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The Military Lost in the Fiscal Cliff Deal
Tweet Share on Facebook January 11, 2013 CommentMackenzie Eaglen is a resident fellow at the Marilyn Ware Center for Security Studies at the American Enterprise Institute.
Headlines indicated that the new year's fiscal cliff deal was a reprieve for the U.S. military, which pushed back sequestration by two months. The reality is that the latest last minute deal did not save defense.
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Will Obama's Brennan Pick Shed Some Much Needed Light on Drones?
Tweet Share on Facebook January 11, 2013 CommentBenjamin H. Friedman is a Research Fellow in Defense and Homeland Security Studies at the Cato Institute in Washington, DC.
Question: Which of following imperils your chances of being confirmed by the U.S. Senate for a top national security post?
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France Could Be Next European Economic Disaster
Tweet Share on Facebook January 11, 2013 CommentRobert Nolan is an editor at the Foreign Policy Association and producer of the Great Decisions in Foreign Policy television series on PBS. You can follow him on Twitter @robert_nolan.
A failed plan to tax the rich at 75 percent. A glaring lack of global competitiveness. Famous actors trading in their French citizenship for Russian to avoid paying high tax rates. The news from Paris as of late has been a bit sensational, but also dire. Could France be the first northern country in the European Union to confront potential economic demise in 2013? Perhaps that assessment is not unlike Gerard Depardieu's highly publicized Moscow defection—a bit dramatic. But according to recent economic figures, there is some cause for concern.
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Al-Jazeera America Is Good for World News
Tweet Share on Facebook January 10, 2013 CommentA former United Nations correspondent, Leslie Pitterson is currently working on the production of the Great Decisions in Foreign Policy television series on PBS. You can follow her on Twitter @lesliepitterson.
There's much to be said about Al-Jazeera recent agreement to purchase Al Gore's Current TV.
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Obama Must Maintain Strong U.S. Presence in Afghanistan
Tweet Share on Facebook January 10, 2013 CommentEvan Moore is a Senior Policy Analyst for the Foreign Policy Initiative
President Obama's policies on Afghanistan since the 2009 troop surge have become increasingly disappointing—and deeply frustrating—for those who hope that that country never again becomes a safe haven for al Qaeda and other terrorist groups.
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U.S. Must Help Move Afghanistan Beyond the Soviet Legacy
Tweet Share on Facebook January 10, 2013 CommentSeth G. Jones is associate director of the International Security and Defense Policy Center at the nonprofit, nonpartisan RAND Corporation and author of Hunting in the Shadows: The Pursuit of al Qa'ida after 9/11 (W.W. Norton, 2012).
Afghan President Hamid Karzai's visit to Washington this week comes at an opportune moment. With President Obama committed to a change in the U.S. role in the war in 2014 and considering how sharp the decrease should be in U.S. force levels, it is time to take stock of the war.
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Solutions to Threats From Iran, North Korea, and al Qaeda
Tweet Share on Facebook January 10, 2013 CommentDr. Lamont Colucci is an associate professor of politics at Ripon College, recent Fulbright Scholar to the Diplomatic Academy of Vienna, and author of The National Security Doctrines of the American Presidency: How they Shape our Present and Future, among other books. You can find out more at lamontcolucci.com.
Last week this column addressed the threats to the Republic for 2013 with a promise to address solutions to those threats this week. This week's column should not be read in a vacuum as the detailed aspects of threats were illustrated in last week's commentary. Based on a two volume book I recently authored on national security doctrines, the solutions to these threats must be tackled from both a historical and contemporary lens; these solutions must fundamentally serve American grand strategy.
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Brennan, Hagel, Kerry, and Obama's Second Term Foreign Policy
Tweet Share on Facebook January 9, 2013 CommentMichael P. Noonan is the Director of the Program on National Security at the Foreign Policy Research Institute in Philadelphia, and a veteran of Operation Iraqi Freedom.
While much has been written about the suitability, or unsuitability, of Chuck Hagel or John O. Brennan to be the next secretary of defense and Central Intelligence Agency director, respectively, the more interesting considerations are what these appointments might mean for the national security policy of the Obama administration in the second term. Robert D. Kaplan of Stratfor, David Sanger of the New York Times, and David Brooks of the New York Times have all written interesting pieces on this here, here, and here.
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Chuck Hagel’s Biggest Challenge Isn’t Getting Confirmed
Tweet Share on Facebook January 9, 2013 CommentMieke Eoyang is the director of Third Way's National Security Program. Prior to joining Third Way, Eoyang had a long career on Capitol Hill. Among other positions, she served as the defense policy adviser to Sen. Edward Kennedy, was the subcommittee staff director on the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, and was a professional staff member on the House Armed Services Committee.
Washington is abuzz with speculation that the President's nomination of former Nebraska senator Chuck Hagel is in jeopardy. The reason? Remarks he made on gays and a perceived "softness" on Israel. Republican Sen. Lindsay Graham of South Carolina called Hagel's nomination "in-your-face." Despite these sorts of barbs, Hagel is a shoo-in for confirmation. That's why Hagel and the Obama administration should take the confirmation process as an opportunity to build bridges, not burn them.
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Benghazi Shows State Department Must Rethink Public Diplomacy
Tweet Share on Facebook January 8, 2013 CommentRobert Schadler is senior fellow in public diplomacy at the American Foreign Policy Council in Washington, D.C.
Buried deep in the report of the Accountability Review Board convened by outgoing Secretary of State Hillary Clinton to examine the tragic events that took place this fall in Benghazi, Libya is the answer to why the U.S. ambassador was there in the first place. Ambassador Christopher Stevens, who lost his life in Benghazi, was there "to open an American Corner at a local school and to reconnect with local contacts." Apparently, a friendly local Libyan was opening a school to teach English with an "American Corner" as part of that effort. The ambassador thought it so important that he wanted to participate personally in its opening. It is, thus, not an exaggeration to say that Ambassador Stephens died in the pursuit of "public diplomacy."
