Middle East

NATO Secretary General: ‘We Need a Firm International Response to the Chemical Weapons Attack in Syria’

By BNS

European countries should invest more in their defence capacities to be able to defend principles of democracy around the globe, NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen said in Vilnius.

Europe & Eurasia NATO

Libya Working Group

Renewing US Engagement with Libya

By MENASource

The Atlantic Council’s Rafik Hariri Center for the Middle East together with the Project on Middle East Democracy and Freedom House lead the Libya Working Group, which convenes regular roundtables with experts to discuss a range of political, security, and economic issues in post-Qaddafi Libya.

Libya

Libya Working Group

Foreign Policy Experts Call on Secretary Kerry to Actively Support Democratic Transition in Libya

One year ago this week, an attack on the US Consulate in Benghazi, Libya tragically claimed the lives of Ambassador Christopher Stevens and three other Americans. Ambassador Stevens was widely respected as a champion of serious US commitment to Libya and broad engagement with its people. In the year since his death, however, the United […]

Libya

New Atlanticist

Europe, Syria, and the Crisis of Global Governance

By Julian Lindley-French

The Riga Conference is a highlight in my annual calendar and an antidote to the eternal self-obsessed ‘westerneuropeanitis’ which passes for strategy in Europe these days. Sharing a platform with the Belgian, British and Latvian defense ministers I fulfilled my now traditional role as Europe’s strategic hooligan. Dangerously I also sent my first tweet – […]

Europe & Eurasia Syria

MENASource

Syria: Russia’s Eleventh Hour Chemical Proposal

By Fred Hof

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, either seizing on an off-handed comment by his US counterpart at a press conference in London, or thinking creatively on his own, has proposed that Syria’s chemical stockpile be placed under international supervision and ultimately destroyed.

Syria

New Atlanticist

Smart Wars Don’t Need Selling

By James Joyner

President Obama is pulling out all stops in a thus-far failing bid to convince the American people and their representatives in Congress to back military action in Syria.

Syria

New Atlanticist

Eye on Syria: Syria Accepts Russian Plan

News Obama Interviews on Syria: Three-Minute Summary, Washington Post ABC CBS Evening News CNN Fox News NBC Nightly News PBS Newshour Charlie Rose Interview with Bashar al-Assad, PBS Syria Accepts Russian Proposal on Weapons; France to Bring Resolution to Security Council, Washington PostAn unexpected Russian proposal for Syria to avert a US military strike by […]

Syria

Article

Obama’s Weak Syria Case

By Rajan Menon

President Obama’s case for striking Syria is perplexing and misguided. Here’s hoping that these attributes will become clear during the debate that will occur now that he has delayed acting and sought Congressional consent. Despite the massive death toll in Syria, which now exceeds one hundred thousand, Obama has been chary (wisely, in my view) […]

Syria

NATOSource

The West is Accelerating its Strategic Decline

By François Heisbourg, Financial Times

[T]he west was inevitably going to lose some of its ability to set the global agenda and to conduct foreign military operations. This process has been accelerated by the west’s economic slowdown since 2007.

International Organizations Libya

MENASource

Forward Defense Scowcroft Center for Strategy and Security

Kerry’s “Hypothetical” in Syria: Checking Congress?

By Anthony Elghossain

Congress needs to check itself. As it considers the use of force in Syria, Congress will enjoy considerable control over the authorizing resolution’s language. To begin with, under the US Constitution, Congress has the power to declare war, to raise and maintain armed forces, to control the purse.

Syria

Experts

Staff

Jonathan Rosenstein

Assistant Director

Defense Policy Israel

Fellow

Amanda J. Rothschild

GeoStrategy Initiative Scowcroft Center for Strategy and Security

China Iran

Fellow

Anthony J. Ruggiero

Forward Defense Indo-Pacific Security Initiative

Arms Control Defense Policy

Fellow

Mir Sadat

Forward Defense Scowcroft Center for Strategy and Security

Afghanistan Dari

Fellow

Yerevan Saeed

Iraq Initiative Rafik Hariri Center & Middle East programs

Arabic Energy & Environment

Fellow

Nilofar Sakhi