Charles G. Cogan
Associate, International Security Program
Contact:
Telephone: 617-864-3959
Email: chuck_cogan@harvard.edu
Website: http://www.drcharlesgcogan.net
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."
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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."
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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."
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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?"
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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...."
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September 26, 2011
"The Real Theater of the Absurd"
Op-Ed, The Huffington Post
By Charles G. Cogan, Associate, International Security Program
"The reason these direct negotiations have been at a dead end is that the present Israeli government does not want a viable, independent Palestinian state alongside it. Under duress, and on one occasion only, Prime Minister Netanyahu pronounced himself in favor of a two-state solution. But it seems clear that he really doesn't want to see a viable Palestinian state. Nor do his right-wing allies in the Yisrael Beiteinu Party, whose leader is the Israeli foreign minister, Avigdor Lieberman."
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September 15, 2011
"The Wars of Afghanistan"
Magazine or Newspaper Article, Foreign Policy
By Charles G. Cogan, Associate, International Security Program
"Ambassador Tomsen has poured his energy, his taste for research, and his own recollections into an impressive brick of 849 pages, including footnotes and appendices. Anyone who wants to get up to speed on Afghanistan can profit from reading this book. It is particularly useful in presenting documentation from the Soviet side of the conflict (Tomsen was a former deputy chief of mission in Moscow and also in Beijing). The documents show that the Soviets were as unsuccessful in knocking fractious Afghan heads together as the United States has been over the last decade. The pleas of both superpowers for party unity among their proxies fell (or have fallen) on deaf ears."
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September 14, 2011
"Be Careful What You Wish For"
Op-Ed, The Huffington Post
By Charles G. Cogan, Associate, International Security Program
"These same Washington ruling circles have a poor record on anticipating events in the Middle East. It is clear to the entire Arab world that a critical sub-text of the Arab Spring is the long bottled-up resentment against Israel's 44-year-old occupation of lands it captured from the Palestinians in 1967. The unprecedented attack on the Israeli Embassy in Cairo on September 9 is more likely a sign of things to come."
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September 8, 2011
"The Algerian Connection"
Op-Ed, The Huffington Post
By Charles G. Cogan, Associate, International Security Program
"Algeria and the Gaddafi regime have had a common enemy: al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM), made up largely of former members of the Algerian terrorist movement, the Islamic Armed Group (GIA). The Algerian Government suppressed this group, which rose up following the Government's cancellation in 1992 of an election that would have led to the victory of the Islamist political party, the Islamic Salvation Front (FIS). The 10-year war that followed ended in a defeat of the GIA and at an appalling cost of lives on both sides. The GIA then became the Salafist Group for Preaching and Combat and later officially joined al Qaeda. AQIM has retreated to the Sahel area south of the Saharan desert...."
AP Photo
August 25, 2011
"The Return of the West"
Op-Ed, The Huffington Post
By Charles G. Cogan, Associate, International Security Program
"But there are gainsayers, who declare that yet another American military intervention in the Arab world is nothing but counterproductive. Indeed, some Arab commentators see the intervention in Libya as a new manifestation of a colonialism returning to the Arab world, and this is certainly there as an undercurrent in Arab public opinion. But we should never lose sight of the fact that it was this ubuesque Colonel Gaddafi who brought us PAN AM 103 over Lockerbie (1988) and UTA 772 over Niger (1989)."
