Foreign Policy Blogs

Euro-Atlantic Security

Great Decision 2012 – Assessing Cyberthreats in the Digital Age

Great Decision 2012 – Assessing Cyberthreats in the Digital Age

“Is the US at risk?” is the extremely relevant question raised by this outstanding discussion, part of the 2012 Great Decision eight mini-episodes, on the threat of cybersecurity. Cyberthreats have been at the heart of a new body of literature in International Relations and Security Studies, an inspiration for movie makers, an obsession for policy-makers, […]

read more

2012 State of the Union – America is Back, Europe is Gone

2012 State of the Union – America is Back, Europe is Gone

In Obama’s third State of the Union, foreign policy and defense achievements were only used as opening and closing components to his one hour long speech. This was not a surprise considering the current domestic and economic situation of the U.S., as well as President Obama’s successes in foreign affairs. Obama opened his speech by […]

read more

What Does a “Leaner” US Defense Mean for Europe?

What Does a “Leaner” US Defense Mean for Europe?

In an era of austerity, US defense is facing cutbacks, or to stick with the administration’s euphemism, the US military will become “leaner”. This much is clear following the release of the latest US defense review, Sustaining US Global Leadership: Priorities for 21st Century Defense. Most would agree that defense spending cuts are only natural, […]

read more

A Passage to Kabul

A Passage to Kabul

A recent reading of E. M. Forster’s novel, A Passage to India, prompted me to reflect on the West’s drawn out engagement in Afghanistan. The centerpiece of this prescient narrative is an incident in an ancient cave in Northwestern India between an Indian doctor and an English woman during the heyday of the British Raj. […]

read more

The Return of Mars: Why Does Looking at the GOP Debate on Foreign Policy Matter for Europeans?

The Return of Mars: Why Does Looking at the GOP Debate on Foreign Policy Matter for Europeans?

On November 22, 2011, CNN hosted a debate between the Republican candidates for the presidential nomination, this time dedicated to the theme of national security. The debate was sponsored by the Heritage Foundation and the American Enterprise Institute (AEI), two of the most conservative think tanks in the US, with considerable influence in shaping policies […]

read more

A Post-Libya NATO Assessment

A Post-Libya NATO Assessment

Guest Post: Dominik P. Jankowski The last year has revealed to the Europeans three important truths about the American defense posture. First, spending on the military in the United States has reached such heights—almost $700 billion—that it has become too large for deficit-cutters to ignore. Therefore, reductions in defense expenditures are inevitable. The only remaining […]

read more

Smart, Soft, Silent Powers: The UNESCO Problem of the Euro-Atlantic Community

Smart, Soft, Silent Powers: The UNESCO Problem of the Euro-Atlantic Community

UNESCO recently admitted Palestine as a full time member of the UN family. This decision has had considerable consequences: division among the EU powerhouses, U.S. suspension of its financial support to UNESCO, and the end of the Euro-Atlantic community unity as we know it. The 194 members of the UN Education, Science, and Cultural Organization […]

read more

‘Smart Defense’ or the Rise of Atlantilateralism

‘Smart Defense’ or the Rise of Atlantilateralism

On September 30th, Mr. Rasmussen, NATO Secretary General, gave a talk underlining the themes that will be addressed in the Chicago Summit in May 2012. Mr. Rasmussen is facing a considerable challenge on top of the Afghan mission, namely the financial crisis. The crisis is lasting longer than initially thought and forcing members of the […]

read more

Afghanistalgia

Afghanistalgia

Nostalgia is everywhere these days, a far cry from the good old days when we used to live for the future. Woody Allen. South Africa politicians. Even Mad Men are in on the act. But nostalgia for the Soviet war in Afghanistan? “Car bombs and suicide attacks, which have become a permanent threat in today’s […]

read more

‘The Path of Glory Leads but to the Grave’: The Most Important Battle Ever Fought in the History of Transatlantic Relations

‘The Path of Glory Leads but to the Grave’: The Most Important Battle Ever Fought in the History of Transatlantic Relations

On a moonless night in the morning hours of September 13, 1759, a procession of boats steered silently down the St. Lawrence River. The boats contained the small British expeditionary force under the command of 32-year-old, red-haired Major-General James Wolfe, who in a low voice repeated line after line of Thomas Gray’s ‘Elegy in Country […]

read more

Strategic Innovation And Contemporary Warfare: Where Have All The Mansteins Gone?

Strategic Innovation And Contemporary Warfare: Where Have All The Mansteins Gone?

Wired recently published this article entitled ” How Special Ops Copied al-Qaida to Kill it”. It outlines the work of General Stanley McChrystal and his efforts to defeat a Al Quaida, based on the realization that, “to defeat a networked enemy we had to become a network ourselves.”  The general set up a highly efficient […]

read more

‘The Truth’ and 9/11

‘The Truth’ and 9/11

As C.S. Lewis states in The Abolition of Man, once you step outside of the Tao, by which he means the world of objective value, you and your civilization fall ultimately down a slippery slope into the abyss of value indeterminacy and the rule of a Nietzschean will to power. According to Lewis, “A dogmatic […]

read more

9/11 and Attitudes Towards Muslims in the United States

9/11 and Attitudes Towards Muslims in the United States

The Voice of Russia published this piece today on U.S. perceptions of Muslims.  The article cites a recent study conducted by the Brooking Institution and The Public Religion Research Institute, which states that 30% of Americans believe that Muslims in the United States would like to establish Sharia law. The article clumsily  states that: According […]

read more

The Russian Dream: Sadder, but Truer, than the American One

The Russian Dream: Sadder, but Truer, than the American One

They may no longer be on the opposites side of the Cold War, but Russians and Americans still see the world in opposite ways. While even most blue collar Americans believe they are middle class, 45% of Russians consider themselves to be poor, according to Svetlana Kononova’s piece in Russia Profile, which relies on new […]

read more

Russia Begs Americans to Re-elect Obama

Russia Begs Americans to Re-elect Obama

“Today in the Senate, I met with Senators Jon Kyl and Mark Kirk”, announced Russia’s ambassador to Nato Dmitry Rogozin. “I…was transported in a time machine back several decades, and in front of me sat two monsters of the Cold War, who looked at me not through pupils, but targeting sights.” “The meeting is very […]

read more