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Herbert Stefan Maier: The unilateral approach to nonproliferation is commonly tied to President George W. Bush, but in fact it was already visible in the early 1990s. The Bush administration was more a catalyst than an initiator of this change in US strategy.
In
the course of the American-led war on Iraq in 2003 and the intensification of
the Iranian nuclear crisis, weapons of mass destruction have become a major
issue in international affairs. The terrorist attacks of September 11th 2001 in Washington, D.C., and New York have commonly been considered triggers
for the significant change visible in US non-proliferation policy. Contrary to
this widespread view, Herbert Maier argues that ...More
Andreas Umland: A justification for Russia’s recent invasion of Georgia was that it had to protect its citizens in South Ossetia. There is, however, a subtle difference between a state’s protection of its citizens living abroad, and its defense of citizens creating their own state within another country
One of the main justifications for
Russia's recent invasion of Georgia was that it had to protect its citizens
from what Moscow's leaders chose to call "genocide" by the Georgian army in
South Ossetia. The reasons behind Russia's embrace of this particular argument
seems to be that the protection of one's own citizens has been a common
rationalization for military action abroad by many countries, ...More
Ulf Gartzke: Mikhail Saakashvili’s reckless military gamble has unfortunately paid off and put him on a fast track to NATO membership. This stunning turnaround demonstrates the problems with the behavior of the Georgian leadership as well as with the West’s response to their actions.
Last Friday's Financial Times interview with Batu Kutelia, Georgia's first deputy defense minister, provides disturbing
new insights into what motivated the ill-fated decision by Tbilisi to launch a
military attack on Russia's South Ossetian proxies in early August. Titled "Tbilisi
admits it miscalculated Russian reaction", the piece shockingly illustrates the
incompetence - some would say recklessness - displayed by Georgia's ...More
Marek Swierczynski: The Georgian war diverted the world’s attention from Afghanistan. But events on the ground, implications of the conflict in the Caucasus and political turmoil in neighboring Pakistan make imminent the perspective of NATO snared in a war that cannot be won. A new strategy is urgently needed.
While we've all been busy watching the Georgian-Russian war developing, the situation in Afghanistan has slipped dangerously into more chaos and bloodshed. NATO's secretary general warned late July that the country is in a critical state, but his words were soon forgotten amid the frenzy of diplomatic efforts to end the Caucasus war. Russia's relations with the West chilled abruptly and a crucial ally in the Afghan struggle was almost lost, or at least ...More
Eva Diez: The Spanish government asserts its soldiers are only involved in humanitarian operations. But in Afghanistan their main mission is to enable the US to realize its own strategic plans. Now is the right time for Spain to define and press for its own interests.
The Spanish
government has spent a great amount of money in Afghanistan and a large number
of Spanish soldiers have died in that country from the hands of the Taliban. The
Spanish government recalled troops from Iraq but on the other side increased
the number of soldiers in Afghanistan for "reconstruction and humanitarian"
operations, a way to keep balance in diplomatic relations with the US. But
these soldiers are only ...More
Leah Fenwick: The EU is competing with other countries for Turkey as an energy transit hub. Giving Turkey membership in the EU would not only enhance the economic and political stability of the country, but would also ensure a much needed energy infrastructure for the EU.
Turkey has alternately been a battleground or a bridge between the East and the West. Where in previous centuries the object was controlling shipping lanes or cultural domination, perhaps the issue of most salience today is the flow of energy resources from the Middle East and Central Asia - and whether those resources will go to the East or the West. If the EU is to feed its high-demand developed economies, and especially those of its voracious new ...More
Matthew Derek Crosston: The West needs some serious balance in the way it analyzes and discusses the Georgian conflict. Academics, diplomats, and journalists have come forward with a united response to Ossetia: Russia is showing ‘imperialist ambitions’ and ‘a disproportionate reaction.’ This is ridiculous.
Richard Holbrooke and Ronald Asmus wrote a piece shifting all responsibility onto Russia. Make no mistake: they are not alone. But the original spur involved Georgian action taken in the South Ossetian capital of Tskhinvali. That resulted in numerous dead, including Russian peacekeepers. Holbrooke and Asmus inexplicably paste this over, saying ‘exactly what happened in South Ossetia last week is unclear.' This is insincere: Georgia ...More
Christine Otsver: A joint US-EU strategy of external democracy promotion is possible but it has to be clearly segregated in order to be effective.
Presently, spending on democracy promotion is
quite considerable. Roughly $2 billion is spent each year on democracy-related
aid projects, half of which comes from public and private sources in the US and
another half from largely public sources in Europe.[1]
Given that the US approach toward democracy
promotion is ‘pro-active' and mostly involves the use of political pressure,
sanctions, military ...More
From the Editorial Team: Former German foreign minister Fischer criticizes the attitude of German politicians who refuse to send troops to the south of Afghanistan. He accuses Germany of conducting a security policy of “free riding.” What do you think? Is he right?
According to Joschka Fischer:
Obama's speech in Berlin
conveyed a plain message to the Europeans, which can be summarized as follows: "with me as President we will decide
and fight together, and if necessary we will die together. A division of
labor in which Americans fight and Euopeans are responsible for the rebuilding
will no longer work out."
Free riding must end:
"I cannot tell you how much this mentality annoys me. This form ...More
Volodymyr Horbach: Consequences of the recent conflict in Georgia will be as serious and global as those after the 9/11 terrorist attacks. Ukraine’s position in this conflict is especially uncomfortable as it needs to preserve good neighborly relations with both Georgia and Russia. Kiev should not, therefore, take sides but take part in the peacekeeping mission.
What happened in Georgia and what is going on there at the moment will
have irreversible consequences for the entire system of international
relations. These consequences will be as global as those after terrorist attacks
on US on 11th September 2001. The moment Russia attacked Georgia things went too
far to be taken back and it is impossible to restore the previous status quo in
the global politics. Russian invasion in Transcaucasia may end ...More
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