• Proliferation Analysis

Nuclear Lessons from Hanoi

• Rose Gottemoeller
• December 07, 2006

(Commentary by Rose Gottemoeller, Director of the Carnegie Moscow Center)

Two images caught my eye in the media coverage of the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation summit in Hanoi.  The first was the TV picture of President Bush and President Putin, wearing blue Vietnamese clothes that looked a bit like surgeon’s robes, a bit like nightgowns.  (Note to APEC leaders: It’s time to stop dressing up your colleagues in the national outfit for a photo-op.  Those clothes only look good on you.) 

The photo stuck with me though, for the matching blue that Bush and Putin were issued.  We might not like each other, but the rest of the world still pairs us together.  We are still expected to work on problems, find solutions, and hammer out compromises when they are needed.  That effect was clear this weekend, when the United States and Russia were at the pivot point of efforts to develop a way forward in the nuclear crises with Iran and North Korea. (Read More)

• Op-Ed

How the U.S. Distorts Its Self-Image

• Robert Kagan
• December 06, 2006
• The Financial Times

Many Americans would like to believe that Iraq was the product of aberrant “neo-conservative” ideas about foreign policy and that a traditional America lies just around the corner. We prefer to see ourselves as a peace-loving, introspective lot, a nation born in innocence and historically never choosing war but compelled to war by others. This self-image is at odds with reality, however.

• Op-Ed

Material Aid

• Josh Kurlantzick
• November 29, 2006
• The New Republic Online

Celebrities used to use their star power to raise awareness about their chosen causes, while letting experts do the policymaking. Now celebrities not only want to do good but think they know how to do the good, as Madonna’s recent “adoption” of Malawi demonstrates. Though every dollar helps, what African nations need is support for their own businesspeople, thinkers, and politicians.

• Proliferation Analysis

Britain: Nuclear Business As Usual, or Catalyst for Change?

• Caterina Dutto
• November 28, 2006

The Acronym Institute published a report, Worse than Irrelevant? British Nuclear Weapons in the 21st Century, addressing the future of Britain’s nuclear weapons system and outlining potential replacement options for the existing stockpile.

Britain’s decision will have important ramifications for the nonproliferation regime and the commitment of nuclear weapons states towards their disarmament obligations under Article VI of the Non-Proliferation Treaty.

The report calls for a comprehensive review of Britain’s security and defense strategies, taking into account Britain’s commitment to nonproliferation and the efficacy of nuclear deterrence in the changing security environment of the 21^st century. The report contrasts the nuclear threats of the Cold War with the predominant security challenges in today’s post-Cold War environment such as climate change and environmental degradation, terrorism, poverty, transnational illicit trade, and failing states. The authors conclude that nuclear weapons have no useful role in protecting against today’s security challenges, adding that nuclear weapons are “not merely irrelevant,” but that they “have the potential to add greatly to other threats, notably terrorism, organised crime and trafficking.” (Read More)

• Op-Ed

Iran-U.S. Competition in Middle East Holds Seeds of ‘Tragedy’

• George Perkovich
• November 28, 2006
• Council on Foreign Relations Interview

The debate over Iran's nuclear program has now been widened, with Iran feeling emboldened to compete with the United States for dominance in the Middle East as a whole. This competition has the potential for "tragedy" if the United States feels it must use military power against Iran.

• Op-Ed

Send More Troops

• Robert Kagan
• November 27, 2006
• The New Republic

• Op-Ed

Moscow's Washington Tango: Russia Needs a New Strategy vis-a-vis the United States

• Dmitri Trenin
• November 20, 2006
• Kommersant

The meetings between the presidents of Russia and the United States have long since ceased to hold any fateful significance, and that is good. What is bad is that they have become unproductive. The encounter between Putin and Bush in Hanoi has the potential to be an exception if a decision regarding Russia's accession to the WTO can be made there.

• Op-Ed

A Turning Point in U.S.-Russian Relations?

• Andrew Kuchins
• November 20, 2006
• Vedmosti

After nearly 13 years of tough negotiations, the United States and the Russian Federation have finally reached a bilateral agreement about Russia’s accession to the World Trade Organization. It is the only piece of good news for a relationship that has steadily deteriorated to a point of acrimony and distrust not seen since Mr. Gorbachev came to power more than twenty years ago.

• Op-Ed

Bush and Putin Have a Lot of Work to Do

• Dmitri Trenin, Mark Medish
• November 17, 2006
• International Herald Tribune

Presidents George W. Bush and Vladimir Putin were all smiles when they met Wednesday at a Moscow refueling stop during Bush's trip to Asia. But the truth is that the U.S.-Russian relationship has reached its lowest point since the end of the Cold War.

• Op-Ed

Solid State

• John Judis
• November 15, 2006
• The New Republic Online