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20 Nov 2009
The National Security Staff is consumed with day-to-day priorities, and without comprehensive strategies for the medium- and long-term timeframe in place, planning and budgeting inevitably lack coordination and coherence. Overcoming these problems requires establishing an improved mechanism
for developing and issuing guidance to the U.S. national security
community.
By James Locher
19 Nov 2009 |
World Politics Review
An increasing number of U.S. national security missions now require interagency approaches. But because of the excessively rigid structures and processes of the current national security system, the White House is compelled to take charge of most strategy development and planning. The result is over-centralization of decision-making, and insufficient coordination for effective policy implementation.
By James Locher
18 Nov 2009 |
World Politics Review
The current Department of State was not designed to manage the increasingly diverse responsibilities of the U.S. government in a globalized world. To remedy this situation, the United States needs a Next-Generation State Department that can apply an integrated approach to the management of global civilian affairs.
By Kingston Reif
02 Nov 2009 |
World Politics Review
Ten years ago last month, the U.S. Senate failed to approve the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty. A decade later, the dangers posed by the potential spread of nuclear weapons and materials to additional states and terrorists have increased dramatically. Stopping proliferation will require a global effort -- and an early, essential step in that effort must be U.S. ratification of the test ban.
By Chris Bronk
15 Oct 2009 |
World Politics Review
If there is one lesson we should have learned from 9/11 regarding
intelligence collection, it is that the national
intelligence bureaucracy's "need to know" bias should be replaced with
an emphasis on the "need to share." That's why the U.S. Intelligence Community's decision to shut down uGov, a webmail system for the IC and those who need to work with it on a regular basis, is alarming.
By Michael Cecire
05 Oct 2009 |
World Politics Review
Unlike South Ossetia, which hopes to join the Russian Federation,
Abkhazia has made it very clear that it wants nothing short of full
independence. Yet, signals from Western capitals and Tbilisi in support of eventual
"reunification" with Georgia are paradoxically securing
Abkhazia's place in Russia's orbit. Perhaps it's time to call Russia's bluff and recognize Abkhazia's independence.
By Elizabeth Iskander
05 Oct 2009 |
World Politics Review
The diplomatic effort to contain Iran's nuclear program needs to be
led by a truly international coalition, not just an American or Western
one. The focus should be on altering the terms of the debate that
currently allow Iran to benefit from external pressure, using
it to further entrench and justify its defiant stance. In order to do so, the Arab world must become publicly engaged in achieving a solution.
By Jamsheed K. Choksy
02 Oct 2009 |
World Politics Review
Despite the encouraging outcome of yesterday's talks in Geneva, the
nuclear standoff with Iran is far from over. It will not end for the
U.S. until there is full, ongoing compliance with the International Atomic
Energy Agency's inspection regime. And so long as Mahmoud
Ahmadinejad is Iran's president, it very likely will not end for Iran
until breakout capability has been achieved.
By Prashanth Parameswaran
30 Sep 2009 |
World Politics Review
Despite the recent calming of cross-strait relations,
the military imbalance between China and Taiwan continues to grow.
Beijing's military modernization is rapidly dwarfing Taipei's
capabilities and blunting Washington's ability to defend its ally in
the event of conflict. Left unchecked, this growing imbalance will threaten long-term stability in the Taiwan Strait.
By Geoffrey S. Corn
29 Sep 2009 |
World Politics Review
The term "lawfare" is increasingly used to characterize the
pervasive role of law in the conduct of war, but there is nothing new
about the concept. The real question raised today is whether "lawfare" will come to
define a fundamental distortion of the historic balance between the necessities of war and the
need to protect the innocent.
By Peter Doran
22 Sep 2009 |
World Politics Review
President Barack Obama's rollback of the European-based ballistic
missile defense system is a strategic blunder that will incentivize
Russian intransigence, erode relations with
loyal U.S. allies, and ultimately place
the American homeland at greater risk. Without the security assurance that BMD offered, NATO's Central and Eastern European members will now look for alternate guarantees.
By Morton Abramowitz and Daniel Serwer
18 Sep 2009 |
World Politics Review
Fourteen years after the massacre of 8,000 Muslims at Srebrenica in
Bosnia, the perpetrator of the largest atrocity in Europe since World
War II, indicted war criminal Gen. Ratko Mladic, still roams free.
Worse still, if the recent, barely noticed anniversary of the massacre as well as recent diplomatic signals are any indication, Europe and the
U.S. seem ready to effectively turn the page on his arrest.
By Malou Innocent and Christopher Preble
16 Sep 2009 |
World Politics Review
The new U.S. strategy in Afghanistan, which amounts to a large-scale social-engineering project, is
unwarranted. The cost that we would have to incur
far outweighs any
possible benefits, even accepting the most optimistic estimates for the
likelihood of success. The U.S. must instead narrow its objectives, asking not
whether the war is winnable, but whether the mission is vital to U.S. interests.
By Daniel McDowell
14 Sep 2009 |
World Politics Review
Last week, the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development
issued a report calling for a global reserve bank with the power to issue its own
currency, to monitor its members' national exchange rates, and to prop
up or push down their currencies. Setting aside the economics of the debate, what is the
political
feasibility of these proposals? History may help to answer this
question.
By Jamie Lynn DeCoster
11 Sep 2009 |
World Politics Review
Amid devastated Somalia, a country mired for two decades in unforgiving
conflict, Somaliland glows as an ember of hope. A moderate peace has
held for 10 years in the autonomous region, reflecting a decade of
efforts to expand governance, security and social institutions. But political instability could very well undermine
Somaliland's legitimacy at a most
crucial time in its brief existence.
By H. Allen Holmes
10 Sep 2009 |
World Politics Review
In recent years, many American officials have regarded withholding
diplomatic relations as a way to punish countries and thereby change their behavior. The problem with this line of thinking is that it usually doesn't work. In
the meantime, the absence of diplomatic relations with a country of
interest to the U.S. represents an almost-crippling obstacle to the
successful pursuit of foreign policy goals.
By Kaveh Afrasiabi
09 Sep 2009 |
World Politics Review
Global diplomacy surrounding Iran's nuclear standoff is very likely to
reach a critical fork in the road this fall. In the coming weeks and
months, this potentially dangerous crisis could either escalate or veer
toward hopeful signs of a mutually satisfactory resolution. However, those who argue that Iran will not make a serious effort to
work with the international community to resolve the crisis are
mistaken.
By Joshua Foust
08 Sep 2009 |
World Politics Review
What does it mean to "secure the people" of Afghanistan? Some of the
U.S. government's best thinkers about defense policy and
counterinsurgency have finally begun to consider this question. But
although Iraq is vastly different from Afghanistan, there seems to be
no end to "importing" lessons from Baghdad to Kabul: tribal militias,
awakenings, and, most worryingly, a focus on cities.
By Seth McLaughlin
04 Sep 2009 |
World Politics Review
R. Nicholas Burns, the former under secretary of state for political
affairs, says it is unlikely that Iran will make a serious effort to
work with the United States in curbing its nuclear program, but that
President Barack Obama's push for diplomatic talks is a necessary step
in building international support for harsher sanctions and, in a
worst-case scenario, military force.
By Masoud Shafaee
03 Sep 2009 |
World Politics Review
A
s uncertainty has given way to acceptance regarding a second term for Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, many -- including U.S. President Barack Obama
-- are stressing the need to continue engaging Iran in hopes of curbing
its nuclear program. But both engagement and further sanctions risk casting
the U.S. as precisely that which the Iranian regime has so far been
unable to: an interfering Western power.
By Simon Shercliff
22 Aug 2009 |
World Politics Review
The U.K.'s
commitment in Afghanistan is about protecting people in
Britain and other countries from international terrorism. We will not
be deterred from this objective despite hardships and obstacles.
Suggestions to the contrary ignore facts on the ground, commitments of
our political and military leaders, as well as our enduring resolve to
secure the British people.
