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1012. China's New Military Elite
- Author:
- Li Cheng and Scott W. Harold
- Publication Date:
- 12-2007
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- The Brookings Institution
- Abstract:
- Analyses of the 17th Congress of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) have largely focused on the policy and personnel changes taken at the leadership conference. 1 Much less has been said about the implications of the massive turnover among the military representatives who sit on the Party's 17th Central Committee (CC), including its powerful Central Military Commission (CMC). While generational turnover is leading to a new Chinese political leadership that is less technocratic and more broadly trained in economic and legal fields, the Chinese military elites on the Party's top bodies are becoming ever more functionally-specialized in their areas of military expertise. Meanwhile, various forms of patron-client ties and political networks have played crucial roles in the rapid rise of young and technocratic officers.
- Topic:
- International Relations, Defense Policy, and War
- Political Geography:
- Israel and East Asia
1013. Is The “Surge” Working? Some New Facts
- Author:
- Michael Greenstone
- Publication Date:
- 09-2007
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- The Brookings Institution
- Abstract:
- There is a paucity of facts about the effects of the recent military “Surge” on conditions in Iraq and whether it is paving the way for a stable Iraq. Selective, anecdotal and incomplete analyses abound. Policy makers and defense planners must decide which measures of success or failure are most important, but until now few, if any, systematic analyses were available on which to base those decisions. This paper applies modern statistical techniques to a new da ta file derived from more than a dozen of the most reliable and widely-cited sources to assess the Surge's impact on three key dimensions: the functioning of the Iraqi state (including civilian casualties); military casualties; and financial markets' assessment of Iraq's future. The new and unusually rigorous findings presented here should help inform current evaluations of the Surge and provide a basis for better decision making about future strategy.
- Topic:
- Foreign Policy and War
- Political Geography:
- Iraq and Middle East
1014. Iraq Trip Report
- Author:
- Michael O'Hanlon and Kenneth Pollack
- Publication Date:
- 08-2007
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- The Brookings Institution
- Abstract:
- From July 17-25 we travelled extensively in central, western and nor thern Iraq. The trip was sponsored by the Multi-National Force – Iraq (MNF-I) command and so afforded unparalleled access to U.S. and Iraqi military personnel. We spoke at length with the four principal American division commands in those sectors, as well as nearly half of the brigade commanders and their staffs, as well as several battalion and even company commanders. We also met with senior U.S. personnel from the Detainee Forces command, and from the training command known as MNSTCI, as well as a number of Iraqi police and army officers. Similarly, MNF-I saw to it that we were able to meet with key civilian personnel in a variety of PRTs/EPRTs, the U.S. Ambassador, the President's Special Envoy, the CIA station, the US AID mission, and the United Nations Assistance Mission in Iraq. Both through our own contacts and those of the military, we also were able to meet with a number of the senior most members of the current Iraqi government (including President Talabani, Vice President 'Abd al-Mahdi, Foreign Minister Zebari, Deputy Prime Minister Salih, and National Security Adviser ar-Rubaie).
- Topic:
- Conflict Resolution and War
- Political Geography:
- United States, Iraq, and Middle East
1015. Fighting on Two Fronts: Secular Parties in the Arab World
- Author:
- Amr Hamzawy and Marina S. Ottaway
- Publication Date:
- 05-2007
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- Carnegie Endowment for International Peace
- Abstract:
- Secular parties in the Arab world—a broad range of political organizations that vary in their political orientation from liberal positions to vaguely socialist programs—are facing a crisis. Caught between regimes that allow little legal space for free political activity on one side and popular Islamist movements that are clearly in the ascendancy throughout the Arab world on the other, they are struggling for influence and relevance, and in some cases even for survival.
- Topic:
- Politics, Religion, and War
- Political Geography:
- Arabia
1016. Escaping the Trap: Why the United States Must Leave Iraq
- Author:
- Ted Galen Carpenter
- Publication Date:
- 02-2007
- Content Type:
- Policy Brief
- Institution:
- The Cato Institute
- Abstract:
- The U.S. military occupation of Iraq has now lasted longer than U.S. involvement in World War II. Yet there is no end in sight to the mission. Staying in Iraq is a fatally flawed policy that has already cost more than 3,000 American lives and consumed more than $350 billion. The security situation in that country grows increasingly chaotic and bloody as evidence mounts that Iraq has descended into a sectarian civil war between Sunnis and Shiites. Approximately 120 Iraqis per day are perishing in political violence. That bloodshed is occurring in a country of barely 26 million people. A comparable rate of carnage in the United States would produce more than 1,400 fatalities per day.
- Topic:
- Security and War
- Political Geography:
- United States, Iraq, America, and Middle East
1017. Law in Times of War: the Case of Chechnya
- Author:
- Federico Sperotto
- Publication Date:
- 08-2007
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- Human Rights Human Welfare (University of Denver)
- Abstract:
- In October 1999 “the second Chechen war” broke out. In December the Russian federal army started an operation to take control of Grozny. During the confrontation between the Federal forces and the Chechen separatists, serious human rights violations occurred. Several cases concerning violations of fundamental rights, in and around the city, have been brought before the European Court of Human Rights against Russia. The lawsuits concerned in particular physical integrity issues. This study provides some insights on the jurisprudence of the European Court on Human Rights in order to ascertain the adequacy of the mechanism of protection provided by the European Convention of 1950 in situations of armed conflict.
- Topic:
- Human Rights, Human Welfare, and War
- Political Geography:
- Russia, Europe, Asia, and Chechnya
1018. Full Issue - Volume 1, Issue 1
- Publication Date:
- 12-2007
- Content Type:
- Journal Article
- Journal:
- CTC Sentinel
- Institution:
- The Combating Terrorism Center at West Point
- Abstract:
- THE COMBATING TERRORISM CENTER at the U.S. Military Academy at West Point is privileged to present the CTC Sentinel, a new monthly online journal devoted to understanding and confronting contemporary threats posed by terrorism, insurgency and other forms of political violence. The CTC Sentinel draws from the Center's network of scholars and practitioners dedicated to the study of terrorism and counter-terrorism to provide the most well-informed forum for the analysis of these most pressing security challenges facing the United States and its allies.
- Topic:
- Terrorism and War
- Political Geography:
- United States
1019. PolicyWatch #1286: The Petraeus-Crocker Report: An Assessment
- Author:
- Michael Eisenstadt
- Publication Date:
- 09-2007
- Content Type:
- Policy Brief
- Institution:
- The Washington Institute for Near East Policy
- Abstract:
- A series of congressional hearings and media interviews by Gen. David Petraeus and Ambassador Ryan Crocker this week offered insights into the U.S. strategy in Iraq, and several yardsticks by which future progress there may be evaluated.
- Topic:
- War
- Political Geography:
- United States, Iraq, and Middle East
1020. PolicyWatch #1283: Leaving Basra City: Britain's Withdrawal from Iraq
- Author:
- Simon Henderson
- Publication Date:
- 09-2007
- Content Type:
- Policy Brief
- Institution:
- The Washington Institute for Near East Policy
- Abstract:
- On September 3, 550 British troops evacuated one of Saddam Hussein's former palaces in Basra via the Shatt al-Arab waterway, retreating to Basra airport, the last British base in Iraq. Britain remains responsible for security in the city and for the major supply route from Kuwait, fifty miles to the south. But there is an increasing presumption that British forces will soon withdraw completely, and that U.S. forces will have to replace them.
- Topic:
- War
- Political Geography:
- Iraq, United Kingdom, Europe, Middle East, and Kuwait