Last July, a majority of the Senate Armed Services Committee (SASC), led by Sen. Saxby Chambliss, R-Ga., tried to reverse Secretary of Defense Robert Gates' decision to stop production of the F-22. After Defense Secretary Robert Gates and the White House lobbied long and hard against the emissaries from Lockheed, the F-22 lost in a somewhat lopsided vote of 58 to 40. Game over. Right?
Topic:
Conflict Prevention, Security, Defense Policy, Arms Control and Proliferation, and Counterinsurgency
The international Global Zero Commission, a group of political and military leaders from the United States, Russia and other key countries, held an intensive two-day meeting in Washington, D.C. on June 28-29, 2009 - where they presented a practical and comprehensive plan calling for the phased and verified elimination of all nuclear weapons over the next 20 years, and briefed senior Obama administration officials on their recommendations in advance of the July 6-8 Moscow Summit.
Topic:
Conflict Prevention, Security, Defense Policy, Arms Control and Proliferation, and Counterinsurgency
Global Zero was publicly launched at its inaugural conference in Paris on Dec. 9, 2008 - bringing together a truly extraordinary group of more than 100 leaders from around the world toward the goal of a world without nuclear weapons. They discussed the outline for a step-by-step policy plan for the phased elimination of nuclear weapons and the public education and outreach plan for the coming year. The meeting generated widespread enthusiasm, as well as serious and constructive dialogue among participants.
Topic:
Security, Defense Policy, and Arms Control and Proliferation
For the second year in a row, an unexpected major "national security" crisis threatened to reignite - again - into the latest round of armed conflict since the two countries were created 61 years ago. Headlines throughout most of December speculated about the added damage war would bring to an already financially weakened international system. Then, on Dec. 26, 2008, Israeli warplanes struck the Hamas-run Gaza Strip in what Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak would label an attempt to destroy Hamas once and for all.
Topic:
Security, Defense Policy, and Arms Control and Proliferation
In their January 2007 Op-Ed , George Shultz, William Perry, Sam Nunn and Henry Kissinger advocated "A World Free of Nuclear Weapons." To imagine a world without nuclear weapons means that the United States and the other nuclear powers can find a way to get rid of them. In other words: "Getting to zero." But, how to reach "zero" is usually where the debate stalemates. With characteristic candor, Shultz himself admits he doesn't know how to get to zero, and doubts if his colleagues do.
Topic:
Security, Defense Policy, and Arms Control and Proliferation
On July 1, 2008 when France assumes the European Union (EU) presidency for six months, one of French President Nicolas Sarkozy's top priorities will be the European Security and Defense Policy (ESDP). According to Le Monde, Sarkozy is planning a "Saint-Malo (B)" – a reference to the Anglo- French declaration signed on Dec. 4, 1998, relaunching movement towards an EU defense capacity, and leading eventually to the birth of ESDP.
Topic:
Security, Defense Policy, Arms Control and Proliferation, War, and Counterinsurgency
The new 2009 defense budget has just been released. The more you look into the numbers, the more things become unclear, very unclear. Most of the numbers that have been released are inaccurate or incomplete, or both. Other numbers will change as the year progresses, but we do not know if they will go up or down.
Topic:
Security, Defense Policy, Arms Control and Proliferation, Debt, Nuclear Weapons, and Weapons of Mass Destruction
Until Dec. 27, the "success" of U.S. President George Bush's defiant rejection of the American public's repudiation of his Iraq and Afghanistan war policies – evidenced by the November 2006 congressional election – looked to be the most significant aspect of major armed conflicts around the world during 2007.
Topic:
Conflict Resolution, Security, Defense Policy, and Arms Control and Proliferation
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
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.