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

Dec 23, 2008

Paris Mayor Doesn’t Write Letter, NYT Publishes Anyway

By James Joyner

The New York Times yesterday published a letter by Bertrand Delanoë, the mayor of Paris, assailing Caroline Kennedy’s status as apparent frontrunner for the Senate seat being vacated by Hillary Clinton.  The author termed it “surprising and not very democratic, to say the least.” 

New Atlanticist

Dec 23, 2008

India-Pakistan Walking Line Between War and Peace

By James Joyner

India is playing it close to the vest with information on last month’s deadly terrorist attacks in Mumbai.  Interpol secretary general Ronald Nobel says that his agency has been kept out of the loop, BBC reports.

India
Afghanistan's Ring Road

New Atlanticist

Dec 22, 2008

Surge Strategy in Afghanistan

By Peter Cassata

Hopes are high that a new Afghanistan strategy and 30,000 extra U.S. troops will prove to be a turning point in the fight against Al Qaeda and the Taliban, much as similar measures changed the nature of the counterinsurgency in Iraq. 

Afghanistan

New Atlanticist

Dec 19, 2008

Fighting Poverty with Profit

By James Joyner

Alan Wood argues that it’s time to rethink how we fight poverty in the developing world, shifting from aid to profit-based approaches.  Quite a while ago, trade and development economist Peter Bauer (1915-2002) of the London School of Economics famously remarked that aid was a transfer of wealth from poor people in rich countries to […]

Economy & Business

New Atlanticist

Dec 18, 2008

NATO a House Divided Against Itself?

By James Joyner

NATO must “find a political voice or collapse,” says Times of London defense editor Michael Evans.  “It has become so multi-tasked, so desperate to get involved in everything from cyber warfare to anti-piracy and missile defence, let alone a hugely draining and complex campaign in Afghanistan, that it has lost its way.”

NATO Security & Defense

New Atlanticist

Dec 16, 2008

EU Piracy Force Given Green Light to Sink Ships

By Peter Cassata

“Robust” is the word now being used to describe the EU’s mandate for its new anti-piracy mission, Operation Atalanta, in Somalia’s treacherous waters.  With NATO’s Operation Allied Provider officially ending last Friday, news is beginning to leak about Atalanta’s rules of engagement. 

European Union International Organizations

New Atlanticist

Dec 15, 2008

Chinese Wisdom on the Financial Crisis

By Derek Reveron

James Fallows in this month’s Atlantic brings a Chinese view to the global financial crisis and planned U.S. economic stimulus plans. Based on an interview with the President of the China Investment Corporation, Gao Xiquing, China offers some words of wisdom to the incoming Obama administration as it attempts to restart the U.S. economy—be nice; […]

New Atlanticist

Dec 12, 2008

China on a Diet as Consumption Drops?

By Peter Cassata

Figures published Wednesday on China’s economy show the country doing worse than the World Bank previously anticipated, boding poorly for China’s chances of avoiding the global downturn as well as for the West’s hopes of possible bailout assistance from Asia. 

Economy & Business

New Atlanticist

Dec 11, 2008

Fixing NATO

By James Joyner

“What About NATO?” asks an unsigned Economist editorial, with the ambitious subhead “How the alliance should move forward.” Its premise is that the Georgia crisis demonstrated NATO’s lack of will to stand up to Russian aggression and created serious doubts among the Alliance’s new members, especially “Poles, Estonians, Latvians and Lithuanians” and that therefore “NATO’s […]

NATO Security & Defense

New Atlanticist

Dec 10, 2008

How Special is the Special Relationship?

By James Joyner

Retired brigadier and author Allan Mallinson writes in the Times of London that the special relationship between the UK and the US “needs repair work.”

United Kingdom

New Atlanticist

Dec 9, 2008

Counterterrorism Strategy Reboot

By Bernard Finel

Here is a paradox to consider: The implementation of the Bush Administration’s counter-terrorism strategy has been more successful than anyone could have expected and yet the threat from violent jihadist groups remains undiminished. 

New Atlanticist

Dec 8, 2008

Jones Continues to Draw Praise

By James Joyner

Atlantic Council chairman and National Security Advisor-designee Jim Jones continues to get widespread plaudits.  While Hillary Clinton is a household name and Bob Gates is an incumbent getting widespread praise for his performance, Jones is a relative unknown outside establishment circles.  

New Atlanticist

Dec 8, 2008

Mumbai Mastermind Reportedly Captured in Kashmir

By James Joyner

Pakistani security forces have conduced a raid on a major Laskhar-e-Taiba training camp and captured a dozen terrorists, including Zaki-ur-Rehman Lakhvi, allegedly the mastermind of last month’s Mumbai massacre.  It remains to be seen whether these are in fact the responsible parties and what follow-up action will be taken.

Pakistan

New Atlanticist

Dec 6, 2008

Hoax Tests India-Pakistan Relationship

By James Joyner

A prankster put India and Pakistan on the brink of war.  That this is possible demonstrates just how fragile that relationship is. That it didn’t escalate, though, tells us something important, too.

India Pakistan

New Atlanticist

Dec 5, 2008

Jim Jones the Next Brent Scowcroft?

By James Joyner

Tim Fernholz, a writing fellow at The American Prospect, explains “Why Jim Jones Will Make or Break Obama’s Foreign Policy.” 

New Atlanticist

Dec 5, 2008

NATO Says ‘No’ to Georgia and Ukraine … For Now

By Peter Cassata

It’s official – NATO will not offer Georgia and Ukraine Membership Action Plans (MAPs), Secretary General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer said after a two-day summit of NATO foreign ministers in Brussels. 

European Union International Organizations

New Atlanticist

Dec 4, 2008

Will Obama Fix Transatlantic Relations?

By James Joyner

It’s an article of faith that Barack Obama’s inauguration will usher in a new era of transatlantic comity.

New Atlanticist

Dec 1, 2008

Polls: Dealing with Russia, Predicting Mumbai Fallout

By James Joyner

Our previous poll, “How should the U.S. and Europe address concerns over Russia?” drew surprisingly similar responses on both sides of the Atlantic, with solid majorities in both the U.S. and abroad preferring offering more integration in exchange for cooperation and only a third preferring a significantly harder line.

Russia

New Atlanticist

Nov 28, 2008

Mumbai Attacks Must Bring India and Pakistan Closer

By Derek Reveron

As mourning of the Mumbai attack continues, one thing is certain—intelligence cooperation between India and the rest of the world must increase. This is not only due to the transnational nature of terrorism, but also because states increasingly rely on international cooperation to combat terrorism.

New Atlanticist

Nov 27, 2008

Mumbai Attacks Sophisticated but Likely Not al Qaeda

By James Joyner

A previously unknown group calling itself the Deccan Mujahedeen has claimed responsibility for the horrific attacks in Mumbai.  While these attacks came during a period when Western intelligence chiefs were “expecting an al Qaeda spectacular terrorist attack” and came just hours after the FBI warned that al Qaeda may be “targetting New York’s subways and […]

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