National Security Policy Weekly

The Pakistan Challenge, Brian Katulis
Northern Uganda, John Prendergast, and Adam O’Brien
Tricks of the Trade, Brian Katulis
Daily Report from Pakistan, Brian Katulis
Chemical Anti-Terrorism, Center for American Progress
Malaysia Wobbles, Tony Wilson
Choosing the Annapolis Road, Mara Rudman and Brian Katulis
Iran Nuclear Meltdown Event, Center for American Progress

Reagan and Nukes, Joseph Cirincione
U.S.-Saudi Relations, Mara Rudman
Global Arms Sales, Andrew Grotto
Iran's Bushehr Nuclear Plant, P.J. Crowley

Brian Katulis, "The Pakistan Challenge: The United States Cannot Fail Here," Center for American Progress, December 14, 2007
Pakistan strongman Pervez Musharraf this weekend will lift martial law in prelude to what promises to be a chaotic political campaign in the run up to national elections early next month. The coming three weeks in Pakistan will be a vital test case for whether the United States and other global powers can make a clean break from the past and shift toward a more pragmatic and effective set of policies for fighting the war against Al Qaeda and the Taliban.

Click here to read the full article.

John Prendergast and Adam O’Brien, "A Diplomatic Surge for Northern Uganda," ENOUGH Report, December 12, 2007
Dissension, disarray, deaths, and defections within the rebel Lord’s Resistance Army leadership provide a major opportunity for negotiators to pursue—parallel to an expeditious conclusion of the formal negotiations process in Juba—the conclusion of a swift deal with LRA leader Joseph Kony himself. Such a deal would seek to find an acceptable set of security and livelihood arrangements for the LRA leadership—particularly those indicted by the International Criminal Court—and its rank and file. This moment of weakness at the top of the LRA must be seized upon immediately. If diplomats don’t, the LRA’s long-time patron, the government of Sudan, will eventually come to Kony’s rescue as it has in the past, and new life will be breathed into the organization in the form of weapons and supplies.

Click here to read the full report.

Brian Katulis, "Tricks of the Trade," The Guardian Online, December 17, 2007
The vast majority of Pakistanis met the lifting of emergency rule by Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf this weekend with a mystified silence. In a speech to the nation on Saturday night, Musharraf argued that imposing emergency rule last month was necessary to "protect democracy". In Orwellian doublespeak, Musharraf described in his speech why his actions - which in large part amounted to locking up thousands of lawyers, judges, journalists and civil society activists - was vital to protect democracy against the threat posed by terrorists.

Click here to read the full commentary.

Brian Katulis, "Daily Report from Pakistan," TPM Cafe blog, December 10-14, 2007
The United States faces some of its most difficult national security dilemmas in the country a Newsweek magazine cover recently dubbed “the most dangerous nation in the world.” Serious stakes hang in the balance, with Pakistan at the nexus of the most pressing security challenges: nuclear weapons, international terrorism, religious extremism, endemic poverty, and political reform. Pakistan directly impacts international efforts in Afghanistan, with the Taliban and Al Qaeda finding safe haven in the lawless border regions between Pakistan and Afghanistan. Yet hardly anyone knows what to do about Pakistan, including our most experienced national security hands. For decades, the U.S. approach to Pakistan has suffered from ad hoc, reactive, and short-term thinking, and the coming year will present even more difficult choices for U.S. policymakers.

Click here to read the full commentary

"Proper Implementation of Chemical Facility Anti-Terrorism Standards Is a Must," Center for American Progress, December 12, 2007
Chemical security is arguably the most significant homeland security vulnerability confronting the United States today. Deadly chemicals, particularly gases such as chlorine, ammonia, and sulfur dioxide, represent one of the few genuine terrorist nightmare scenarios that threaten hundreds of thousands of people. And it is not just a theoretical vulnerability; insurgents in Iraq have attempted to use chlorine gas tanker trucks as improvised weapons.

Click here to read the full article.

Tony Wilson, "US Looks on as Malaysia Wobbles," Asia Times Online, December 14, 2007
Protests for greater democratization have spurred a strategic Muslim ally of the United States to clamp down and prioritize security concerns over civil liberties. Opposition parties have promised more protests, while the government states it will not tolerate any more public demonstrations that it deems a threat to national security. All of this takes place with critical democratic elections on the horizon.

Although this scenario could apply to Pakistan, a key ally in the US-led "war on terror," it applies equally to Malaysia, a country that in recent years has been on the periphery of US foreign policy and now suddenly is at risk of becoming another regional political hot spot. Malaysia is important both strategically and economically as the world's 34th largest economy and currently the United States' 10th-largest trade partner.

Click here to read the full commentary.

Mara Rudman and Brian Katulis, "Choosing the Annapolis Road," Daily News Egypt, December 11, 2007
The ink on the joint Israeli-Palestinian understanding is dry, the delegates have gone home, and the streets of Annapolis are no longer crowded with diplomatic security details. After Annapolis, everyone is asking: what next?

Even before the sessions began, pundits on the left and right flashed their skepticism in editorials and commentary. Extremists on the fringes — Americans, Israelis, and Palestinians alike — took to their streets to protest a meeting aimed at jumpstarting the peace process. With such cynicism and downright opposition, the safe bet was on Annapolis achieving nothing. The meeting seemed doomed, its legs ready to snap from the attacking and pointed intellectual arguments made by sharp analysts for whom critique is stock in trade. There was equally vociferous opposition from radicals who have killed brave leaders, and used violence to terrorize the silent majorities, to intimidate those who support a two-state solution.

Click here to read the full article.

"Nuclear Meltdown: Rebuilding a Coherent a Policy Toward Iran," Center for American Event Summary, December 14, 2007
“If the U.S. had seen the same opening Iran did after 9/11, there wouldn’t be 3000 centrifuges spinning right now,” said Barbara Slavin, a senior diplomatic reporter at USA Today and author of Bitter Friends, Bosom Enemies: Iran, the U.S., and the Twisted Path to Confrontation.

Slavin, who is also on leave this year as a fellow at the U.S. Institute of Peace, joined Trita Parsi, author of Treacherous Alliance: The Secret Dealings of Israel, Iran, and the United States and president of the National Iranian American Council, in a discussion at the Center for American Progress titled “Nuclear Meltdown: Rebuilding a Coherent Policy Toward Iran.” Joseph Cirincione, Senior Fellow and Director of Nuclear Policy at the Center for American Progress and co-author of Contain and Engage: A New Strategy for Resolving the Iranian Nuclear Crisis, moderated the panel.

Click here to read the full summary.

New York Times- Joseph Cirincione and writer Richard Rhodes on Ronald Reagan's misunderstood quest for disarmament. "This was a revelation. This was not the dottering old man that is often the caricature of Reagan. The point became not just to have a treaty to cut the weapons in half, but to actually eliminate the weapons."

Fox News- Mara Rudman comments on U.S.-Saudi relations. "Its a difficult situation. It's a challenging country, and yet, it's a country that's a key partner of ours in a number of difficult situations in that part of that world. And it's a country that, horrifying as situations are, they have also shown leadership on a number of difficult issues in that part of the world."

Pravda- Andrew Grotto discusses the global arms trade. "The truth is that the United States spends so much money on defense that it's technological capabilities are unparalleled. As we say in America, you get what you pay for."

Fox News - P.J. Crowley discusses the Russia's role in Iran's recent announcement to build a second nuclear power plant. “The only good news here is that in providing nuclear fuel to Iran for the Bushehr plant, Russia has gotten agreements that there will be close international inspections through the IAEA.”

Conflict in Lebanon

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Persepolis
December 16, 2007,
7:00- 9:15 pm

PERSEPOLIS is the poignant story of a young girl in Iran during the Islamic Revolution. It is through the eyes of precocious and outspoken nine year old Marjane that we see a people's hopes dashed as fundamentalists take power - forcing the veil on women and imprisoning thousands. Clever and fearless, she outsmarts the "social guardians" and discovers punk. Yet when her uncle is senselessly executed and as bombs fall around Tehran in the Iran/Iraq war, the daily fear that permeates life in Iran is palpable.

As she gets older, Marjane's boldness causes her parents to worry over her continued safety. And so, at age fourteen, they make the difficult decision to send her to school in Austria. Vulnerable and alone in a strange land, she endures the typical ordeals of a teenager. Over time, she gains acceptance, and even experiences love, but after high school she finds herself alone and horribly homesick.

Though it means putting on the veil and living in a tyrannical society, Marjane decides to return to Iran to be close to her family. After a difficult period of adjustment, she enters art school and marries, all the while continuing to speak out against the hypocrisy she witnesses. At age 24, she realizes that while she is deeply Iranian, she cannot live in Iran. She then makes the heartbreaking decision to leave her homeland for France, optimistic about her future, shaped indelibly by her past.

Featured Panelists:
Marjane Satrapi, writer/director, PERSEPOLIS
Vincent Paronnaud, writer/director, PERSEPOLIS

Moderated by:
Mara Rudman, Senior Fellow, Advisor to Middle East Progress, Center for American Progress

SPACE IS EXTREMELY LIMITED.
RSVP Required. RSVP's are for single tickets only. First come, first served.

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