Azeem Ibrahim
Former Research Fellow, International Security Program, 20082010
AP Photo
April 29, 2010
"No Game-changing Moments in Final Leaders' Debate"
Op-Ed, politics.co.uk
By Azeem Ibrahim, Former Research Fellow, International Security Program, 20082010
"This was a scrappier, livelier debate than the previous two, and all three men had raised their game from last time. I expect the polls to show no clear winner, but Cameron and Clegg again ahead of Brown. But there was, I believe, no game-changing moment, and we are likely to head towards May 6th with the polls in a roughly similar position to last week."
AP Photo
April 26, 2010
"Trident Is No Debt Cure for Britain"
Op-Ed, The Huffington Post
By Azeem Ibrahim, Former Research Fellow, International Security Program, 20082010
"But ultimately, Clegg is wrong because his proposal falls into the oldest of traps: believing that because there are no clear and present dangers to the UK who we can envisage using nuclear weapons, that there could never be in the future. History has shown again and again that making decisions on defence based on only foreseeable threats is a dangerous mistake."
AP Photo
April 16, 2010
"Debates Privilege Style over Substance"
Op-Ed, politics.co.uk
By Azeem Ibrahim, Former Research Fellow, International Security Program, 20082010
"Clegg was always going to be the biggest beneficiary of the debate, as the other two were relatively well-known, and so even an unremarkable performance would have helped him by introducing him to many voters for the first time. But by the end of the night, the snap polls tended to show that he had come off best in terms of style...."
AP Photo
April 14, 2010
"The Stark Truth of What the National Debt Means for Us All"
Op-Ed, conservativehome
By Azeem Ibrahim, Former Research Fellow, International Security Program, 20082010
"That means that the government will be spending more of your tax money on interest payments to buyers of UK government bonds next fiscal year than it will be spending on the entire defence of the United Kingdom. That is almost double the amount it spends on the whole of Scotland, and more than double the amount it spends on the entire law and order budget."
AP Photo
April 14, 2010
"NI Rise Will Dampen Entrepreneurship"
Op-Ed, politics.co.uk
By Azeem Ibrahim, Former Research Fellow, International Security Program, 20082010
"The key to halting the slide is to create more entrepreneurs. They create wealth and encourage innovation. They were the key to our national economic success in the past, and they can be again in the future, if only we as a nation do a better job of encouraging them. And it's in this context that we have to judge the idea of a national insurance rise."
AP Photo
April 9, 2010
"Creating More Entrepreneurs"
Op-Ed, Business7
By Azeem Ibrahim, Former Research Fellow, International Security Program, 20082010
"I am unlikely to be the first to point to many of them, and I will not be the last, but I believe that, taken together, they amount to a constructive set of ideas about how to convert Scotland's culture from one which mythologises public services at the expense of enterprise, to one which puts Scotland back on the road to prosperity."
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."
AP Photo
April 6, 2010
"Trust is the Key to Defeating Islamic Extremism"
Op-Ed, The Scotsman
By Azeem Ibrahim, Former Research Fellow, International Security Program, 20082010
"...[T]rust must be earned. That also means that police and politicians alike must understand how they are eroding it. Aside from foreign policy, number one on the list is data. Clearly, people will be reluctant to get involved in any programme if they have the slightest suspicion that it is feeding information to the security services, and that their details will appear on some database. If that security service is foreign, especially American, the danger to trust is even greater."
AP Photo
April 5, 2010
"There is Nothing to Discuss on the Falklands' Sovereignty"
Op-Ed, The Huffington Post
By Azeem Ibrahim, Former Research Fellow, International Security Program, 20082010
"The fact that they are geographically closer to Argentina is of no consequence. Will the United States hand over Alaska to Russia which is famously visible from Sarah Palin's house as opposed to over 500 miles from the US mainland? Is the US going to give Puerto Rico and the US Virgin Islands to the Dominican Republic? Are they going to give Hawaii to Japan? Texas and Florida to Mexico? Guam to the Philippines? American Samoa to New Zealand? What about Taiwan, should that be annexed by China?"
AP Photo
April 2, 2010
"To Heed President Obama's Call to Strengthen the EU, Britain Must First Have a Referendum on Whether to Stay in at All"
Op-Ed, The Huffington Post
By Azeem Ibrahim, Former Research Fellow, International Security Program, 20082010
"Over the last decade here, the political landscape has moved in a more Eurosceptic direction. Ten years ago, the ruling Labour party were considering joining the Euro, and the opposition Conservatives were split between Europhiles (as Euro-enthusiasts are called) and Eurosceptics. Now, there is no prospect of Britain joining the Euro in the medium-term, the Conservatives are both relatively united around euroscepticism and ahead in the polls, and more people are voting for the UK Independence Party (UKIP) a party which campaigns for Britain to leave the EU than ever before. In a few newspapers, the words 'EU', 'euro', and 'European' are practically insults."
