Open Think Tank
You are atlantic-community.org. All registered members are invited to contribute to the Open Think Thank.
Publish and share your views on current issues relevant to the wider transatlantic community as Your Opinion, and post your best papers or studies in Your Research.
Your work will be immediately published for peer review and exposure within atlantic-community.org and beyond. Publish here and get noticed by prominent publications.
You can also recommend books and ask the Atlantic Community for any assistance with your studies or work, or provide help and advice to fellow members.
If you are not yet a member of atlantic-community.org, join now. Registration only takes a minute and enables you to network with more than 1000 peers. Contact the editorial team, if you need any assistance. We are here to help.
If you are registered and logged-in, then just click on the PUBLISH button to post your contribution on atlantic-community.org.
From the Editorial Team: In his nomination speech, the Democratic presidential candidate reiterates his commitment to direct diplomacy with Iran and his hawkish position on Pakistan. What do you make of Barack Obama’s security policy positions?
Video of Barack Obama's speech at the Democratic National Convention:
Accepting his party's nomination
for president, Barack Obama not only focused on domestic politics, but also
reiterated the "fundamental change" he would like to bring to US
foreign policy He promised to "restore
America's moral standing in the world" and to "end this war in Iraq
responsibly, and finish the fight against al Qaeda and the Taliban ...More
Interview with Hussain Haqqani: Pakistan’s ambassador to the United States reaffirms his country’s democracy and promises better cooperation with the United States and Afghanistan in an interview with Steve Clemons of the New America Foundation.
According to Ambassador Haqqani, Pakistan's leading political parties disagree occasionally, but they share the following consensuses: The Pakistani constitution needs to regain its supremacy and military rule should be replaced by democracy and the rule of law. This is also supported by the army’s announcement to "pull out of politics." Furthermore, the coalition wants to restore the independence of the judiciary.
Regarding the ...More
Leonie Holthaus: There is still a chance that diplomacy can contribute to resolving the Caucasus conflict. Given resurgent cold war vocabulary and the upcoming presidential elections in the US, it is up to the EU to function as a mediator between the conflicting parties.
The Russian-Georgian conflict currently dominates the political agenda and experts are making various policy proposals on how to resolve the conflict and prevent the Georgian population from further harm. Given the latest renewal of cold war vocabulary, the role of the EU has not received a lot of attention ever since the cease-fire agreement between Georgia and Russia was signed. But the EU has the capability to be the key mediator in the ...More
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
|
