Charles G. Cogan

AP Photo

March 15, 2011

"Toujours de l'Audace!"

Op-Ed, The Huffington Post

By Charles G. Cogan, Associate, International Security Program

"...M. Sarkozy came up with a proposal to create a no-fly zone over Libya but also to engage in surgical strikes. This he did, with the French penchant for secrecy and for creating a surprise effect, without consulting his European allies (except, perhaps, David Cameron), and even, it seems, his new foreign minister, Alain Juppé. M. Sarkozy may not be on the wrong side of history, but he seems to be on the wrong side of the tactical situation. Muammar Gadhafi, with his superiority in equipment and in trained forces, seems to be wrapping up the opposition to his regime."

AP Photo

January 18, 2010

"Facts and Perceptions in Tunisia: Offering Legitimate Technical Assistance (But Not to Put Down a Revolution!)"

Op-Ed, The Huffington Post

By Charles G. Cogan, Associate, International Security Program

There was also a factual basis for what the French Minister said, in particular the phrase, "to act in order that the right to demonstrate can take place at the same time that security is assured." In the matter of protecting the lives of its own citizens, France, a country that tolerates demonstrations as part of its revolutionary ethos, seems to have found the way to manage these two opposites. In the great demonstrations of May 1968, followed by those of 1986, 1995, and 2010, one astonishing fact emerges: hardly anyone was killed.

AP Photo

September 14, 2010

"Tony Blair and the Ghost of Suez"

Op-Ed, The Huffington Post

By Charles G. Cogan, Associate, International Security Program

"...Tony Blair, in an interview with Margaret Warner on 'The News Hour,' would not or could not bring himself to regret his 2003 decision to join with the U.S. in invading Iraq. I believe his primary motive, among others, was not to let daylight appear between the U.S. and Britain."

AP Photo

April 29, 2010

"My Take-away on 'Katyn'"

Op-Ed, The Huffington Post

By Charles G. Cogan, Associate, International Security Program

"It seems to me that the analogy between Communism and Naziism should not be made. These were two different regimes in two different countries. Each, despicable in its own way, should be considered separately, as separate phenomena, and should not be compared in a morality contest about which side killed more innocent people than the other."

AP Photo

December 22, 2009

"Slouching Toward Jerusalem"

Op-Ed, World Policy Blog

By Charles G. Cogan, Associate, International Security Program

"The very key position that East Jerusalem occupies in any final settlement should be patent from the above history. That is why the recent decision of Prime Minister Netanyahu to institute a ten-month freeze in settlement construction on the West Bank (but excluding East Jerusalem) falls far short of adequate. It is not even a good beginning, contrary to official statements from Washington."

AP Photo

December 16, 2009

"Kind Hearts and Minarets"

Op-Ed, World Policy Blog

By Charles G. Cogan, Associate, International Security Program

"Sarkozy's efforts to shake up the pensée unique in France are commendable. An attitude that stemmed from France's wounds in World War II and that exhibited itself in hypersensitivity toward any slighting of national sovereignty is now démodé. The French president has likewise departed from the reflexive attitude of disapproval toward the United States, NATO, and Israel. But in emphasizing France's Christian roots (as he has done repeatedly), he is risking alienating those in France who are not Christian and those who are not believers."

Autumn 2006

Le Regard d'un Ancien de la CIA sur les Relations Franco-Americaines

Journal Article, Politique Internationale, Les dossiers PI.com: An Interview with Laure Mandeville and Isabelle Lasserre

By Charles G. Cogan, Associate, International Security Program

September 6, 2006

"From the Fall of France to the Force de Frappe: the Remaking of French Military Power, 1940-62"

Book Chapter

By Charles G. Cogan, Associate, International Security Program

"...de Gaulle had a longer-term view of France's potential foes than most military officers, which allowed him to see beyond the immediate needs of colonial wars."

AP Photo

November 19, 2012

"Syria: Would Putin Pull a 'Pristina'?"

Op-Ed, The Huffington Post

By Charles G. Cogan, Associate, International Security Program

"Might Putin, if Bashar's regime became more threatened, be tempted to pull another Pristina? — the moment in 1999 when Russian troops, in support of their Serbian allies, sent a column in to occupy Pristina airport, in Kosovo. The Supreme Allied Commander (SACEUR), Wesley Clark, was in favor of blocking the runway against Russian reinforcements, but the leading British military officer in place there, Michael Jackson, countermanded Clarke, and a potentially dangerous East-West confrontation was avoided."

January 15, 2013

"The Once and Present Ally: France"

Op-Ed, The Huffington Post

By Charles G. Cogan, Associate, International Security Program

"When the new, and pro-American, French President, Nicolas Sarkozy, returned France to the NATO integrated command in the spring of 2009, a number of prominent French figures stated their reservations, the most articulate of whom was the former French foreign minister under François Mitterrand, Hubert Védrine. Much later, and more recently, in a report submitted to President François Hollande on Nov. 12, 2012, Védrine stated that although de Gaulle had been right in 1966, the world had changed since. And the United States, especially with the reelection of Barack Obama, had changed. The Americans now want an increased military role for the Europeans."