency reported that a Russian naval base will be constructed this year in the Georgian breakaway region of Abkhazia.  An Abkhaz official said that the base will not succeed Sevastopol (the Crimean port whose lease Kyiv does not intend to renew in 2017) as the new Black Sea Fleet headquarters.

Security Implications of the Financial Crisis

By James Joyner

As the global financial crisis deepens, the strongest reactions thus far are coming from the emerging democracies in Don Rumsfeld’s New Europe.  Phillip Pan writes on the front page of today’s WaPo of a protest in Latvia’s capital that turned into a riot

OSCE: Beware the Last Laugh

By David Smith

Last week, Moscow afforded us dour folk who concentrate on international security a real laugh-out-loud. On January 19 and again on January 21, the Russian Foreign Ministry demanded an inspection of Georgian military facilities under the Vienna 1999 document of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe

Report: Iran Nearly Out of Uranium

By Peter Cassata

Iran has nearly depleted the stockpiles of uranium it imported in the 1970s, and its own uranium mines hold only small quantities of lower-grade ore, according to a recent news leak.  Western states have now launched a diplomatic push to urge all uranium-exporting countries not to sell to Tehran.

Obama Orders Pakistan Drone Attacks

By James Joyner

While President Obama has sent some major signals in his first days in office that his foreign policy will differ from President Bush’s, he sent one yesterday demonstrating continuity on a very key issue:  targeting al Qaeda and Taliban militants in Pakistan’s tribal areas. 

India-Iran-Afghanistan Corridor?

By Peter Cassata

In a measure to sidestep Pakistan’s dominance of trade routes to Afghanistan, Afghan President Hamid Karzai has negotiated a deal with Indian Foreign Minister Pranab Mukherjee that will see India ship goods to land-locked Afghanistan via Iran.

Russia Offers Afghanistan Cooperation

By James Joyner

Like many other countries, Russia is seizing on a new administration in Washington in an effort to redefine its relationship with the United States. Denis Dyomkin for Reuters: Russia welcomes U.S. President Barack Obama’s decision to review policy in Afghanistan and is ready to cooperate, including on supply routes for NATO forces, Russian President Dmitry […]

Ceasefire with al Qaeda?

By James Joyner

Marc Lynch passes on word that “Mohammed Essam Derbala, one of the leaders of the Egyptian al-Gama’a al-Islamiya, [Thursday] called on Osama bin Laden and al-Qaeda to declare a unilateral four month ceasefire [hudna] with the United States to test Barack Obama’s pledges to establish a new relationship with the Islamic world and to close […]

President Obama to Close Guantanamo Within Year

By James Joyner

President Barack Obama is expected to begin to fulfill his campaign pledge to close the U.S. military prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, AP‘s Philip Elliot reports. A senior Obama administration official said the president would sign an order Thursday to shutter the Guantanamo prison within one year.