In recent months the President of the United States has spoken of a major change in American defense and foreign policy. After a decade of almost exclusive focus on two wars in the Middle East- President Obama and his national security team have announced that a "pivot to the Pacific" is taking place. Continue Reading

Performative Revolution in Egypt by Jeffrey Alexander provides a sociological analysis of competing symbols and narratives in a chronicle of the uprising in Egypt through the lens of media reports and activist-generated accounts.

Land is the key to Zimbabwe's future progression toward stability and growth. It is an emotionally charged issue rooted deeply in the country's history and until it is dealt with to the satisfaction of Zimbabweans it will continue to be a source of conflict. Much of what Robert Mugabe has done since 1980 to destroy what was once a promising start redounds to his mishandling of the issue of land. Continue Reading

There is nothing more important for a nation's future, for its long term security and for opportunities for its citizens, than the health of its schools and the quality of education they offer. Continue Reading

Unraveling the legacy of three decades of Robert Mugabe's political misrule and economic mismanagement will not be easy. But it can be done. Democracy can be put back on track and the economy can flourish. At present the economy is distorted and the potential wealth deriving from the country's resources – minerals and agricultural land – is being lost through corruption and mismanagement. Continue Reading

As the 2012 US Presidential campaign accelerates, a debate on foreign policy issues is inescapable. Not long ago, The Chicago Tribune ran an article entitled "Whose Russia comment was more damaging?, meaning President Obama's accommodating remarks on missile defense or Mitt Romney's, calling Russia "US geopolitical threat number one." The damage to American vital interests is not so much from pre-election rhetoric as neglecting democracy development in one geopolitical area, while favoring it in another. Continue Reading

CNP Fellow for Homeland Security and Counterterrorism Dr. Amit Kumar delves into the threat from LeT; assesses the measures taken against LeT; and mentions other measures that may be productive against LeT.

Vice President Joe Biden sharply criticized likely Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney on April 26 in a hard-hitting speech at New York University. Biden's mission was three-fold: to show that Romney is too eager to start another war; too out-of-touch with the realities of foreign affairs to be an effective president; and too prone to mischaracterize Obama's record. Continue Reading

The American Dream is the defining force that has propelled our great nation forward over these past few centuries. This Dream, however, can become a reality when built upon a stable bedrock. History has shown that when the American workforce is empowered, so too is the nation as a whole. We need to reinforce our nation’s bedrock so that we can continue to make the American Dream an attainable reality.

Robert Gabriel Mugabe, President of Zimbabwe, has been firmly in control of his country's affairs for 32 years. He is 88 years old and, since 2008, it has been rumored he suffers from prostate cancer. A recent trip to Singapore, at least the eighth in the past year, sparked speculation again he was dying and the long awaited and feared regime change was imminent. As before he defied those anticipating his demise. Continue Reading

CNP Fellow for Homeland Security and Counterterrorism Dr. Amit Kumar assesses the Taliban threat; analyzes the measures taken to mitigate the threat; and suggests additional strategies to tackle the threat.

10 years ago, as a brand new government, we wanted to take a fresh look at how we could better tackle our most difficult social problems such as a mental health crisis; low retention rates in too many schools and gang related youth crime. We were concerned traditional ways of dealing with these problems weren't working as well as they should. Continue Reading

By end-2014, once the US led ISAF coalition leaves Afghanistan, the role of Afghanistan's South Asian neighbors is vital and critical. Will some of these stakeholders be critical in helping implement parts of the fight-talk-build strategy the US is currently wrestling with? Do Afghanistan's future security, governance, and developmental needs necessitate a salient role for its South Asian neighbors? Continue Reading

The past few weeks in Egypt have witnessed a number of significant events: walkouts of the Constituent Assembly (the body charged to write the new constitution) by secular liberals, leftists, and Christian Copts, who stated that the Islamists were not taking their views into account; Cairo's Higher Administrative Court ruling that the work of the Assembly should be stopped because members of parliament could not nominate themselves to that body; Continue Reading

In February this year, the Financial Action Task Force (FATF), came out with revised international standards for combating money laundering and the financing of terrorism and proliferation. This piece highlights a few key provisions of these standards and shows how the adoption of these may prove to be a great boost to existing Countering the Financing of Terrorism (CFT) efforts worldwide. Continue Reading

Bottom Line Up Front: Be wary of comparisons with the Tet Offensive. Rosy statements about ANSF performance gloss over the intelligence failures that these attacks represent. A very small enemy force was able to paralyze much of Kabul and keep its security forces busy for over 18 hours. Continue Reading

Being a student, professional, and teacher of marketing in my earlier avatar, I have always been impressed by marketing guru Philip Kotler's 4 Ps of marketing, namely Product, Price, Promotion, and Placing. I have switched to the practice, study, and teaching of counterterrorism over the past several years, and it suddenly dawned upon me recently that counterterrorism could be studied, and taught by examining the 6 Ms of Counterterrorism, namely: Money, Movement, Messages, Men, Materials, and Managing. Continue Reading

Citing licensing infractions, both Egypt and the UAE have shut down Western NGO's – NDI, the Konrad Adenauer Foundation, International Republican Institute and Freedom House, detaining, even arresting staff. Who or what are these governments afraid of - democracy? Continue Reading

In recent years, the attention, resources, and efforts of the US counterterrorism community have largely been focused on the threat from Al-Qaida and its affiliates, namely the Al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula, and the Taliban. During this time frame, the South Asian affiliate of the Al-Qaida as well as that of the Taliban, Lashkar-e-Tayibba (LeT) has largely escaped the radar of the US. This piece focuses on the ever rising and continuing threat from Lashkar-e-Tayibba and outlines the steps that the US must urgently take to mitigate this threat. Continue Reading

Victorious in the April 1, 2012 Myanmar elections, Aung San Suu Kyi has rightly credited her courageous voters for the unprecedented results. I would expect nothing less of a woman who has persevered in her heroic struggle against military rule in support of democracy. Nevertheless, the election is also her personal achievement as a woman, and an historic milestone in empowering women to run for office and becoming agents of change. Continue Reading

Most attention in public policy focuses on what happens at the national level. That's inevitable but states are often test beds for reform. In this series of blogs, I will look at what states can do to set the policy agenda. Continue Reading

The last couple of months have produced modest economic growth and an increasingly steady recovery. The recent rise in manufacturing and jobs has even encouraged some to claim that the U.S. economy is returning to normal. But since the definition of "normal" has dramatically changed over the last four years, it is getting harder to actually see positive economic changes in the daily lives of most Americans. Continue Reading

Recent press reports suggest that likely Republican party nominee Mitt Romney will emphasize foreign policy issues in his contest with President Obama, believing that Obama is vulnerable on several areas. Romney's team may have become more energized to take up the foreign policy cudgel in the wake of Obama's embarrassing, open microphone gaff with Russian President Medvedev last week in which the U.S. president seemed to put principles aside by suggesting that he would be more flexible with Russia in his hoped-for second term. Continue Reading

There have been a spate of reports over the last month or so on what the United States and the International Community (capitalized only in semi-jest) should do about Syria. I am just going to link to two reports – one of them that argues against a military intervention and the other, for it. Whatever your perspective – interventionist, non-interventionist, or interventionist-skeptic – please do check these out. I established my interventionist-skeptic bona fides on this very blog. Continue Reading

The re-election of Vladimir Putin as President of the Russian Federation, albeit under suspicion of election fraud, has once again raised speculations about the prospects of democracy in Russia. Continue Reading

Yesterday, I saw General Allen close out his week-long Washington, DC tour at the Brookings Institution. On C-SPAN, I watched him testify before the House and Senate Armed Services Committees with Acting Undersecretary of Defense James Miller. Continue Reading

Michael O'Hanlon and Bruce Riedel insisted in an op-ed last week that the United States must stay in Afghanistan "until the job is done." While they are wise to warn against making rash decisions based on the particularly tragic events of the last few weeks, they never convincingly explain when the job should end and how we can expect to accomplish it in the next few years if we - to borrow a phrase from the last war - stay the course. Continue Reading

Recent press reports suggesting that the Obama Administration will exercise a national security waiver to allow FY 2012 assistance to Egypt to move forward has generated heated controversy both in the United States and Egypt. Some influential Congressional Democrats who normally support the administration, like Senator Patrick Leahy, chairman of the Senate Foreign Operations Appropriations Subcommittee, have sharply criticized the move, as has the Washington Post editorial staff and virtually the entire human rights community. In Egypt, the aid picture is even more complicated. Continue Reading

In the global battle to capture markets and win the jobs of the future, there are some who through their inaction, would unilaterally disarm America. Continue Reading

The American Dream is the defining product of our great country. It is what differentiates us from the rest of the world. It is thesimple but powerful philosophy that no matter what family you are born into or what economic situation you inherit, through hard work and determination you canachieve the American Dream. Continue Reading

There is a lot of loose talk on intervention in Syria. Various commentators, government officials – former and current, and analysts are calling for some sort of US military involvement in the blooming civil war between the Alawite Assad regime and the Free Syrian Army (FSA). Recommendations range from arming the opposition to providing special operations and air support. Continue Reading

Last week, Field Marshal Hussein Tantawi, head of Egypt's SCAF (Supreme Council of the Armed Forces), finally came to understand that the United States was serious about cutting or suspending the $1.3 billion in U.S. military assistance after phone calls from President Obama and visits by senior members of the U.S. military and U.S. Congress, and decided to let the indicted Americans and other foreign NGO democracy workers leave the country after posting large bail money. Continue Reading

Hailed as one of the most important bilateral relationships of the twenty-first century, the US-India relationship has assumed added dimensions and increased importance over the last couple of decades. While the economic and commercial relationship has hogged the limelight for many years now, it's time to examine another vital dimension of the relations between these two democracies—namely 'security'. This piece highlights some important aspects of the US-India Security Relationship and offers ideas to make this more fruitful in the future. Continue Reading

1. Has the Taliban truly abided by the three preconditions for negotiation, namely renunciation of violence; severance of all ties with Al-Qaida and its affiliates on both sides of the Pakistan-Afghan border; and recognition of the democratic pluralistic nature of the Afghan Constitution? Can the Taliban give concrete assurances and guaranties that it will abide by these conditions in the future? Continue Reading

Recently, in response to reports that many Syrians took part in the referendum on a new constitution organized by the Syrian regime, Secretary of State Clinton sent a message to certain unspecified segments of the Syrian people: "The longer you support the regime's campaign of violence against your brothers and sisters, the more it will stain your honor." Continue Reading

Over the last ten years, Bin-Laden's Al-Qaeda organization has suffered attrition; Al-Qaeda affiliates have risen in strength and numbers; and Islamic democracies have replaced despots, often western supported or at least tolerated, in what is called the Arab Spring. These developments carry serious implications for US security interests. This piece delves into these implications and comes out with measures to secure US interests. Continue Reading

The US has been engaged in efforts to negotiate with the Taliban for some time now. However, in order to make these negotiations bear fruit, serious consideration needs to be given to certain aspects that are critical to the negotiating process. This piece attempts to delve into some of these very aspects. Continue Reading

It is time to invest in the American worker. While American workers have been the backbone of our economy for decades, since their work has been off-shored they hold very little hope in the American dream. It is for this reason that we need now more than ever to invest in building new factories in the United States, while encouraging corporations to bring back the jobs that have been off shored; from call centers in India to tire-production factories in China. In addition, we must strategically invest in the American worker by rebuilding our crumbling infrastructure. Continue Reading

The standoff between the United States and Egypt over the indictments against American-based NGOs has put the bilateral relationship in its worst position in many years. The issue is being played politically in Egypt by different actors pursuing different agendas but all seeing the advantage domestically of resisting pressure from Washington. What is surprising to many observers is that the leadership of the Egyptian military is resisting this U.S. pressure as well, even though a growing chorus of influential members of the U.S. Congress, both Republican and Democrat, is calling for a suspension of the annual $1.3 billion in military assistance to Egypt. Continue Reading

American foreign policy in Afghanistan is based on two perceptions—first that there is a real distinction between the Afghan Taliban and the Pakistan Taliban. And second, the Al-Qaida Taliban nexus has been ruptured to the point of a clear-cut split between these two terrorist entities that were once perceived to be two sides of the same coin. This piece attempts to delve into these two facets of contemporary thinking about Afghanistan and brings out an urgent need to revise these perceptions. Continue Reading