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1781. PolicyWatch #1426: The Problems of Engaging with Iran's Supreme Leader

Author:
Mehdi Khalaji
Publication Date:
11-2008
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
The Washington Institute for Near East Policy
Abstract:
Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinezhad's congratulatory letter to U.S. president-elect Barack Obama was the first of its kind in the history of the Islamic Republic. In his letter, Ahmadinezhad expressed his hope for fundamental change in U.S. domestic and foreign policies. Although some observers speculate that the letter suggests a transformation in the mindset of Iran's supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, about normalizing relations between Iran and the United States, this is unlikely. Majlis speaker Ali Larijani expressed the widespread attitude of Iranian leaders on November 9, saying, "Whoever thinks that Obama will change the U.S. foreign policy is naive."
Topic:
Foreign Policy, Diplomacy, and Islam
Political Geography:
United States, Iran, and Middle East

1782. Transforming to Effects-Based Operations: Lessons from the United Kingdom Experience

Author:
Andrew M. Dorman
Publication Date:
01-2008
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
The Strategic Studies Institute of the U.S. Army War College
Abstract:
The author examines the extent to which the United Kingdom (UK) has transitioned to effects-based operations to ascertain: (1) Areas where the U.S. Army could draw lessons from UK policies; (2) Areas where the U.S. Army and the British Ministry of Defence could develop integrated or complementary approaches and doctrines towards transformation for future alliance/coalition operations; and (3) Implications for the U.S. Army for working with the UK. This monograph is subdivided into four parts. Section 1 is a review of the evolution of British defence policy since the end of the Cold War and evaluates the degree to which it has adopted an effects based approach. Section 2 examines the British operational experience since the end of the Cold War including an analysis of the lessons learned and its experiences of working with allies. Section 3 analyses the UK's capability development through its doctrine and acquisition strategies. Section 4 evaluates the implications of these findings for the U.S. Army and makes 17 main recommendations.
Topic:
International Relations and Foreign Policy
Political Geography:
United States and United Kingdom

1783. COIN of the Realm: U.S. Counterinsurgency Strategy

Author:
Steven Metz
Publication Date:
01-2008
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
The Strategic Studies Institute of the U.S. Army War College
Abstract:
The “Future Defense Dilemmas” seminar series is a new partnership between the 21st Century Defense Initiative at the Brookings Institution and the U.S. Army War College Strategic Studies Institute. Its goal is to bring together defense experts and policy leaders from academia, the military and defense community, other governmental organizations, and nongovernmental institutions for discussions on looming defense questions and dilemmas.
Topic:
Foreign Policy and Development
Political Geography:
United States

1784. The Evolution of U.S.-Turkish Relations in a Transatlantic Context

Author:
W. Andrew Terrill
Publication Date:
01-2008
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
The Strategic Studies Institute of the U.S. Army War College
Abstract:
The Strategic Studies Institute of the U.S. Army War College and the Atlantic Council of the United States conducted a colloquium entitled “The Evolution of U.S.-Turkish Relations in a Transatlantic Context” on March 25, 2007. Additional support for this conference was provided by the Washington Delegation of the European Commission and the Heinrich-Boell Foundation. The colloquium brought together serving and retired academics, diplomats, and military officers from the United States, Europe, and Turkey.
Topic:
International Relations and Foreign Policy
Political Geography:
United States and Turkey

1785. Turkey's Terror Problem Is Ours

Author:
Michael Rubin
Publication Date:
01-2008
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
American Enterprise Institute for Public Policy Research
Abstract:
The State Department is counseling Turkey to make political concessions to the Kurdistan Workers' Party, the terrorist organization that launched an attack in Turkey in October. Michael Rubin argues that this would be a mistake and urges the United States to stand by its long-time NATO ally in its fight against terrorism.
Topic:
Foreign Policy and Terrorism
Political Geography:
United States, Turkey, and Middle East

1786. The Ties That Bind

Author:
Alan Mendoza
Publication Date:
09-2008
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
The Journal of International Security Affairs
Institution:
Jewish Institute for National Security Affairs
Abstract:
On September 11, 2001, Matthias Küntzel had a revelation. A historian of German anti-Semitism, he had been uninterested in Islamic radicalism prior to the terrorist attacks on New York and Washington. In fact, as an author with intellectual roots on the political left, Küntzel had been wary of using terms such as “Islamism” and “jihad” for fear of potential racist connotations.
Topic:
Foreign Policy
Political Geography:
Washington

1787. Through the Looking Glass

Author:
Brendan Conway
Publication Date:
09-2008
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
The Journal of International Security Affairs
Institution:
Jewish Institute for National Security Affairs
Abstract:
“Realist.” Today, in the wake of the Iraq war, that foreign policy terminology is once again very much in vogue. Even the Bush administration, notorious for trending strongly toward the ideological, has gravitated toward the realist mind-set in foreign affairs in recent months. Thus Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice has taken pains to write, in the pages of Foreign Affairs, of “a uniquely American realism.” The White House, meanwhile, has opted for nuclear negotiations with Iran and North Korea, two of the three countries identified by President Bush, in his more idealistic days, as members of an “axis of evil, arming to threaten the peace of the world.”
Topic:
Foreign Policy and War
Political Geography:
America

1788. El rompecabezas de Afganistán: hacia la construcción de un Estado (The Afghanistan Puzzle: Towards the building of a State)

Author:
Josep Baqués Quesada
Publication Date:
10-2008
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
Athena Intelligence Journal
Institution:
Athena Intelligence
Abstract:
This article addresses the difficult Afghan situation, which is characterized by ethnic rivalries, the emergence of religious radicalisms and the presence of interests from other international actors. All this hinders the achievement of what should be the immediate goal: that Afghanistan becomes a State (which truly functions as such). In fact, lately the situation has deteriorated. This analysis poses a framework for action that assumes that complex conflicts require complex solutions. It is not valid to allude to individual military, economic, political or ideological tracks. The solution goes through integrating these and other aspects in a unique, polyhedral type of scenario.   En este artículo se aborda la difícil situación afgana, caracterizada por las rivalidades étnicas, por la aparición de radicalismos religiosos y por la presencia de intereses de otros actores internacionales. Todo ello dificulta el logro del que debería ser el primer objetivo: que Afganistán llegue a ser un Estado (que verdaderamente funcione como tal). De hecho, últimamente la situación se ha deteriorado. Este análisis plantea un marco para la acción que asume que los conflictos complejos requieren de soluciones complejas. No vale aludir a vías militares, económicas, políticas o ideológicas. La solución pasa por integrar esos y otros aspectos en un escenario único, de tipo poliédrico.
Topic:
International Relations and Foreign Policy
Political Geography:
Afghanistan and Philippines

1789. US Policy towards the Islamic World

Author:
Enayatollah Yazdani
Publication Date:
06-2008
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
Alternatives: Turkish Journal of International Relations
Institution:
Center for International Conflict Resolution at Yalova University
Abstract:
US relations with the Islamic world are a part of its international relations that cannot be overlooked. Here the main questions are how America has instituted its policy towards the Muslim world? How has the US global hegemony affected the Islamic World? How US policy towards the Islamic World may be influenced by the radical Islamic movements? And what is the influence of the war in Iraq on perceptions of US relations with the Islamic World? This paper aims to answer these questions.
Topic:
International Relations, Foreign Policy, and Islam
Political Geography:
United States, Iraq, America, and Middle East

1790. A Strong Diplomacy for a Strong Country

Author:
K. Kosachev
Publication Date:
04-2008
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
International Affairs: A Russian Journal of World Politics, Diplomacy and International Relations
Institution:
East View Information Services
Abstract:
OUR LINE IN INTERNATIONAL AFFAIRS is coming under strong pressure for several reasons at once. Number one reason is Russia's comeback to the world arena that Vladimir V. Putin declared in a most easy-to-understand way in Munich. Number two reason is that Russia, as seen by the West, is containing the creation of a new world order where international law will be subordinated to expedience (some countries can have nuclear programs, others not, etc.) and ideological criteria (countries acknowledged as democratic enjoy more extensive rights than the rest, including the right for violations of democracy itself), or, in effect, to the arbitrary division into "friends" and "foes." Russia clearly stands in the way, in the first place over Kosovo, but also Iran, Middle East, U.S. antimissile defenses in Europe, and much else.
Topic:
Foreign Policy and Diplomacy
Political Geography:
Russia, United States, Europe, Iran, Middle East, and Kosovo