Anatol Lieven: All Publications, Events and Press

How the West Can Exit the Afghan Quagmire

Erin Drankoski — Mon, 05 Oct 2009 09:26:00 -0400

The political half of America's strategy in Afghanistan is now in ruins. This is not just due to the debacle of the Afghan presidential elections. Eight years after US troops arrived in the country, as General Stanley McChrystal conceded in his report to President Barack Obama, there is a "crisis of confidence" among the Afghan people in their government.

Russia Should Learn to Take Yes for an Answer

Erin Drankoski — Fri, 25 Sep 2009 05:57:00 -0400

How should Russia respond to President Obama's indefinite suspension of US missile defences in Central Europe? Most obviously, by displaying flexibility concerning negotiations on nuclear weapons cuts. Here is an opportunity for both sides to create the impression of successful co-operation while in fact sacrificing very little, since both have far more weapons than they need for an effective deterrence against any conceivable threat.

A Stable Kremlin

Erin Drankoski — Fri, 18 Sep 2009 14:21:00 -0400

The discussion section of the Valdai Club took place this year in Yakutia (or in the indigenous language, Sakha) in eastern Siberia, mainly in cruise ships on the river Lena. This was fascinating, but I must confess that there were moments when I found myself repeating Dr. Samuel Johnson's remark about the Giant's Causeway: "Worth seeing, yes; but not worth going to see." Going to see Yakutia involves a six-hour flight and a six-hour time difference from Moscow, with the result that I fell fast asleep during several of the sessions.

Iran Ready to Discuss Its Nukes? | Russia Today

Cecille Isidro — Mon, 14 Sep 2009 14:15:00 -0400

It would lead to Iranian support of the Taliban and Afghanistan and lead to the very rapid loss of that war by the West,” Anatol Lieven of King's College in ... and more »

A Cool-Headed Look at 1939

Erin Drankoski — Fri, 04 Sep 2009 08:43:00 -0400

In the Polish-Russian dispute over what happened in 1939, rival myth-making is being driven by domestic political calculations on both sides. Polish right-wing politicians including the present president have used the memory of 1939 and the alleged continuity of Soviet and Russian policy to whip up nationalist feelings and bolster their support. In Russia, the Putin-Medvedev administration also has mobilized Russian nationalism and has avoided condemnation of many Soviet crimes, since it itself is largely based on institutions

A Meaningless Election

Erin Drankoski — Thu, 03 Sep 2009 06:56:00 -0400

Let me say at the beginning that I do not think that the existing mess in Afghanistan at present is the fault of the Obama administration. The president inherited it from George Bush, and simply did not have time between taking power in January and the Afghan elections of this month to carry out a radical change of course. If, however, the administration fails to change course after the (predictable) debacle that these elections have become, then the responsibility for subsequent disasters will indeed rest with President Obama and his team.

The Soviet Abroad

Erin Drankoski — Wed, 26 Aug 2009 01:40:00 -0400

You Can't Win Just by Killing Taliban Leaders

Erin Drankoski — Sat, 08 Aug 2009 13:03:00 -0400

Few tears will be shed for Baitullah Mehsud,except among the Taleban militants. He took responsibility for the slaughter of hundreds of ordinary Pakistanis, quite apart from attacks on the army and police.

But the Pakistani public will take some convincing that he really is dead. Pakistanis tend to treat most US statements as automatically false, and are sceptical about the claims of their own Government. Many, too, believe in feverish conspiracy theories that attribute terrorism, not to the Taleban, but to agents of India, or even the US.

Troop Deaths in Afghanistan Rattle Britain | Christian Science Monitor

Cecille Isidro — Mon, 13 Jul 2009 09:08:00 -0400

... but the feeling that there is no clear political goal," says Anatol Lieven, a professor in the war studies department of London's King's College. ...

Russia-US Ties: Roller-Coaster Ride through Decades | Russia Today

Cecille Isidro — Mon, 06 Jul 2009 03:19:00 -0400

“One way of looking at the end of the Cold War is while Russia interpreted it as either a deal or, at best, as a surrender on terms,” said Anatol Lieven, ...

Obama's Russia Trip | Reason Online

Cecille Isidro — Fri, 03 Jul 2009 11:02:00 -0400

To realist pundits such as New America Foundation fellow and National Interest columnist Anatol Lieven, the democracy promoters are dangerously naïve, ...

Versailles Treaty 90 Years On: International Law Still Ignored | Russia Today

Cecille Isidro — Sun, 28 Jun 2009 03:35:00 -0400

“Russians interpreted it as either a deal or at best surrender under terms,” said Anatol Lieven.

“Americans and many Europeans as well saw it like 1945, as unconditional surrender on the part of Russia, and tried to make a kind of Versailles-style peace at Russia’s expense which, of course, Russia, like Germany after 1919, was simply unprepared to live under.”

Russia's Limousine Liberals

Cecille Isidro — Wed, 10 Jun 2009 09:44:00 -0400

Pakistan's Passing Grade

Cecille Isidro — Mon, 11 May 2009 12:25:00 -0400

On the late afternoon of Wednesday April 29, I went to interview a local leader of the Jamaat-e-Islami party in Karachi, and spent a couple of hours at their headquarters. From there, I went on to Zeinab market to look for presents for my family, and spent another couple of hours haggling over textiles and looking for a new suitcase. Then back to my hotel, where I had a shower and a bite to eat, called my wife, and contemplated going out for a drink with some friends (yes, Karachi is officially dry, but you wouldn’t always know it).

For America, the Problem is Pakistan

Cecille Isidro — Tue, 07 Apr 2009 12:55:00 -0400

We will need to remind ourselves often in the next few years that the situation in Afghanistan and Pakistan is not the Obama administration's fault. It inherited from George W. Bush a crisis so deep and so horribly complex that dealing with it would tax the powers of St Peter, let alone a US government with many other things on its mind and on its grossly overstrained budget. Improving the situation is the best that we can hope for. Finding a "solution" to the Afghan war and its repercussions in Pakistan is not even a possibility.

Obama Faces Reluctance From NATO Allies On More Troops For Afghanistan | Radio Free Europe

Cecille Isidro — Fri, 03 Apr 2009 09:00:00 -0400

Anatol Lieven, a professor at Kings College in London who specializes in international relations, says Obama had been downplaying his expectations ahead of the NATO summit because he was warned in advance by the Europeans that not much would be ...

US-RUSSIA: Kinder, Gentler Tone, Same Policy Tradeoffs | Inter Press Service

Cecille Isidro — Sat, 21 Feb 2009 07:31:00 -0500

"Unfortunately...a truly multilateral foreign policy is alien to the Clinton/Albright school of diplomacy - from which Obama has drafted many of his top advisers," realist foreign policy analyst Anatol Lieven wrote in the Nation in January. ...

US ‘Reset Button’ with Russia Not So Easy | Khaleej Times

Cecille Isidro — Tue, 10 Feb 2009 01:26:00 -0500

Anatol Lieven, an analyst with King’s College London, doubted whether the Obama administration could really press on with NATO expansion. ...

America Must Fight for an Afghan Exit

Cecille Isidro — Sun, 01 Feb 2009 09:34:00 -0500

It is certain that as one of its first actions, President Barack Obama's administration will approve a military "surge" in Afghanistan come the spring. The question that needs to be decided is: a surge for what? On the answer will depend in large part the success or failure of the administration in the "war on terror" as a whole.

Envoys to Nowhere

Cecille Isidro — Tue, 27 Jan 2009 12:02:00 -0500

I hope with all my heart that most of what I am going to write in this article will prove mistaken. President Obama’s appointment of George Mitchell as special envoy for the Middle East peace process, and of Richard Holbrooke as special representative to Afghanistan and Pakistan (and de facto American broker for the Kashmir issue), are both in themselves very positive moves. The Bush administration’s neglect of these two conflicts was among its more disgraceful foreign-policy omissions. The appointment of such senior, respected and impressive