CFR.org - Must Reads

Carnegie Europe: Why Germany Won’t Be America’s New Geopolitical Partner

Jan Techau — Tue, 18 Jun 2013 10:20:34 -0400

Obama is right to invest in Europe. He is right to devote special attention to Germany. But he should not expect any immediate return on his investment.

The New York Times: China’s Great Uprooting

Ian Johnson — Mon, 17 Jun 2013 13:33:50 -0400

Beijing's push for rapid urbanization aims to promote growth, but the socioeconomic effects remain unclear.

Washington Post: Tunisia Faces Political Struggle Over Islam

Edward Cody — Mon, 17 Jun 2013 13:17:33 -0400

Which style of Islam will prevail in Tunisia?

The Diplomat: An Asian Power Web Emerges

Richard Fontaine and Ely Ratner Patrick Cronin — Mon, 17 Jun 2013 11:57:29 -0400

"To capitalize on the twin desires of Asian countries for closer ties with each other and for greater American presence, the United States must double down on its commitment to rebalance attention and resources to Asia."

EU Council on Foreign Relations: The Reform of China's Defense Economy

François Godement — Mon, 17 Jun 2013 11:47:44 -0400

"[The] country's defense experts and policy makers are now addressing systemic reform and modernization issues, and are talking about breaking down barriers to cooperation with civilian industry and market-driven management."

An Asian Power Web Emerges

Patrick Cronin, Richard Fontaine, and Ely Ratner — Fri, 14 Jun 2013 12:29:04 -0400

To capitalize on the twin desires of Asian countries for closer ties with each other and for greater American presence, the United States must double down on its commitment to rebalance attention and resources to Asia

The Rise of the Pasdaran: Assessing the Domestic Roles of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps

Mon, 10 Jun 2013 12:10:07 -0400

Never solely a military organization in the traditional sense, Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC)—also known as the Pasdaran (Persian for "guards")—has seen a significant expansion and diversification of its domestic roles since the election of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad in 2005.

CRS: Government Collection of Private Information: Background and Issues Related to the USA PATRIOT Act Reauthorization

Anna C Henning, Elizabeth B. Bazan, Charles Doyle, and Edward C Liu — Thu, 06 Jun 2013 14:03:36 -0400

This report discusses the history of constitutional interpretations and legislative responses relevant to the collection of private information for criminal investigation, foreign intelligence gathering, and national security purposes. Next, it summarizes the relevant statutory frameworks and changes made by the USA PATRIOT Act and subsequent measures

CRS: Reauthorization of the FISA Amendments Act

Edward C Liu — Thu, 06 Jun 2013 13:53:53 -0400

The Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) provides a statutory framework by which government agencies may, when gathering foreign intelligence information, obtain authorization to conduct wiretapping or physical searches, utilize pen registers and trap and trace devices, or access specified business records and other tangible things.

CRS: The National Security Council: An Organizational Assessment

Richard A. Best — Thu, 06 Jun 2013 11:17:52 -0400

The NSC staff has emerged as a major factor in the formulation (and at times in the implementation) of national security policy. Similarly, the head of the NSC staff, the National Security Adviser, has played important, and occasionally highly public, roles in policymaking. This report traces the evolution of the NSC from its creation to the present

Project Syndicate: Why Turkey Is Rebelling

Sebnem Kalemli-Ozcan — Tue, 04 Jun 2013 14:42:28 -0400

"True, Turkey's annual GDP growth has averaged 5% over the last decade of rule by Erdoğan's Justice and Development Party (AKP). But this should not lead anyone to conclude that Turkey is a development success story. If we have learned anything from the extensive research on growth and development that now exists, the key to sustainable progress lies in a country's institutional design."

Le Monde: Chemical Warfare in Syria

Jean-Philippe Remy — Tue, 04 Jun 2013 13:20:57 -0400

Reporters for Le Monde spent two months clandestinely in the Damascus area alongside Syrian rebels. They describe the extent of the Syrian tragedy, the intensity of the fighting, the humanitarian drama. On the scene during chemical weapons attacks, they bear witness to the use of toxic arms by the government of Bashar al-Assad.

Financial Times: Cyber Theft: A Hard War to Wage

Geoff Dyer — Mon, 03 Jun 2013 14:25:30 -0400

"Former and current US officials describe a Chinese enterprise that goes well beyond conventional espionage – a deliberate, co-ordinated and well-resourced strategy to steal the intellectual property of American companies that has been going on for years and is gathering pace."

CRS: Securing U.S. Diplomatic Facilities and Personnel Abroad: Background and Policy Issues

Alex Tiersky and Susan B. Epstein — Tue, 14 May 2013 09:06:25 -0400

Under reciprocal treaty obligations, host nations are obligated to provide security for the diplomatic facilities of sending states. However, instances in which host nations have been unable or not fully committed to fulfilling this responsibility have sometimes left U.S. facilities vulnerable, especially in extraordinary circumstances. U.S. facilities therefore employ a layered approach to security including not only the measures taken by a host country, but also additional, U.S.-coordinated measures, to include armed Diplomatic Security agents, hardened facilities, U.S.-trained and/or contracted local security guards, and sometimes U.S. Marine Security Guard detachments (whose principal role is securing classified information).

NYT: Silicon Valley’s Start-Up Machine

Nathaniel Rich — Tue, 07 May 2013 09:26:16 -0400

The Mountain View investors are the partners of Y Combinator, an organization that can be likened to a sleep-away camp for start-up companies. Y.C. holds two three-month sessions every year. During that time, campers, or founders, have regular meetings with each of Y.C.'s counselors, or partners, at which they receive technical advice, emotional support and, most critical, lessons on the art of the sale. There is no campus, only a nondescript office building in Mountain View — on Pioneer Way, around the corner from Easy Street. Founders are advised to rent apartments nearby, so that they can run to the office in minutes should an important investor pay a visit.

The New Yorker: The Thin Red Line

Dexter Filkins — Tue, 07 May 2013 09:11:34 -0400

The Administration has given the Syrian opposition more than six hundred and fifty million dollars in nonmilitary aid, but Obama has consistently opposed arming the rebels or intervening militarily on their behalf. The United States has taken a tenuous position: not deep enough to please the rebels or its allies in Europe, or to topple the regime, or to claim leadership in the war's aftermath—but also, perhaps most important, not so deep that it can't get out.

CTC: Hizb Allah Resurrected: The Party of God’s Return to Tradecraft

Matthew Levitt — Mon, 29 Apr 2013 13:20:34 -0400

The article also provides a detailed case study of Hossam Yaacoub—the convicted Hizb Allah operative now serving time in a Cypriot prison for his role in a plot targeting Israeli tourists—to show how Hizb Allah has resurrected its terrorist capabilities. Drawn from the police depositions of interviews with Yaacoub after his arrest, the case provides unique insights into how Hizb Allah recruits and trains new operatives.

CRS: Changes in the Arctic: Background and Issues for Congress

Ronald O'Rourke — Thu, 25 Apr 2013 12:26:25 -0400

Many observers have noted that the loss of Arctic ice is already leading to stepped-up human activity in the high north, particularly in the form of increasing commercial traffic and development. This trend has brought forth a range of issues on the geopolitical front, from environmental protection to search-and-rescue capabilities to the delineation of national boundaries—which will determine access to natural resources. These concerns are being addressed cooperatively in both bilateral and multilateral fashion, especially under the aegis of the Arctic Council and the U.N. Convention on the Law of the Sea.

The Atlantic: What If We Never Run Out of Oil?

Charles C. Mann — Wed, 24 Apr 2013 13:03:24 -0400

The Atlantic's Charles Mann discusses the possibility that fossil fuels might last longer than we think, presenting unexplored opportunities and risks.

CRS: U.S.-EU Cooperation Against Terrorism

Mon, 22 Apr 2013 14:24:56 -0400

U.S.-EU cooperation against terrorism has led to a new dynamic in U.S.-EU relations by fostering dialogue on law enforcement and homeland security issues previously reserved for bilateral discussions. Nevertheless, some challenges persist in fostering closer U.S.-EU cooperation in these fields. Among the most prominent are data privacy and data protection concerns.

NYT: Shrinking Europe Military Spending Stirs Concern

Mon, 22 Apr 2013 14:16:36 -0400

Increasingly, without United States assistance, military experts said, Europe's armed forces have trouble carrying out basic operations as its dwindling financial and political commitment has derailed multiple initiatives intended to make the continent more self-reliant.

The Iran Project: Strategic Options for Iran: Balancing Pressure with Diplomacy

William Luers, Iris Bieri, and Priscilla Lewis — Thu, 18 Apr 2013 14:37:12 -0400

It is time for Washington to rebalance its dual-track policy toward Iran, strengthening the diplomatic track in order to seize the opportunity created by the pressure track. The United States should now dedicate as much energy and creativity to negotiating directly with Iran as it has to assembling a broad international coalition to pressure and isolate Iran. Only by taking such a rebalanced approach might the United States achieve its objectives with respect to Iran's nuclear program.

Stateline: Security Cameras May Be Key to Finding Boston Bomber

Maggie Clark — Thu, 18 Apr 2013 09:21:22 -0400

Stateline's Maggie Clark reports that cameras are an integral tool in the effort to track and combat 21st century crime, like the Boston terror bombings.

Project Syndicate: Populism Without the People

Jan-Werner Mueller — Wed, 17 Apr 2013 14:48:12 -0400

Calls for more popular participation are not essential to populism; rather, they are a symptom of perceived exclusion (which might well be a reality, especially in Latin America). But cries for political inclusion are different from demands for direct democracy. Where direct democracy is very much a part of normal politics – in Switzerland, for example – populist parties have been doing better, not worse, than elsewhere.

Financial Times: Europe Is No Longer Spain's Solution

Gideon Rachman — Tue, 16 Apr 2013 11:03:46 -0400

"Spain used to be the poster child for the benefits of the European project. It now risks becoming a symbol of everything that has gone wrong," writes Gideon Rachman.

NYT: How a Single Spy Helped Turn Pakistan Against the United States

Tue, 09 Apr 2013 13:50:36 -0400

For many senior Pakistani spies, the man sitting in the jail cell represented solid proof of their suspicions that the C.I.A. had sent a vast secret army to Pakistan, men who sowed chaos and violence as part of the covert American war in the country. For the C.I.A., the eventual disclosure of [Raymond] Davis's role with the agency shed an unflattering light on a post–Sept. 11 reality: that the C.I.A. had farmed out some of its most sensitive jobs to outside contractors — many of them with neither the experience nor the temperament to work in the war zones of the Islamic world.

NYT: Rise of the Predators

Mark Mazzetti — Sat, 06 Apr 2013 10:35:36 -0400

"While it was not the first country where the United States used drones, [Pakistan] became the laboratory for the targeted killing operations that have come to define a new American way of fighting, blurring the line between soldiers and spies and short-circuiting the normal mechanisms by which the United States as a nation goes to war."

CTC: AQIM’s Playbook in Mali

Pascale Combelles Siegel — Wed, 27 Mar 2013 16:57:08 -0400

As the French-led military forces retake northern Mali, [AQIM emir Abdelmalek] Droukdel's eight month old letter should resonate as an ominous warning as it points to a long-term strategic plan to outlive the intervention and sets the stage for a potentially successful return. Clearly, under Droukdel's leadership, AQIM has no intention of relinquishing northern Mali.

The Atlantic: The Modern King in the Arab Spring

Jeffrey Goldberg — Mon, 18 Mar 2013 09:28:45 -0400

He seems in many ways to be a contradiction—an Arab king who happens to be a direct descendant of the Prophet Muhammad, evangelizing for liberal, secular, democratic rule. But Abdullah, now nearly a decade and a half into his reign, is, in his own conception, a political and economic reformer. He says he understands that the Hashemite throne, and perhaps Jordan itself, will not survive the coming decades if he does not move his country briskly toward modernity.

FT: Europe Is Risking a Bank Run

Wolfgang Münchau — Sun, 17 Mar 2013 09:48:36 -0400

Once fear reaches a critical mass, people will act, and then a bank run becomes a self-perpetuating process. There has been a lot of complacency about the eurozone crisis in the past eight months.