ASIA
AP Photo
June 30, 2009
"Peace with Honor?"
Op-Ed, Foreign Policy
By Ivan Arreguin-Toft, Former Research Fellow, International Security Program, 2002-2009
"'Peace with honor.' This was the Nixon administration's euphemism for disengagement from South Vietnam, a place where corruption and incompetence had long doomed any hope of victory; even a victory as modest as the simple negative objective of preserving the political independence of tiny South Vietnam."
AP Photo
June 25, 2009
"Joseph Nye's Testimony from Hearings on 'Japan's Changing Role'"
Testimony
By Joseph S. Nye, Harvard University Distinguished Service Professor
Joseph S. Nye testified before the House Committee on Foreign Affairs' Subcommittee on Asia, the Pacific and the Global Environment on "Japan's Changing Role" on June 25, 2009.
June 2009
Funding for U.S. Efforts to Improve Controls Over Nuclear Weapons, Materials, and Expertise Overseas: A 2009 Update
Report
By Andrew Newman, Research Associate, Project on Managing the Atom and Matthew Bunn, Associate Professor of Public Policy; Co-Principal Investigator, Project on Managing the Atom; Co-Principal Investigator, Energy Research, Development, Demonstration, and Deployment (ERD3) Policy Project
Andrew Newman and Matthew Bunn assess the Obama administration's fiscal year 2010 budget request for programs to improve controls over nuclear weapons, materials, and expertise worldwide. Funding for U.S. Efforts to Improve Controls Over Nuclear Weapons, Materials, and Expertise Overseas: A 2009 Update concludes that the request is a "steady as you go" budget and recommends that Congress and the administration work together to establish a $500 million contingency fund that could be used flexibly on a range of nuclear security programs.
AP Photo
June 20, 2009
"The Return of Economic Nationalism"
Op-Ed, The Providence Journal
By Eric Kaufmann, Former Research Fellow, Initiative on Religion in International Affairs/International Security Program
"...[E]conomic nationalists sacrifice material consumption for the national pride that comes with being a creditor nation that owns foreign assets. On this logic, the U.S. trade imbalance cannot be rectified by the marketplace alone....This sticks in the throat of those who prize national self-sufficiency and the moral fiber that comes from saving more than one spends....Traces of economic nationalism survive in America. It is no accident that the most successful U.S. vehicles are trucks, powerful symbols of rural and working-class masculine patriotism. That GM and Chrysler are being bailed out is partly because their products have been immortalized in song and film as national icons."
AP Photo
June 19, 2009
"Don't Play Nuclear Chicken with a Desperate Pariah"
Magazine or Newspaper Article, Foreign Policy
By Hui Zhang, Research Associate, Project on Managing the Atom
"This game of escalation will go on and on until North Korea gets what it desires most from Washington: a reliable security assurance. Of course, no one likes to yield to dictators. But ultimately, playing chicken with a desperate and nuclear-armed North Korea is too risky to endeavor. The more isolated the North Koreans become, the more likely they will be to use the nuclear card in threatening two hostages: South Korea and Japan. Everyone loses that game"
AP Photo
June 18, 2009
"Assessing North Korea's Uranium Enrichment Capabilities"
Magazine or Newspaper Article, Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists
By Hui Zhang, Research Associate, Project on Managing the Atom
In mid-June 2009, Pyongyang threatened to begin enriching uranium in an effort to expand its nuclear weapons program. While much is known about North Korea's plutonium production program, far less is understood about what enrichment capabilities Pyongyang currently possesses. Dr. Hui Zhang argues that the evidence seems to indicate that North Korea currently has a very limited capacity for enrichment.
AP Photo
June 18, 2009
"Foreign Students are an Opportunity, Not a Threat"
Op-Ed, politics.co.uk
By Azeem Ibrahim, Research Fellow, International Security Program
"...[W]e should resist the temptation to react to the fear of terrorism by turning inwards, reducing ties to foreign countries, and denying more students entry. Reducing the number of foreign student Visas would be counterproductive. The US tried it after September 11th, but has now reversed its approach, realising the harm it is doing. To do the same would be to be cowed into becoming a more closed society. We must remain open, outward-looking and vibrant. It is precisely many of these foreign students who will help their countries to reduce terrorism over the long run."
AP Photo
June 2009
"Improving Russia-U.S. Relations: The Next Steps"
Policy Memo
By Thomas M. Nichols, Research Fellow, International Security Program/Project on Managing the Atom
There is no endemic reason for Russian-U.S. relations to be as tense as they have become over the past several years. Th is situation is largely due, on one side, to mishandling of Russian affairs by both the Clinton and Bush administrations, and on the other by the obvious manipulation of anti-Americanism for domestic gain by the Vladimir Putin and Dmitry Medvedev administrations in Russia. Unfortunately, this means that only unilateral U.S. action can undermine the cynical policies of the Russian leadership and restore dynamism to the Russian-U.S. relationship.
AP Photo
April 2009
"Enhancing Full-Spectrum Flexibility: Striking the Balance to Maximize Force Effectiveness in Conventional and Counterinsurgency Operations"
Paper
By William D. Anderson, Jr., Former Research Fellow, International Security Program, 2008-2009
With the United States currently engaged in difficult and taxing counterinsurgency operations in Afghanistan and Iraq, renewed emphasis has been focused upon the country's capabilities and priorities vis-à-vis this type of warfare. Within the military, the Air Force has been especially and increasingly criticized for being too enamored with a Cold-War era conventionally minded force structure and for not shifting aggressively to meet the threats of COIN-style conflicts that many predict will be pervasive throughout the Global War on Terror.
This paper addresses the conceptual capabilities and limitations of air power in COIN in order to illuminate how the Air Force can leverage the distinct asymmetric advantage that air power presents across the spectrum of conflict. This asymmetry is founded upon a clear U.S. superiority in air power capabilities combined with the unique flexibility inherent in air power. An understanding of air power's efficacy in COIN, measured against conventional requirements and capabilities, will inform decisions on appropriate force structure and employment.
AP Photo
June 17, 2009
"The Fight for Pakistan's Soul"
Op-Ed, The Kosovo Times
By Hassan Abbas, Research Fellow, Project on Managing the Atom/International Security Program
"...[A] lot depends on the state's capacity to hold the Swat area and re-establish civilian institutions there. And, even if the state succeeds, re-asserting control over Swat will only be the first step. The Taliban is spread throughout the NWFP and the Federally Administered Tribal Areas. "Punjabi Taliban" militants from the fighting in Kashmir against India continue to shuttle between the Punjab heartland and the Northwest Territories, posing another serious challenge to government authority."
