Charles G. Cogan
Associate, International Security Program
Contact:
Telephone: 617-864-3959
Email: chuck_cogan@harvard.edu
Website: http://www.drcharlesgcogan.net
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."
AP Photo
October 29, 2011
"Arab Spring, Islamic Harvest: Tunisia Goes to the Polls"
Op-Ed, The Huffington Post
By Charles G. Cogan, Associate, International Security Program
How did this stunning victory of Ennahda happen? As elsewhere in the countries of the Arab Spring, the Islamist parties had no connection with the former authoritarian military regimes: with the extreme longevity of the dictators in power, producing a feeling of lassitude among the people; with the repression of the people by the police and security services of these regimes; and with the rampant corruption among the ruling families. The feeling toward Ennahda among many Tunisians, as is the case elsewhere with Islamist parties in the Arab world is, in a nutshell, "They're clean. Let's give them a try."
AP Photo
October 24, 2011
"Libya: Sarko the Impulsive Meets Dorian Gray"
Op-Ed, The Huffington Post
By Charles G. Cogan, Associate, International Security Program
"And what credit does Nicolas Sarkozy, or Barack Obama, for that matter, gain from the sudden and felicitous demise of Muammar Gaddafi. Very little. Both are up for reelection in 2012, and the odds are not good, both in terms of Sarkozy's perceived un-presidential and rough manners, and in terms of Obama's miseries over the economy."
AP Photo
October 20, 2011
"To the Wall Street Protesters: Channel Your Enthusiasm"
Op-Ed, The Huffington Post
By Charles G. Cogan, Associate, International Security Program
"Why not get the demonstrators near Wall Street to surround Capitol Hill in Washington and put pressure on the House and the Senate to pass a bill taxing the wealthy at the same percentage that the average American has to pay?"
AP Photo
October 2, 2011
"A Glaring Omission in Obama's UN Speech"
Op-Ed, The Huffington Post
By Charles G. Cogan, Associate, International Security Program
"It is difficult to believe that someone as sensitive and finely-tuned as Obama would not have noticed this omission, unless one or more of his advisers persuaded him not to mention the Palestinian side of this issue. In the aftermath of the President's speech and the threatened U.S. veto of a Palestinian state in the United Nations Security Council, U.S. credibility in the Middle East is now at its nadir...."
