Charles G. Cogan
Associate, International Security Program
Contact:
Telephone: 617-864-3959
Email: chuck_cogan@harvard.edu
Website: http://www.drcharlesgcogan.net
AP Photo
February 2, 2012
"Does Obama Have Baraka?"
Op-Ed, The Huffington Post
By Charles G. Cogan, Associate, International Security Program
"The operation of Abbottabad was much better coordinated between the military and the CIA than was the unfortunate attempt, thirty years earlier, to rescue the hostages held by the Iranian "students" at the American Embassy in Tehran, during the presidency of another Democratic president, Jimmy Carter. Although the two operations were very different, they resembled each other in some aspects. Both represented military interventions in countries with which the United States was not at war. Also, in both cases, it was the CIA's responsibility to acquire intelligence on the internal situation in the country and prepare the groundwork for the intervention. As for the military, it was their responsibility in each case to carry out the attack."
AP Photo
January 17, 2012
"Not Another War, Please!"
Op-Ed, The Huffington Post
By Charles G. Cogan, Associate, International Security Program
"Apart from the question, never asked and never answered, as to why Iran cannot have nuclear weapons while India and Pakistan can, there is the lassitude that has set in over the successive wars in Afghanistan — which has lasted much too long — and Iraq — which has been essentially fruitless. A new war is certainly to be avoided, if possible."
AP Photo
January 6, 2012
"The Presidential Election and the Nostalgia of '48"
Op-Ed
By Charles G. Cogan, Associate, International Security Program
Truman, the bland underdog from the Middle West, came out swinging in the election campaign, fustigating the "do-nothing" Republican Congress and promising to "give 'em hell!" We see certain parallels today in what was the abortive—and absurd—attempt on the part of largely Tea Party Republicans in the House to deny the extension of tax cuts to 160 million Americans.
AP Photo
December 21, 2011
"A War to End All Misbegotten Wars"
Op-Ed, The Huffington Post
By Charles G. Cogan, Associate, International Security Program
"Hopefully, the Iraq experience will put an end to the succession of misbegotten wars of the U.S., the most recent one before that being the manifestly more tragic Vietnam War (1963–1975), with 58,000 American soldiers killed, a war that was claimed to be an anti-Communist struggle rather than what it was: the extension of an anti-colonial war."
AP Photo
December 12, 2011
"A Potted History from Our Presidential Ph.D."
Op-Ed, The Huffington Post
By Charles G. Cogan, Associate, International Security Program
"From the beginnings of Islam, the faithful were part of the overall community of believers, the "umma." States only came along later. In earlier times there were two major polities in the Near East region, the cities of Damascus and Cairo. With the breakup of the Ottoman Empire after World War I, two League of Nations mandates were created, one designated Syria and Lebanon under French mandate, and the other designated Palestine and Iraq under British mandate. Three of these creations eventually became independant states, but Palestine did not."
AP Photo
December 7, 2011
"Ex Cathedra in Ramallah"
Op-Ed, The Huffington Post
By Charles G. Cogan, Associate, International Security Program
"In the center of Ramallah there is a huge chair that has been created, symbolizing the chair in the UN that the Palestinian state is supposed to occupy. Alongside there are posters with the number 194, which has a double significance. UN General Assembly Resolution 194 of December 1948 provided for the right of return for displaced Palestinians to come back into what is now Israel. 194 also refers to Palestine as becoming the 194th state to enter the United Nations."
AP Photo
December 6, 2011
"Balls-Up in Pakistan"
Op-Ed, The Huffington Post
By Charles G. Cogan, Associate, International Security Program
"It's become known as "Memo-gate": a memorandum submitted by a circuitous route to Mike Mullen, then chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. The memo was delivered during the second week of May 2011, a few days after the raid in Abbottabad, Pakistan, that killed Osama bin Laden. The message in the memo was: rein in the Pakistani military; stop them from staging yet another coup to add to Pakistan's history of military takeovers; and specifically, disband the "S" section of the Pakistani military intelligence service, the ISI...."
AP Photo
November 21, 2011
"Reversal of Roles: When the Jews Accepted the Two-State Solution but the Arabs Did Not"
Op-Ed, The Huffington Post
By Charles G. Cogan, Associate, International Security Program
On November 29, 1947, the United Nations General Assembly, in a non-binding Resolution (No. 181), recommended splitting what then constituted the Palestine Mandate into two parts, with an accompanying map: 55 percent going to a Jewish state and 44 percent going to an Arab state. These were to be "independent Arab and Jewish states" along with a "Special International Regime for Jerusalem," administered by the United Nations....The vote was 37 in favor, 12 against, and 10 abstentions. Among those in favor were the U.S. and the Soviet Union. The Arab members voted against it. The Jewish Agency, representing the Jewish community in Palestine, accepted it and agreed to send representatives to a Palestine Commission which was supposed to implement Resolution 181.
AP Photo
November 11, 2011
"Home Truths on the Croisette (Cannes)"
Op-Ed, The Huffington Post
By Charles G. Cogan, Associate, International Security Program
"Netanyahu has flouted President Obama twice, on settlements and on borders. He has alienated just about every foreign leader, including the most pro-Israeli French president since the start of the Fifth Republic in 1958 — Sarkozy being one-quarter Jewish on his mother's side. Netanyahu has blown the Israeli special relationship with Turkey, and he is bound to encounter some push-back from a new democratic regime in Egypt (which would not, however, repudiate the existing Israeli-Egyptian peace treaty)."
AP Photo
November 7, 2011
"With a Little Help From Our (Arab) Friends"
Op-Ed, The Huffington Post
By Charles G. Cogan, Associate, International Security Program
"Qatar had been instrumental in persuading the Arab League to endorse an intervention in Libya, which the United Nations Security Council voted in two resolutions: Resolution 1970 on February 26 and Resolution 1973 on March 17. Qatar also became the first Arab country to recognize the rebels' Transitional National Council. A few other Arab countries lent diplomatic support and cash to the TNC — including the United Arab Emirates in the former case and Kuwait in the latter."
