| March 2006
Arms Control | Foreign Policy | Human Rights
| Terrorism
Countries/Regions: Afghanistan | Africa | Balkans |China
| India | Iran | Iraq | North Korea | Russia | Turkey
A1 - Global Cleanout: Reducing the Threat of HEU-Fueled Nuclear
Terrorism
Glaser, Alexander and Frank N von Hippel
Arms Control Today. Jan/Feb 2006, v36, #1, pp18-24
”Five decades ago, the United States and the Soviet Union sought
to outdo one another in supplying client states with “peaceful”
nuclear technology. But as 2006 begins, officials are concerned
that dozens of research reactors scattered around the globe could
be a source for terrorists seeking to build a nuclear bomb. Many
of these reactors still use highly enriched uranium, which would
be the fuel of choice for such efforts. Alexander Glaser and Frank
N. von Hippel outline ways in which these reactors could be closed
or could employ other fuels so as to minimize this danger.” Alexander
Glaser, researcher at Princeton University Program on Science
and Global Security. Frank N. von Hippel, is a professor of public
and international affairs at Princeton. Fulltext
A2 - The Point of No Return
Langewiesche, William
The Atlantic Monthly, v297, #1, January/February 2006, pp96-118
“First Pakistan's A.Q. Khan showed that any country could have
made a nuclear bomb. Then he showed - not once but three times
- why the nuclear trade will never be shut down.” This article
is the second part of a series. William Langewiesche is a
national correspondent for The Atlantic. Fulltext
A3 - The National Security Strategy of the United States of
America
The White House, March 16, 2006. 54p, online edition
America’s continuing commitment to encourage the spread of democracy
and meet emerging transnational threats was outlined in the 2006
National Security Strategy released by President Bush on March
16. Mandated by Congress, the strategy updates and expands on
the previous edition published in 2002. It serves as a broad statement
of the administration’s overall foreign policy goals and objectives.
According to a White House fact sheet, the strategy is grounded
in two central concepts: Promoting freedom, justice and human
dignity, and leading the community of democratic nations to face
emerging transnational threats. Fulltext
A4 - David's Friend Goliath
Mandelbaum, Michael
Foreign Policy, Jan/Feb 2006, #152, pp50-57
The U.S. is the subject of endless commentary, most of it negative,
some of it poisonously hostile. The charge that the US threatens
others is frequently linked to the use of the term "empire"
to describe America's international presence. Unlike the great
empires of the past, the US goal is to build stable, effective
governments and then to leave as quickly as possible. The author
argues that, historically, other nations have banded together
to provide a check on world powers, yet no such anti-American
alignment is taking place. Unlike past empires, U.S. overseas
interventions have been few in number, and generally have not
been with idea of complete control. Because of America's open
political system, any country is able to gain access to Congressional
committees with oversight over international relations and foreign
policy. In that sense, the U.S. government has become a world
government, and has in effect become a mediator over regional
conflicts. This article reveals the world's guilty secret which
is to enjoys the security and stability the United States provides.
The world won't admit it, but they will miss the American empire
when it's gone. Michael Mandelbaum, Johns Hopkins University's
School of Advanced International Studies. Fulltext
A5 - Country Reports on Human Rights Practices 2005
U.S. Department of State, March 8 2006.
Countries in which power is concentrated in the hands of rulers
that cannot be held accountable for their actions were among those
cited as having the poorest records on human rights in the U.S.
Department of State’s annual Country Reports on Human Rights Practices
released March 8. Such regimes, which include the Democratic People’s
Republic of Korea (DPRK or North Korea), Burma, Iran, Zimbabwe,
Cuba, China and Belarus, seriously restrict fundamental human
rights enshrined in the United Nations Universal Declaration of
Human Rights, including freedom of speech, press, assembly, association,
religion and movement, the State Department said in the introduction
to the report. Fulltext
A6 - Assessing the Biological Weapons and Bioterrorism Threat
Leitenberg, Milton
Strategic Studies Institute of the U.S. Army War College,
December 2005, 123p.
Biological weapons (BW) have become a significant national security
preoccupation. A variety of events within the past 15 years have
shifted the context in which they are considered. These events
include such the discovery, between 1989 and 1992, that the Union
USSR had violated the Biological Weapons Convention (BWC) since
its ratification in 1975 by building a massive covert biological
weapons program; the corroboration by the UN Special Commission
in 1995 that Iraq had maintained a covert biological weapons program
since 1974, and had produced and stockpiled large quantities of
agents and delivery systems between 1988 and 1991; the discovery,
also in 1995, that the Japanese Aum Shinrikyo group, which had
carried out the nerve gas attack in the Tokyo subway system, also
had spent 4 years attempting - albeit unsuccessfully - to produce
and disperse two pathogenic biological agents; the distribution
of professionally prepared anthrax spores through the U.S. postal
system in the weeks afterwards September 11, 2001; and the discovery
in December 2002, after U.S. forces had overrun much of the territory
of Afghanistan, that the al-Qaida organization also had spent
several years trying to obtain the knowledge and means to produce
biological agents. Within 4 years, almost $30 billion in federal
expenditure was appropriated to counter the anticipated threat.
This report analyses anticipated threat. Milton Leitenberg,
Fellow, Senior Scholar, and Senior Research Scholar at the Center
for International and Security Studies at the University of Maryland. Fulltext
A7 - Mother.Daughter.Sister.Bomber.
Bloom, Mia
Bulletin of Atomic Scientists, Nov/Dec.2005, v61 #6, pp54-62
"This article considers the increasing number of women suicide
bombers. The defining characteristics of a suicide bomber, in
general, are elusive. Contrary to popular perception, they are
not unbalanced sociopaths prone to self-destructive tendencies.
These same characteristics apply to women suicide bombers. Through
violence women have placed themselves on the front lines, in public,
alongside men to whom they are not related. This results in a
double trajectory for militant women. However, women who seek
empowerment and equality by turning themselves into human bombs
merely reinforce the inequalities of their societies, rather than
confront them and explode the myths from within." Mia
Bloom is an assistant professor of political science at the University
of Cincinnati. Fulltext
A8 - How to Think About Terrorism
Richard K. Betts
Wilson Quarterly, Winter 2006, v30, #1, pp44-49
"The article discusses how intelligence and technology can
assist the U.S. in anticipating future terrorist attacks. It provides
an overview of the history of terrorist attacks and efforts to
prevent terrorism. It discusses the actions taken by the Defense
Department to deal with the threat of terrorism." Richard
Betts is Leo A. Shifrin Professor and Director of the Institute
of War and Peace Studies at Columbia University. Fulltext
Countries/Regions:
A9 - Afghanistan: Post-War Governance, Security, and U.S.
Policy
Blanchard, Christopher M.
Congressional Research Service RL32686, Jan 25, 2006, online
edition, 45p
"Afghanistan’s political transition is proceeding, but insurgent
threats to Afghanistan’s government persist. A new constitution was adopted
in January 2004, and successful presidential elections were held on October 9,
2004, followed by parliamentary elections on September 18, 2005. This completes
the post-Taliban political transition roadmap established at the December 2001
international conference in Bonn, Germany. Afghan citizens are enjoying new
personal freedoms
that were forbidden under the Taliban, and women are participating
in economic and political life. However, the insurgency led by remnants of the
former Taliban regime has conducted numerous lethal attacks since mid-2005, narcotics
trafficking is rampant, and independent militias remain throughout the country,
although they are
being progressively disarmed. The report of the 9/11 Commission
recommended a long-term commitment to stabilize Afghanistan. Legislation passed
in December 2004 to implement those recommendations (P.L. 108-458) contains
several provisions on Afghanistan. U.S. stabilization measures focus on
strengthening the central government and its security forces while
combating insurgents..." Christopher M. Blanchard, Analyst
in Middle Eastern Affairs, Foreign Affairs, Defense, and Trade
Division. Fulltext
A10 - The Future of Afghanistan
Jalali, Ali Ahmad
Parameters, Spring 2006, v36 #1, pp4-19
"Afghanistan is again at a crossroads. One road leads to
peace an prosperity; the other leads to the loss of all that has been achieved.
Everything depends on the level of international commitment to help Afghanistan
emerge from the dark shadows of the instability and violence of its recent
past..."This article looks at the challenges and opportunities
that face Afghanistan in the post-Bonn period. Specifically it
focuses on ways of fostering the long-term development of governance,
security, and economic growth in the country. Ali Ahmad Jalali
was the Interior Minister of Afghanistan from January 2003 to
September 2005; he is now a Distinguished Professor at the Near
East South Asia Center for Strategic Studies of the National Defense
University. Fulltext
A11 - Why the United States Should Robustly Support Pan-African
Organizations
Crupi, Francis V.
Parameters, Winter 2005-2006, v35, #4, pp106-123
"The article presents a reason for why it should be the policy
of the United States to support pan-African sub-regional organizations
that seek to have Africans help themselves. The author argues
that it is in the United States' interest to support sub-regional
organizations as a viable way to promote a self-sufficient Africa.
A stable and flourishing Africa provides the conditions for political
and economic growth and counters the incidence of failed states
which can serve as terrorist breeding grounds such as in the Sudan.
Countries with a major influence on their neighborhood including
South Africa, Nigeria, Kenya, and Ethiopia require focused attention."
Francis V. Crupi is a Supervisory Logistics Management Specialist
at the Naval Inventory Control Point, Mechanicsburg, Pa. Fulltext
A12 - Back to the Future for African Infrastructure? Why State-Ownership
Is No More Promising the Second Time Around
Nellis, John
Center for Global Development, February 2006, Working Paper
#84, 36p, online edition
"African state-owned enterprises (SOEs), particularly those
in infrastructure, have a long history of poor performance. But
moves in the 1990s to rely instead on private-sector participation
and ownership have yet to deliver the hoped-for improvements.
Is a return to SOEs the solution? This paper's author says no.
He argues that the prospects for success of Africa's SOEs are
no greater now than before, and that private firms still have
not been given a real chance...Nonetheless, African states (and
their supporters) should not jettison private participation in
infrastructure. Rather, Nellis argues, they should acknowledge
the limitations of such an approach, and recognize the large scope
and moderate pace of the preparatory measures required both to
improve the investment climate and to make private participation
in infrastructure work effectively." John Nellis is a
non-resident senior fellow at the Center for Global Development.
Previously, he worked at the World Bank and has authored several
books. Fulltext
A13 - Kosovo: The Challenge of Transition
International Crisis Group, Europe Report N°170, 17 February
2006, online edition
"The key issue in the current final status process is the
creation of a Kosovo that will have the greatest chance of lasting
stability and development. While agreement between Belgrade and
Pristina remains desirable in theory, it is extremely unlikely
that any Serbian government will voluntarily acquiesce to the
kind of independence, conditional or limited though it may be,
which is necessary for a stable long-term solution. The international
community, and in particular the UN Special Envoy charged with
resolving the status process, Martti Ahtisaari, must accordingly
prepare for the possibility of imposing an independence package
for Kosovo, however diplomatically painful that may be in the
short term, rather than hoping to finesse Pristina and Belgrade’s
differences with an ambiguous solution, or one in which key elements
are deferred." The International Crisis Group is an independent,
non-profit, non-governmental organization, with over 110 staff
members on five continents, working through field-based analysis
and high-level advocacy to prevent and resolve deadly conflict. Fulltext
A14 - Kosovo's Moment of Truth
Judah, Tim
Survival, Winter 2005/06, v47, #4, pp73-83
"For the last six years Kosovo has been run as protectorate
of the United Nations. That chapter of its history is now coming
to an end. Very soon – probably at least by December 2005 – talks
should begin on the future status of this territory bitterly disputed
between Serbs and Albanians. It is widely expected that, against
the wishes of the government in Belgrade, Kosovo will be granted
some form of ‘conditional independence’." Tim Judah is
the author of Kosovo: War and Revenge and the Serbs, both published
by Yale University; he has reported on the Balkans, Afghanistan,
Kurdistan, and Iraq for The New York Review.Order Article
A15 - China's Pragmatic Nationalism: Is It Manageable?
Zhao, Suisheng
Washington Quarterly, Winter 2006, v29, #1, p131-144
"China's rise as an economic, political, and military power
has been accompanied by an outburst of nationalism among its population...Whereas
some observers have been cautious about exploring its limits and
determining its motivations, others have decried this rise in
nationalism as a reckless movement driven by China’s traditional
Sino-centrism and contemporary aspirations for great-power status.
Richard Bernstein and Ross Munro have previously admonished that,
“[d]riven by nationalist sentiment, a yearning to redeem the humiliations
of the past, and the simple urge for international power, China
is seeking to replace the United States as the dominant power
in Asia...” Suisheng Zhao is a professor and executive director
of the Center for China-US Cooperation at the Graduate School
of International, University of Denver. Order Article
India
A16 - Getting India Right
Khanna, Parag & Raja C. Mohan
Policy Review, Feb/Mar 2006, #135, pp43-62
"India is beginning to rediscover the enduring elements of
its own traditional geopolitical thinking and actively considering
partnership with America, if only to advance its own interests.
Indian Prime minister Manmohan Singh's visit to Washington cemented
a growing de facto strategic partnership between the US and India,
which will test America's ability to engage an independent democracy
that has had no record of security or economic dependence on the
US. Khanna and Mohan explore the course of Indo-US relations".
Parag Khanna is a fellow at the New America Foundation and author
of The Second World, forthcoming from Random House. C. Raja
Mohan is strategic affairs editor ofthe Indian Express in New
Delhi. Fulltext
A17 - Patterns of Discontent
Clawson, Patrick; Rubin, Michael
Middle East Review of International Affairs,v10,#1, March 26, 2006, online edition, 17p
While international attention is focused on Iran's nuclear program and President Mahmud Ahmadinejad's bombast, Iranian society itself is facing turbulent times. Increasingly, patterns are re-emerging that mirror events in the years before the Islamic revolution. These include political disillusionment, domestic protest, government failure to match public expectations of economic success, and labor unrest. Nevertheless, the Islamic regime has learned the lessons of the past and is determined not to repeat them, even as political discord crescendos. This essay is derived from the authors' recent book, "Eternal Iran: Continuity and Chaos." Patrick Clawson is deputy director of the Washington Institute for Near East Policy.Michael Rubin is a resident scholar at the American Enterprise Institute. Fulltext
A18 - Iran's Conflict With the West is Already Underway
Copley, Gregory R.
Defense & Foreign Affairs Strategic Policy, Winter 2006,
v34, # 1, pp4-9
"The unexplained disappearance on January 23, 2006, of Iranian
Pres. Mahmud Ahmadi-Nejad (pictured), who failed to show up for
a meeting with Iraqi Shi'a cleric Muqtada al-Sadr, head of the
so-called "Imam Mehdi Army", raised immediate questions
as to whether the Iranian clerical leadership was preparing to
"go underground" in preparation for a confrontation
with Israel and the US..." Gregory R. Copley, Editor
at Defense & Foreign Affairs Strategic Policy.
Fulltext
A19 - Seeing Baghdad, Thinking Saigon
Stephen Biddle
Foreign Affairs, March/April 2006, v85, #2, pp2-14
“Most discussions of U.S. policy in Iraq assume that it should
be informed by the lessons of Vietnam. But the conflict in Iraq
today is a communal civil war, not a Maoist "people's war,"
and so those lessons are not valid. "Iraqization," in
particular, is likely to make matters worse, not better.” Stephen
Biddle is a Senior Fellow in Defense Policy at the Council on
Foreign Relations and the author of Military Power. Fulltext
A20 - The Iraqi Insurgency and the Risk of Civil War: Who Are
the Players?
Cordesman, Anthony H.
Center for Strategic and International Studies, CSIS report,
March 1, 2006, online edition, 124p "Attention has focused
on the possibility of a civil war in Iraq since the recent bombing
of a Shi’ite shrine there. Anthony Cordesman, who holds CSIS’s
Arleigh A. Burke Chair in Strategy, examines this topic more closely
in a new analysis of the insurgency’s major actors." In this
in-depth report the author examines the roles of the different
religious and ethnic groups in Iraq as well as the influence of
neighboring Syria and Iran. Anthony Cordesman, who holds CSIS’s
Arleigh A. Burke Chair in Strategy, examines this topic more closely
in a new analysis of the insurgency’s major actors. Fulltext
A21 - A Switch in Time: A New Strategy for America in Iraq
Pollack, Kenneth M.
Saban Center Analysis, Number 7, February 15, 2006 online
edition, 142p
"There is no greater foreign policy challenge for the United
States today than the reconstruction of Iraq. For this reason,
in November-December 2005, the Saban Center for Middle East Policy
at the Brookings Institution brought together a small group of
experts on Iraq, on the process of political and economic reconstruction,
and on military affairs, under the direction of its Director of
Research, Kenneth M. Pollack, to consider U.S. policy toward Iraq
in all of its dimensions. Pollack then took the fruits of these
discussions, along with findings from trips to Iraq and to U.S.
Central Command headquarters in Tampa, and crafted them into a
new report from the Saban Center entitled A Switch in Time: A
New Strategy for America in Iraq. This monograph details a comprehensive,
alternative approach to current U.S. military, political, and
economic policies in Iraq." Kenneth Pollack is the Director
of Research at the Saban Center for Middle East Policy at The
Brookings Institution. Fulltext
A22 - Humanitarian Intervention and the War in Iraq: Norms,
Discourse, and State Practice
Heinze, Eric A.
Parameters, Spring 2006, v36, #1, pp20-34
"Critics of the humanitarian argument contend that under
most criteria for a legitimate humanitarian intervention, the
use of force for humanitarian purposes may be used only in the
most extreme and exceptional cases of genocide or mass slaughter.
The reasoning here is twofold. First, we would not want military
force used in cases of minor or small-scale abuses for the simple
fact that the harm caused by the intervention would eclipse the
harm that it sought to avert. Second, we want to reserve the military
option for only those extreme and exceptional cases (such as genocide
or mass slaughter), so as to avoid creating an excuse for waging
war every time there is a nasty regime that demonstrates something
less than the ideal complement of human rights..." The author
argues that if the idea of humanitarian intervention falls from
grace because of its association with the Iraq-U.S. conflict as
well as the U.S. war on terror, then a valuable instrument in
the tool kit of human rights strategies may be rendered undeservedly
useless. Dr. Eric A. Heinze is Assistant Professor in Political
Science and International and Area Studies at the University of
Oklahoma. Fulltext
North Korea
A23 - The Twin Peaks of Pyongyang
Hassig, Ralph C. and Kongdan Oh
Orbis, Winter 2005/06, v50, #1, pp5-21
The United States has been negotiating with North Korea in an
effort to have it renounce its nuclear program for over a decade,
ever since Washington negotiated an agreed framework in 1994.
In this time, North Korea has only amassed more plutonium. The
negotiations are hindered by mutual distrust and hostility...
It is the Kim regime that is the core problem. Until the regime
is removed, there can be no durable peace in the region. The author
suggests that since any attempt to remove the Kim regime militarily
would entail huge costs, Washington might consider a third option:
directly engaging the North Korean people. Ralph C. Hassig
is a Washington, D.C.-based consultant on North Korea and an adjunct
professor of psychology at the University of Maryland College.
Kongdan Oh is a research staff member at the institute for Defense
Analyses, and a non-resident senior fellow at the Brookings Institute.
Order Article
A24 - New Challenges for Putin’s Foreign Policy
Tsygankov, Andrei P.
Orbis, Winter 2005/06, v50, #1, pp153-165
"This article evaluates Russia's foreign policy after Vladimir
Putin’s reelection as president in March 2004. New challenges
such as the intensification of terrorist activities in the Northern
Caucasus, the Orange Revolution, the destabilization of Central
Asia, and the refusal by some European States to attend the celebration
of the sixtieth anniversary over fascism hosted in Moscow became
important tests of Putin's strategy of great-power pragmatism..."
Andrei P.Tsygankov is associate Professor at the San Francisco
State University. Order
Article
A25 - Russia's Wrong Direction: What the United States Can
Do and Should Do
Independent Task Force Report #57, Council on Foreign Relations
(CFR), March 2006, online edition, 96p
Fifteen years after the collapse of the Soviet Union, “U.S.-Russia
relations are clearly headed in the wrong direction,” finds an
Independent Task Force on U.S. policy toward Russia sponsored
by the Council on Foreign Relations. “Contention is crowding out
consensus. The very idea of a ‘strategic partnership’ no longer
seems realistic," it concludes.” The bipartisan Task
Force was chaired by former Senator John Edwards and former Congressman
and Housing and Urban Development Secretary Jack Kemp and directed
by Council Senior Fellow Stephen Sestanovich." Fulltext
A26 - Will the European Union Allow Turkey In?
Hakki, Murat
American Foreign Policy Interests, December 2005, v27, #5,
pp395-401
"The Europeans fought the Turks and tried to drive them away
from Europe for about
16 centuries beginning in 452 C.E., when Attila, the emperor of
the Huns, besieged Rome. The Turks almost achieved their goal
in the 1912–1913 Balkan War. Almost 90 years later, circumstances
brought them to the gates of Brussels as a candidate for European
Union (EU) membership. The most advanced stage Turkey reached
in the process of accession came with the EU’s decision to begin
negotiations on October 3, 2005. The success of the government
in Turkey should be acknowledged with respect, for it reached
a point no Turkish cabinet had reached until then. It is obvious,
however, that the repercussions of the December 17, 2004, decision
to begin negotiations should not be overestimated because Turkey
still faces ambiguous prospects based on the imposition of special
conditions on the country, and compromises may be necessary in
the future. Murat Metin Hakki is an AM candidate in Middle
Eastern Studies at Harvard University. Order Article
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