IRAQ
AP Photo
March 4, 2009
"For Iraq Stability, Look to Iran and Syria"
Op-Ed, PostGlobal, A Conversation on Global Issues with David Ignatius and Fareed Zakaria
By Kayhan Barzegar, Research Fellow, Project on Managing the Atom/International Security Program
"If ethnic strife should return to Iraq in the post-withdrawal era, the United States must encourage cooperation between regional actors, especially Syria and Iran. By returning to Iraq, America will only further complicate the crisis in an already complex region. Instead, addressing the security concerns of regional actors and focusing on common interests that exist between them and America, and subsequently getting these regional actors' cooperation, would be a less costly way to avoid the return of civil war."
February 24, 2009
"The Move Toward Preventive Military Action is an International Phenomenon"
Magazine or Newspaper Article, Rorotoko
By Thomas M. Nichols, Research Fellow, International Security Program/Project on Managing the Atom
"...[P]reventive military action is a lot bigger than George Bush, 9/11, the UN, or anything else. The problem is not as new as you might think; the erosion of national sovereignty and the growing temptations of preventive war have been in the works since at least the late 1980s, and in countries all around the world."
AP Photo
February 21, 2009
"Only a Strong Iran Will Talk"
Op-Ed
By Kayhan Barzegar, Research Fellow, Project on Managing the Atom/International Security Program
"...Iran's strategic value, along with the legitimacy of its role among the friendly political factions and states in the region, is based on playing an independent role and avoiding direct engagement with the U.S. on the regional issues. Instead, Iran should resolve its strategic differences with the U.S. through strength in the region. This policy will give Iran more importance, and subsequently better serve the interests of its friends in the region. Iran's effective role in post-invasion Iraq and post-2006 Lebanon are two examples in this regard."
AP Photo
January 2009
"Shifting Trends in Suicide Attacks"
Journal Article, CTC Sentinel, issue 1, volume 2
By Assaf Moghadam, Associate, International Security Program/Initiative on Religion in International Affairs
"By far, the most dramatic trend related to the location of suicide attacks is the gradual shift of incidents from Iraq to Afghanistan and Pakistan. Between July 2007 and June 2008, the last one-year period for which data on suicide attacks are available, 58.2% of suicide attacks struck Iraq, and 36.6% struck Afghanistan and Pakistan. This compares to a much wider gap between suicide attacks in Iraq and Afghanistan/Pakistan in the preceding year (July 2006 to June 2007), when 69.3% of attacks took place in Iraq, and 25.1% in Afghanistan and Pakistan...."
AP Photo
January 29, 2009
"The Geopolitical Factor in Iran's Foreign Policy"
Journal Article, Viewpoints, The Iranian Revolution at 30 Special Edition
By Kayhan Barzegar, Research Fellow, Project on Managing the Atom/International Security Program
"Revolutions either expand to export their ideologies or preserve themselves from the outside world. The 1979 Islamic revolution of Iran is no exception. A careful reading of Iran's actions in the region shows how and why Iran has shifted its policies to meet the latter aim. Since the revolution, Iran's leaders have faced the challenge of balancing their ideological (idealism) and geopolitical (pragmatism) approaches to foreign policy. Gradually, the Iranian leadership has come to focus on the geopolitical factor in the conduct of foreign policy; today, ideology one factor among many other sources of Iran's power, and serves the aim of preserving Iran's national security and interests...."
January 21, 2009
Memo to the New President: Managing the Iraq War
Media Feature
By Meghan O'Sullivan, Jeane Kirkpatrick Professor of International Affairs, Harvard Kennedy School
In this exclusive web video, Meghan L. O'Sullivan, lecturer in public policy at Harvard Kennedy School's Belfer Center and former Special Assistant to the President and Deputy National Security Advisor for Iraq and Afghanistan, discusses the challenges in Iraq facing the Obama administration.
AP Photo
Winter 2008
"Iran's Foreign Policy in Post-invasion Iraq"
Journal Article, Middle East Policy, issue 4, volume XV
By Kayhan Barzegar, Research Fellow, Project on Managing the Atom/International Security Program
"Many at the grassroots level of Iranian society want good, stable relations between Iran and Iraq because of their cultural-religious priorities, which include having the freedom to visit the sacred cities of Karbala and Najaf. This strong interest exists on the Iraqi side, too. In summer 2006, for instance, some 3,000 visas were issued daily by Iranian consulates in Baghdad, Basra and Najaf for Iraqi pilgrims to visit Mashhad and Qom and other sacred places inside Iran. Since the opening of borders following the removal of the Baathist regime, the Iranian government has been under pressure to preserve an adequate amount of cooperation with Iraqi authorities to secure the routes of pilgrims to the Shia areas and to provide public services. Simultaneously, the families of those who lost their lives in the Iran-Iraq War would like the government to pursue a policy towards Iraq that ensures that the victims were not killed in vain. It is worth noting that the painful memory of the war pervades Iranian society, thus affecting policy options. Trade with Iraq is also a priority. Iranian merchants and businessmen consider certain parts of Iraq, especially predominantly Shia areas such as Basra, to be ideal markets for Iranian exports. Some estimates consider the range of economic activities about $5 billion annually."
AP Photo
January 7, 2009
"Gaza's Impact on the Arab World"
Op-Ed, Agence Global
By Rami Khouri, Senior Fellow, The Dubai Initiative
"As governments in existing Arab states effectively ignore what is happening in Gaza -- to judge by their political immobility -- we will continue to witness the weakening impact, control and even the legitimacy of many of those regimes. We will also continue to see the rise of non-state actors who become so strong and credible that they should be called parallel states."
AP Photo
December 30, 2008
"A Marginalized Region"
Op-Ed, Agence Global
By Rami Khouri, Senior Fellow, The Dubai Initiative
A year-end analysis of the global status of the Arab world -- its problems and trends.
AP Photo
December 29, 2008
"Bush's 'Orphans' Haunt the World"
Op-Ed, Toronto Star
By Thomas M. Nichols, Research Fellow, International Security Program/Project on Managing the Atom
"Presidents are often remembered for the things they did, but like many administrations before his own, a significant part of George W. Bush's legacy might well lie with the things he failed to do. The Bush administration essentially "orphaned" several foreign policy issues after 2000 (relations with Mexico and Canada, and the environment, among others) but two are particularly important: tensions with Russia and the future of nuclear arms control."
