NATO

Roots of the Conflict Between Georgia, South Ossetia and Russia

Articles — Mon, 11 Aug 2008 08:17:00 -0400

Many factors are involved in the present conflict but the central one is straightforward: the majority of the Ossetes living south of the main Caucasus range in Georgia wish to unite with the Ossetes living to the north, in an autonomous republic of the Russian Federation; and the Georgians, regarding South Ossetia as both a legal and an historic part of their national territory, refuse to accept this.

Twice in the past century, when the empire to the north weakened and Georgia declared its independence, the southern Ossetes revolted against Georgian rule. It happened in 1918-20, between the collapse of the Russian empire and the Soviet Union’s conquest… more

Bush Woos Europe

Ron Tang — Thu, 10 Apr 2008 09:10:00 -0400

The big news of President George W. Bush’s trip to Europe last week was not the multiple agendas that he juggled or the feathers he ruffled. It was the news he left behind. President Bush tried to set the domestic agenda for the week, with a pre-dawn press conference on his way to the airport last Monday. The sleepy First Couple stood side-by-side, as Bush told Congress they had “a lot of work” while he was gone. He even left a to-do list: pass Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, act on his Federal Housing Administration reform proposals, and agree to the… more

Balkan Unrest Remains a Recipe for Disaster

Ron Tang — Mon, 14 Jan 2008 00:00:00 -0500

In their dealings over Kosovo's independence, the European Union and Russia need to take their points of departure from reality and common responsibility for the stability of the European continent, not from legalism or self-righteousness. The Russians must recognise that, whether they and the Serbs like it or not, Kosovo will soon become independent and will be recognised as such by the US, the EU and many Muslim states. If this is not granted soon, the Kosovo Albanians will revolt. By vetoing United Nations recognition and giving moral support to Serbian intransigence, Russia can help keep Kosovo unstable… more

Parsing the Iran Challenge

Communications — Tue, 11 Dec 2007 10:30:00 -0500

A New America Event
12/11/2007 - 10:30am

Ruprecht Polenz, a senior CDU Member of the Bundestag, is one of the most powerful German voices on his country's foreign policy and national security policy issues. He has been focused on what is real, what is not, and what policy contours America and Europe should take towards Iran for some time. In addition, his Foreign Affairs Committee determines, with the government and the full Bundestag, whether or not German forces will be deployed, so he is keenly interested in NATO operations in Kosovo and Afghanistan and will speak to these topics in his remarks.

The Iraqization of Afghanistan

Articles — Tue, 31 Jul 2007 12:16:00 -0400

Last year suicide bombings quintupled, attacks on international forces tripled, and support for the Taliban grew. According to CNN terror analyst and Taliban expert Peter Bergen, here are the top ten entirely avoidable mistakes made by the Bush administration:

Letting Osama Escape Tora Bora: Because Donald Rumsfeld wanted a "light" footprint in Afghanistan, only 60 U.S. Special Forces were sent to smoke out bin Laden. During the 2004 reelection campaign, Bush implied that bin Laden wasn’t at Tora Bora at all -- a claim publicly slapped down by the CIA’s on-scene commander, Gary Berntsen, a longtime Republican, who pleaded for additional… more

To Russia with Realism

Articles — Mon, 26 Mar 2007 15:34:00 -0400

As if the US did not have enough on its plate, the latest strongly anti-American statements of President Vladimir Putin and other Russian officials have suggested the possibility of a new Cold War with Russia. And from the Russian point of view, these statements are only responding to a whole series of bitterly anti-Russian statements and actions by the US administration over the past year, including plans to bring Ukraine into NATO, the speech attacking Russia by Vice President Cheney in Vilnius last July, backing for Georgia in its conflict with Russian-backed breakaway republics, and the latest move to extend… more

Is The United States Losing Turkey?

adminn — Mon, 26 Mar 2007 02:05:00 -0400

On February 5th and 6th, 2007, the Hudson Institute, with support from the Smith Richardson Foundation, convened a small workshop of noted specialists on Turkey, Europe, and international security to assess the state of America’s alliance with Turkey and, more specifically, to ascertain whether the United States risks “losing” Turkey as a long-time and critical ally. The workshop was part of a project directed by Rajan Menon, Professor of International Relations at Lehigh University and Fellow at the New America Foundation. S. Enders Wimbush, Director of… more

Washington Times Profiles New America Event with Ralph Fuecks

Communications — Mon, 18 Dec 2006 20:36:00 -0500

New America in the News:

Growing instability across the Middle East has prompted foreign policy think tanks to brainstorm ways to stabilize that region. One idea circulating in Washington last week called for admitting Israel into NATO...

Ralf Fuecks is the president of the Berlin-based Heinrich Boll Foundation, an independent organization affiliated with the German Green Party. He suggested at a conference Wednesday that Israel be offered membership in NATO on the condition that it resume negotiations for a two-state solution with the Palestinians and agree to a nuclear-free zone linked to security guarantees for Israel.

Mr. Fuecks said the admission of Israel to NATO also would bolster the U.S.-European security alliance as it confronts the growing nuclear threat from Iran.

"NATO has to extend its outreach into the Middle East," Mr. Fuecks told an audience at the New America Foundation in Washington, arguing that this was especially important now that the United States is looking for ways to reduce its commitment in Iraq.

Daniel Levy, a senior fellow and director of the foundation's Middle East initiative, cautioned that a NATO with Israel as its only member from outside Europe and North America would make Israel look like a "colonial outpost."

"Arms control and regional security should be created within a regional security architecture," Mr. Levy said. "This would more effectively induce better behavior by Iran."

Steven Clemons, director of the American strategy program at the foundation, said after the forum that admitting Israel to NATO would "create massive tension" with its neighbors. He suggested that Israel instead promote ties with modern Sunni regimes in Jordan, Egypt, Saudi Arabia and Morocco...

Other policy specialists at the New America Foundation forum disagreed with the NATO idea. Harvey Feldman, a senior fellow at the Heritage Foundation, said Europeans had done little to stop weapons smuggling to Hezbollah and were doing little to help Israel...

For the complete article, please visit The Washington Times website.