North Africa

NATO Proves Critics Wrong

By Barry Pavel

The naysayers were in abundance during this long, hot summer in Washington, Brussels, and other major capitals. They said that NATO’s no-fly zone, and the rebel military operations in Libya which NATO was aiding, were ineffective. NATO was running out of ammunition.

Libya: Carpe Diem Europe!

By Julian Lindley-French

 “No-one starts a war-or rather, no one in his senses ought to do so-without first being clear in his mind what he intends to achieve by that war and how he intends to conduct it.” Karl von Clausewitz  Make no mistake; what is happening in Libya right now has the most profound of grand strategic […]

Under NATO’s Flag: an Interim Assessment of the Mission in Libya (Part Three)

By Vladimir Socor

As in Iraq and Afghanistan, a Western coalition intervened in Libya with only a weak grasp of the local society.

Responsibility to Protect? Sometimes

By Derek Reveron

The latest Syrian assault on its population and international reactions to it has once again raised the question, what does the “responsibility to protect”(R2P) mean in practice?

What Next in Libya?

By Derek Reveron

It’s been over four months since NATO launched its air campaign in Libya. Dubbed Operation UNIFIED PROTECTOR, NATO pilots have logged at least 17,924 sorties, 6,788 of which were strike missions “to protect civilians and civilian-populated areas under attack or threat of attack.”

Under NATO’s Flag: An Interim Assessment of the Mission In Libya (Part One)

By Vladimir Socor

NATO is only nominally in charge of the stalemated war in Libya. The Alliance’s leader, the United States, was quick to move to a back seat in this operation after having sparked it. Europe’s residual military powers, France and Britain, are mainly in charge of this war, operating as a tandem but basically in their […]

Al-Qaeda’s North African franchise moves south

By J. Peter Pham

British and Italian officials are checking a video received Thursday by Agence France-Presse which, if authenticated, will confirm not only the fate of two Westerners abducted in Nigeria in May, but the worrisome fact that al-Qaeda in the Lands of the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM), has now extended its reach into Nigeria.  While the Foreign Office […]

Afghanistan and Libya Point NATO to Five Lessons

By Kurt Volker

Both the wars in Afghanistan and Libya reveal serious flaws in the Alliance. If they can’t be fixed, perhaps it’s time for a ‘back to basics’ NATO and a return to coalitions of the willing. Whether it is a matter of weeks or months, Libyan leader Muammar Qaddafi will probably fall from power, and opposition forces will likely gain […]

Egypt’s democratic transition: Five important myths about the economy and international assistance

The Legatum Institute and Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, in association with the Atlantic Council, present this short report, which is the product of an exploratory trip to Egypt by the authors in mid-June 2011. Its aim is to help shape the conversation about Egypt’s economy, economic policy, and international assistance by addressing several persistent […]

Has Libya Killed Off Denuclearization of North Korea?

By Banning Garrett

An unnoted consequence of the NATO military effort to topple the Gaddafi regime may be any hope of eventual denuclearization of North Korea or Iran. The September 2005 denuclearization agreement with North Korea made security guarantees to Pyongyang in exchange for verifiable elimination of nuclear weapons. The North Koreans signed, but promptly shunned the deal […]