Azeem Ibrahim
Former Research Fellow, International Security Program, 20082010
AP Photo
January 29, 2010
"How Visiting America Changed British Minds"
Op-Ed, The Scotsman
By Azeem Ibrahim, Former Research Fellow, International Security Program, 20082010
"Where the inquiry can be the most fruitful, though, is in asking the former prime minister about how he managed to approve a war with such derisory postwar planning. Not even Mr Blair could assert that the years following the Iraq war went well. Many civilians were killed needlessly."
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October 27, 2009
"We Mustn't Judge Leaders by Values of Hollywood"
Op-Ed, The Scotsman
By Azeem Ibrahim, Former Research Fellow, International Security Program, 20082010
"Imagine the front-ranking opposition front-bencher, with decades of work and experience behind him, forced to conclude he was underqualified to lead his party because he lacked a full head of hair. Or the shadow cabinet team, waiting to listen to speeches by two leadership contenders, knowing before either candidate has stepped on to the podium who they will vote for as leader by looking at their faces alone."
AP Photo
October 20, 2009
"Seeking More Private Investment is a Nobel Cause for Universities"
Op-Ed, The Scotsman
By Azeem Ibrahim, Former Research Fellow, International Security Program, 20082010
"For too long here, we have believed that the money should come only from the poor put-upon taxpayer. As should be painfully clear, that is insufficient. As is starting to happen, universities need to diversify their sources of income to provide the investment that turns an adequate university into a great one. That means making greater use of alumni contacts, and aggressively looking for philanthropy and endowments."
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September 2009
"The Next Government Must Fund Britain's Armed Forces to Match the Many and Growing Threats to National Security"
Policy Brief
By Azeem Ibrahim, Former Research Fellow, International Security Program, 20082010
"The choice facing the next Prime Minister and government is clear. On the one hand, he can continue the policy of the present Government. This will result in a slow slide down the second division of nations, an inability to defend the sea passages on which our global trade and standard of living depend (ninety per cent of our trade still comes by sea), an inability to secure our growing imported energy supplies and the vital food supplies which we in this country take for granted.
Or, the next Government can resist this decline, hold firm against the pressure to reduce defence funding, and provide an adequate defence provision with contingency reserve capability for all three Services. If this decision is made, it should be done as a deliberate and well researched policy."
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September 8, 2009
"Big Business Fears Obama's Plans to Radically Reform Healthcare in US"
Op-Ed, The Scotsman
By Azeem Ibrahim, Former Research Fellow, International Security Program, 20082010
"...[H]ealthcare reform would open up health insurance companies to more effective competition, and they fear it. Many are lobbying hard and trying to muddy the argument with scaremongering stories. In fact, many of the angry people at the town hall meetings were actually members of organised groups, paid for by vested interests."
AP Photo
August 17, 2009
"The Cruelty of Britain's Extradition Policy"
Op-Ed, politics.co.uk
By Azeem Ibrahim, Former Research Fellow, International Security Program, 20082010
"[T]o stay as close to America as possible, Britain signed a new extradition treaty with the US which gave more protection to Americans than to Brits. Passing into law as the Extradition Act 2003, it made it easier for America to extradite British suspects than it was for Britain to extradite American ones. As things stand today, if Britain accuses an American of plotting a terrorist attack against London, the US government will only allow him on a plane to face justice if Britain shows that it has enough evidence to mount a good case against him. But if America accuses a Brit of plotting an identical attack against New York, Britain must put him on a plane to the States without so much as asking America to show that it has a good case at all. It is a lopsided legally-sanctioned double standard, and previous ministers have admitted as much."
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August 11, 2009
"How America Is Funding Corruption in Pakistan"
Op-Ed, Foreign Policy
By Azeem Ibrahim, Former Research Fellow, International Security Program, 20082010
"For the last eight years, U.S. taxpayers' money has funded hardly any bona fide counterterrorism successes, but quite a bit of corruption in the Pakistani Army and intelligence services. The money has enriched individuals at the expense of the proper functioning of the country's institutions. It has provided habitual kleptocrats with further incentives to skim off the top. Despite the U.S. goal of encouraging democratization, assistance to Pakistan has actually weakened the country's civilian government. And perhaps worst of all, it has hindered Pakistan's ability to fight terrorists."
AP Photo
May 25, 2010
"British Universities Need to Invest to Be the Best"
Op-Ed, The Huffington Post
By Azeem Ibrahim, Former Research Fellow, International Security Program, 20082010
"For too long, Britons have believed that the money should only come from the poor put-upon taxpayer. As should be painfully clear now, that is insufficient. As is starting to happen, universities need to diversify their sources of income to provide the investment that turns an adequate university into a great one. That means making greater use of alumni contacts, and aggressively looking for private philanthropy and endowments."
AP Photo
May 13, 2010
"Lessons from the Greek Bailout"
Op-Ed, The Huffington Post
By Azeem Ibrahim, Former Research Fellow, International Security Program, 20082010
"The lesson for the euro, and so for Britain, which is currently standing on the sidelines and weighing up the euro's pros and cons is that in its first decade of life it was a rather misunderstood currency. Its perceived strength, and thus its strength in the money markets, was based not only on Europe's perceived global role, but also on the relative stability of its strongest members. What is now inescapable is the fact that the euro should be regarded as an uneasy average of some global heavy-hitters like France and Germany, but also much weaker countries like Greece (who's debt some credit agencies now rate as junk), and Portugal, whose economy has barely grown for years."
AP Photo
April 8, 2010
"Obama Must Tell It Like It Is On Afghanistan"
Op-Ed, The Huffington Post
By Azeem Ibrahim, Former Research Fellow, International Security Program, 20082010
"Honesty is the least bad option for the Obama administration. He should address the concerns, and acknowledge that the deployment is not going as he had hoped. That way, he can begin to lay out the groundwork for how he is going to turn this around, and take the American people with him. Or, even better, how he is going to facilitate power-sharing with the least extreme Taliban, and bring American troops home, before the situation gets any worse."
