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- Meeting the Challenges in Pakistan,
Lawrence Korb, Brian Katulis, and Colin Cookman
- What Next for North Korea?, Andrew Grotto
- Back on Track to Close Guantanamo, Ken
Gude
- The Obama Administration and Colombia in
2010, Stephanie Miller
- Honoring Our Veterans on Memorial Day,
Center for American Progress
- Building Long-Lasting Partnerships in
Pakistan, Sarah Dreier
- The Next Catastrophe in the Congo, Colin
Thomas-Jensen
- Pakistan is the Priority, Brian Katulis
- Principal Challenge in Pakistan is
Governance, Colin Cookman
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Lawrence Korb, Brian
Katulis, and Colin Cookman, "Meeting the Challenges in Pakistan,"
Center for
American Progress, May 27, 2009
During the Obama administration’s first four months in office,
Pakistan
has reemerged as a top national security concern. Internal instability
and violence in Pakistan has escalated, with a Taliban insurgency
seizing more territory and militant groups undermining a weak Pakistani
state. Divisions among Pakistan’s political leaders, which came
to a
head in a battle between Pakistan’s two leading political parties
in
March, have impeded a national consensus on addressing the long list of
Pakistan’s problems. Furthermore, a volatile regional security
environment has deteriorated, with the Mumbai terrorist attacks in late
November escalating tensions between India and Pakistan, and the war in
Afghanistan having a direct impact on Pakistan’s security. The
United
States is now transitioning from formulating a new strategy on Pakistan
to the more difficult task of policy implementation and execution.
Click here to
read the full report.
Andrew Grotto, "What Next for North Korea?," Center
for American Progress, May 26, 2009
For most countries, isolation from the
international community and
global economy would be a stiff sentence for ignoring the consequences
of testing another atomic weapon illegally, as North Korea did this
past weekend. Few domestic economies could survive without access to
international markets, but North Korea, of course, is no ordinary
country.
Click here to
read the full article.
Ken Gude, "Back On Track to Close Guantanamo," Center
for American Progress, May 22, 2009
President Barack Obama returned to the
offensive yesterday with a
forceful argument in support of his decision to close the
Guantánamo
Bay detention facility and reform U.S. detention policy. And it was
none too soon, as the momentum of his sweeping actions in January had
evaporated. The president’s reasoned approach to detention policy
stood
in sharp contrast to former Vice President Dick Cheney, whose outlook
is frozen in time on September 12, 2001. Obama’s framework
contains
some worrisome elements, and important decisions remain, but his
reliance on the wisdom of experience is far preferable to
Cheney’s
willful ignorance.
Click here to
read the full article.
Stephanie Miller, "The Obama Administration and
Columbia in 2010," Center for American Progress, May 22, 2009
Colombia’s Minister of Defense,
Juan Manuel Santos, announced his
resignation from office earlier this week and declared his intention to
run for president in next year’s elections if President
Álvaro Uribe
does not attempt to seek a third term. Legislation calling for a
national referendum to allow President Uribe to do so—supported
by
members of the same party—also was approved by the Senate this
week,
making the likelihood of a third term more probable even though the
country’s Constitutional Court will ultimately have the final say
on
the matter.
Click here to
read the full article.
Center for American Progress, "Honoring Our Veterans
on Memorial Day," May 22, 2009
This by-the-numbers look at our active
duty servicemen and
veterans highlights the many men and women who have served our country
and are
still in need of services to improve their quality of
life—before,
during, and after deployments. This year, the need is even more urgent
than
ever as the economic crisis hits many veterans and their families hard
and
these Americans struggle to find jobs, pay their mortgages, and get
back on their
feet.
Click here to
read the full article.
Sarah Dreier, "Building Long-Lasting Partnerships with
Pakistan," Center for American Progress, May 21, 2009
Poverty, weak governance, and a Taliban
insurgency (on the rise in
recent months), present severe security threats to both American
interests and to nearly 170 million Pakistani citizens, many of whom
are living without access to food, water, education, or basic health
care, Brian Katulis explained in a briefing to a group of faith-based
experts and justice advocates convened by the Faith and Progressive
Policy team at the Center for American Progress in early May.
Click here to
read the full article.
Colin Thomas-Jensen,
"The Next Catastrophe in the Congo," Huffington Post, May 20, 2009
While the world laments the plight of
Pakistani and Sri Lankan
civilians caught between government offensives and repugnant armed
groups, a similar scenario is unfolding without much international
notice in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. The Congolese army,
with support from U.N. peacekeepers, is in the early stages of an
offensive against Rwandan rebels ensconced in the lush forests of
eastern Congo. The deplorable situation there -- already one of the
world's worst humanitarian crises -- is poised to get much worse. While
the Rwandan rebels are undoubtedly a scourge to the local population
and a major driver of ongoing conflict in Central Africa, the military
action as planned will lead to more atrocities against Congolese
civilians, create greater numbers of displaced and desperate people,
and, because of the U.N.'s involvement, do lasting damage to the
efficacy of U.N. peacekeeping.
Click here to
read the full article.
USA Today - Brian Katulis discusses
observations by George McGovern on Afghanistan: "I'm glad former
senator McGovern brings up al-Qaeda in Pakistan. I
just returned from Pakistan, and having a clear mission there is more
important than Afghanistan."
Center for American
Progress - Colin
Cookman discusses a recent fact-finding trip to Pakistan: "Nearly every
individual we met said they think the most critical issue facing
Pakistan is basic governance and the provision of services such as
justice, economic opportunity, and human security - rather than the
counterterrorism frame that has dominated the American approach to the
country over the past eight years."
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The Status of Jerusalem
June 3, 2009, 1:00 PM - 2:30 PM
As Israelis and Palestinians consider reopening
negotiations, the final status issues -- such as Jerusalem, refugees,
security and borders -- loom on the horizon. For over a decade,
Palestinians, Israelis and others have been working on creative
solutions to these seemingly intractable challenges.
Middle East Progress at the Center for American
Progress invites you
to hear from three experts who have been looking at the issue of
Jerusalem, the city at the heart of the conflict.
The discussion will focus on the multiple
challenges Jerusalem poses
to any resolution to the Israeli-Palestinian and broader Arab-Israeli
conflict and how they might be resolved.
Featured Discussants:
Ambassador Michael Bell, University of
Windsor
Marshall Breger, Columbus School of Law
Discussion
Moderated by:
Ambassador Daniel
Kurtzer, Princeton University
For
more information and to RSVP, click here.
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