Charles G. Cogan
Associate, International Security Program
Contact:
Telephone: 617-864-3959
Email: chuck_cogan@harvard.edu
Website: http://www.drcharlesgcogan.net
AP Photo
October 15, 2012
"The Post–Cold War Cold Peace: Chalk One for the Russians"
Op-Ed, The Huffington Post
By Charles G. Cogan, Associate, International Security Program
"...[T]he Russians have gathered together a formidable axis with which to contest the Western aim in Syria, which is to remove Bashar al Assad from power: the fellow veto-wielder in the United Nations Security Council (UNSC), China, which has joined with the Russians in stymieing repeated UNSC attempts to end the conflict in Syria and bring about a change of regime. The Russians also have certain regional power backing for their Syrian policy of support to the Bashar al Assad regime: Shia Iran definitely; Shia Hezbollah definitely; and Shia Iraq, to some extent."
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September 28, 2012
"American President: Out on a Limb"
Op-Ed, The Huffington Post
By Charles G. Cogan, Associate, International Security Program
"So assuming that negotiations over the Iranian nuclear program will resume after the American presidential elections, as most observers think they will, we will have to see if the policy of stiffing the Iranians — who abhor foreign pressure, in view of their both glorious and inglorious past — will continue not to work; or whether U.S. concessions, which have not been forthcoming so far, will dent the ideological obduracy of the Iranian position."
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September 13, 2012
"The Haqqani Network: The Background"
Op-Ed, The Huffington Post
By Charles G. Cogan, Associate, International Security Program
"...[T]here was no aid furnished directly by the CIA to the mujahidin groups fighting the Soviets. It was done essentially through the Pakistani military intelligence service, the ISI."
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September 4, 2012
"Can 120 (Non-Aligned) Countries be Wrong?"
Op-Ed, The Huffington Post
By Charles G. Cogan, Associate, International Security Program
"Not particularly relevant during the Cold War, what possibly can the Non-Aligned Movement represent today? The Cold War is over. Has the movement outlived its usefulness? The answer is no, despite the Movement's outmoded Cold War origins. It serves as a rallying point for all those countries who want to push back against what they see as the dominating attitudes and policies of the United States, and to a lesser degree, the West in general."
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August 23, 2012
"The Balfour Declaration and the Rationale for Jewish Settlements in the West Bank"
Op-Ed, The Huffington Post
By Charles G. Cogan, Associate, International Security Program
"But how could a mass influx of Jews into Palestine not prejudice the 'civil and religious rights' of existing non-Jewish communities there? The Balfour Declaration stands, along with the partition of India, as an icon to the micawberish policies of the British Empire at the start of its decline."
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August 8, 2012
"Romney, the 'Hand of Providence,' and Israel"
Op-Ed, The Huffington Post
By Charles G. Cogan, Associate, International Security Program
"[T]here is the 45-year-old Israeli occupation of the West Bank (not to speak of the earlier Western-colonial and Ottoman periods), which has served to inhibit the development of Palestinian society. Secondly, one must correlate Israel's laudable economic and technological achievements with the fact of U.S. aid; with purchases by the U.S. military; and with U.S. technological assistance, including joint development of new systems."
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July 24, 2012
"'Chess Is the Way We Establish Mastery Over the West'"
Op-Ed, The Huffington Post
By Charles G. Cogan, Associate, International Security Program
"Clearly, by the nature of their regimes, neither the Russians nor the Chinese would be expected to countenance the idea of a popular uprising to overthrow a dictatorship. Together China and Russia have formed the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO), which can be described as a grouping of counter-revolutionary regimes, the leading members of which are bent on checkmating the West where possible. Iran, another like-minded autocratic power, is an observer member of the Organization."
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July 20, 2012
"Islam May Be the Answer, Democracy is the Solution"
Op-Ed, The Huffington Post
By Charles G. Cogan, Associate, International Security Program
"The Arab world has changed in the last 40 years with the access of people to TV, the Internet and social networks....Autocratic, military-run regimes have been discredited. The people want to be treated with dignity, and to have a say in their future. Democracy is the durable element that has come out of the Arab Spring. It is a place where all can meet on a common ground, without religious-based rancors."
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July 2, 2012
"Pomp, Pederasty, and Peculation — But Also Social Justice"
Op-Ed, The Huffington Post
By Charles G. Cogan, Associate, International Security Program
"Justice Roberts is a Catholic, and attended a Catholic grade and a Catholic secondary school. Despite all the downsides of an institution riven by pomp, pederasty and peculation...there is the fact of a social justice component in the Catholic tradition which runs somewhat counter to the mainstream strain of rugged individualism in the American ethos. Those who partake of this tradition might, it seems to me, recoil at the idea of the American population denying health care to an underprivileged minority of... 30 million people."
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June 27, 2012
"Presidency Interruptus: The Possible Curious Fate of Barack Obama"
Op-Ed, The Huffington Post
By Charles G. Cogan, Associate, International Security Program
"Assuming there will be no October surprise, or equivalent, to tarnish the record of the Obama presidency, the incumbent will go down to an honorable defeat this fall. This leaves open the question of 2016, when the United States will be even more diverse than it is now and this would be an assist for Obama. Also, there would be an inevitable erosion of support for a (Romney) presidency."
