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1. East of the Middle East: The Shanghai Cooperation Organization and U.S. security implications

Author:
Tim Murphy
Publication Date:
12-2006
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Center for Defense Information
Abstract:
The war in Afghanistan represented an eastward shift in the United States' international focus. Previously concentrated on the Middle East, the United States has reconfigured its foreign policy directives to include interests east of the Middle East. The shift was long overdue. Central Asia is a rising regional security concern, and Chinese and Russian actions therein have cultivated robust political ties. Resulting cooperatives and agreements promote Chinese and Russian regional objectives. The Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) originally consisted of five Central Asian and Asian countries (the Shanghai Five), ostensibly to unify signatories on economic, social and political platforms. However, the SCO is often a proxy to advance Chinese and Russian interests.
Topic:
Security and Weapons of Mass Destruction
Political Geography:
Afghanistan, Russia, United States, China, Europe, Middle East, and Asia

2. Iraqi Tribunal Imposes Death Sentence on Saddam Hussein

Publication Date:
11-2006
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Center for Defense Information
Abstract:
The Iraqi High Tribunal (IHT), or Iraqi Higher Criminal Court, previously known as the Iraqi Special Tribunal (IST), announced Nov. 5, 2006, that it was sentencing former Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein Al-Majeed to death by hanging. The verdict comes in the first prosecution Saddam has faced before the tribunal, for the 1982 mass killing of villagers in the Shia town of Dujayl and related atrocities. Bringing Saddam and his henchmen to justice has posed unique challenges to an Iraq that seeks to make a former totalitarian dictatorship subject to rule of law, and in the process respect rule of law by providing fair trials. Unclear is the extent to which efforts to establish an historical record of atrocities, and undertake national healing, would be thwarted by executing Saddam before he can be tried for additional incidents. Of added significance are concerns raised by some voices that the death penalty itself is immoral and inconsistent with rule of law.
Topic:
International Relations, Security, and Terrorism
Political Geography:
Iraq and Middle East

3. Afghan Update: Oct. 1 – Oct. 31, 2006

Author:
Thomas Keller
Publication Date:
11-2006
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Center for Defense Information
Abstract:
On Oct. 2 two U.S. and one Afghan soldier were killed in an insurgent attack in Kunar province. Three Americans were also wounded. A U.S. patrol was targeted by a suicide bomber in eastern Afghanistan on Oct. 7 – the five-year anniversary of the launch of Operation Enduring Freedom – no casualties were reported. Six men delivering aid from American forces were killed by a roadside bomb in eastern Afghanistan on Oct. 14. U.S.-led coalition and Afghan troops raided an insurgent hideout in Ghazni Province on Oct. 17; one soldier was wounded and three militants killed.
Topic:
International Relations, Security, and Arms Control and Proliferation
Political Geography:
Afghanistan, United States, and Asia

4. The Limits and Liabilities of Missile Defense

Author:
Philip E. Coyle
Publication Date:
11-2006
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Center for Defense Information
Abstract:
This analysis first appeared in the November 2006 issue of Current History. “The most effective route in dealing with nuclear and missile proliferation threats may be through creative diplomacy, not military technology.”
Topic:
International Relations, Security, Defense Policy, and Arms Control and Proliferation

5. Conventional Arms Transfers to Developing Nations, 1998-2005

Author:
Richard F. Grimmett
Publication Date:
11-2006
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Center for Defense Information
Abstract:
This report is prepared annually to provide Congress with official, unclassified, quantitative data on conventional arms transfers to developing nations by the United States and foreign countries for the preceding eight calendar years for use in its various policy oversight functions. All agreement and delivery data in this report for the United States are government-to-government (FMS) transactions. Some general data are provided on worldwide conventional arms transfers by all suppliers, but the principal focus is the level of arms transfers by major weapons suppliers to nations in the developing world.
Topic:
Security, Defense Policy, and Arms Control and Proliferation
Political Geography:
Russia, United States, Europe, and Asia

6. Putting the Cart Before the Horse: United States resumes military assistance to Indonesia

Author:
Rhea Myerscough
Publication Date:
05-2006
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Center for Defense Information
Abstract:
In March 2006 the State Department formally ended a seven-year ban on U.S. exports of lethal defense articles to Indonesia. Indonesia had been under various combinations of U.S. military sanctions over the past 14 years, due to persistent and grave human rights violations by members of its security forces. This significant policy change removes all restrictions on military assistance for the first time since 1992. However, in the absence of any documented human rights improvements by the Indonesian armed forces, the timing of the decision is perplexing.
Topic:
International Relations, Arms Control and Proliferation, and Human Rights
Political Geography:
United States, South Asia, and Indonesia

7. Afghanistan Stage III: NATO's most ambitious operation?

Author:
Francis Rheinheimer
Publication Date:
05-2006
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Center for Defense Information
Abstract:
In the months ahead, NATO's International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) will deploy thousands more troops to Afghanistan as part of its ongoing mission to “support the Government of Afghanistan in providing and maintaining a secure environment in order to facilitate the re-building of Afghanistan.” Troop levels are expected to rise from about 8,000 in January to 17,000 by the end of October. The expansion, known as Stage III, will be responsible for maintaining security in the troubled southern provinces, where most violent attacks against foreign and domestic forces have taken place. NATO's commander, U.S. Gen. James L. Jones said ISAF could total as many as 25,000 troops eventually. British, Dutch and Canadian forces will be leading the effort to bring peace to Afghanistan through both civilian and military methods. Troops will be engaged in peacekeeping, reconstruction and, in all likelihood, open conflict – an effort Jones called “NATO's most ambitious operation.” Despite a lack of popular support for the missions in all three of the main troop-contributing countries, international leaders have pledged to safeguard Afghanistan from both internal and external forces that would otherwise lead the country into chaos.
Topic:
NATO, Human Welfare, Politics, Religion, and Terrorism
Political Geography:
Afghanistan

8. Afghan Update: April 1 - April 30, 2006

Author:
Francis Rheinheimer
Publication Date:
05-2006
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Center for Defense Information
Abstract:
A senior U.S. State Department official said on April 3 that more violence was expected in the coming months. Assistant Secretary of State for South and Central Asia Richard Boucher reaffirmed the opinion of some U.S. military leaders that the warmer months and the increased presence of International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) troops would signal a stepped up effort by insurgents to disrupt peacebuilding and reconstruction efforts. Boucher also cited the battle against narcotics traffickers as cause for increased fighting.
Topic:
Human Welfare, Politics, Religion, and Terrorism
Political Geography:
United States and Asia

9. Terrorism Statistics Flawed

Author:
Francis Rheinheimer
Publication Date:
04-2006
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Center for Defense Information
Abstract:
It has become a truism that any attempt to define or quantify terrorism is informed by political trends, and thus subject to fluctuations based not on hard facts but on political fashion. Yet the State Department's now defunct annual publication, Patterns of Global Terrorism, was the closest approximation of any government effort to provide information in an objective and consistent manner. As a successor to Patterns, the report produced by the U.S. National Counterterrorism Center (NCTC) – called A Chronology of Significant International Terrorism for 2004--effectively ends over 20 years of analytical consistency in the U.S. government's terrorism accounting practices.
Topic:
Human Welfare, Politics, Religion, and Terrorism
Political Geography:
United States

10. Afghan Update: March 3 - March 31, 2006

Author:
Francis Rheinheimer
Publication Date:
04-2006
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Center for Defense Information
Abstract:
Three Afghan guards and a French Special Forces officer were killed when insurgents attacked a post in Kandahar on March 4. The same day, a roadside bomb exploded when a government vehicle drove by, killing a local intelligence chief and three of his bodyguards. The Taliban claimed responsibility for both attacks.
Topic:
Human Welfare, Politics, Religion, and Terrorism
Political Geography:
Afghanistan