Securing America's Future, Rudy de Leon, Daniel Weiss, et al Avoid the Rush to Judgement, Brian Katulis In Afghanistan, We Do What We Must, Lawrence Korb Peaking Duck, Julian Wong Web 2.0 and Latin America's Upcoming Elections, Stephanie Miller Election Legitimacy a Critical Test for Obama Afghan Strategy, Brian Katulis Afghan Election Challenges, Brian Katulis High Engagement Shows Afghan Desire for Change, Brian Katulis Obama's Focus on Afghanistan, Lawrence Korb Uncertainy Continues in Election Results, Brian Katulis Christopher Beddor, Winny Chen, Rudy de Leon, Shiyong Park and Daniel Weiss, "Securing America's Future: Enhancing Our National Security by Reducing Oil Dependence and Environmental Damage," Center for American Progress, August 25, 2009 America’s dependence on foreign oil transfers U.S. dollars to a number of unfriendly regimes, while robbing the United States of the economic resources it desperately needs for domestic development and American innovation. American petrodollars fund regimes and economic investments that do not serve U.S. interests. And our enormous appetite for oil—America burns a full quarter of the world’s oil—feeds the global demand that finances and sustains corrupt and undemocratic regimes around the globe. The perilous implications of this arrangement—increasing power and influence of oil exporters, many of whom comprise the world’s worst regimes—will become more explicit if global demand increases as some current forecasts predict. Click here to read the full report. Brian Katulis, "Avoid the Rush to Judgement," Foreign Policy, August 22, 2009 As a member of an international observer delegation organized by Democracy International, I've been asked questions that simply can't be answered at this point, because no one has enough information to know what actually transpired in Thursday's elections.  Different groups have a collection of anecdotes and observations from around the country.  But that's all they are -- anecdotes and qualitative observations.  Will that stop groups from holding press conferences this weekend or analysts from penning opinion editorials drawing grand conclusions for U.S. strategy as a result of the elections?  Don't bet on it -- the mad rush is spin the elections is already happening. Click here to read the full article. Lawrence Korb, "In Afghanistan, We Do What We Must," Center for American Progress, August 21, 2009 Candidate Obama was correct in calling Iraq an unnecessary war and promising to give priority to Afghanistan. He made a good start shortly after taking office by sending 21,000 more troops to Afghanistan and setting a date to withdraw American combat troops from Iraq. But he should not let “troop needs” in Iraq remain a limiting factor on sending more forces to Afghanistan. Click here to read the full article. Julian Wong, "Peaking Duck," Center for American Progress, August 20, 2009 All eyes are focused on the United States and China—the two biggest greenhouse gas emitters—with just four months to go to the U.N. summit on climate change in Copenhagen, where nations will negotiate a successor treaty to the Kyoto Protocol, which expires in 2012. Attendees at the most recent round of U.N. climate talks in Bonn, Germany may have left the meetings with a pessimistic sense that we’re a long way off from a global agreement. But interesting developments are unfolding in China outside of these U.N. meetings that bring a more hopeful message. Click here to read the full article. Stephanie Miller, "Web 2.0 and Latin America's Upcoming Elections," Center for American Progress, August 20, 2009 At least 10 countries in Latin America and the Caribbean will hold presidential elections by 2012, with eight occurring before 2011. At the same time Latin America’s electoral landscape is marked by a dramatic rise in the number of Internet users and the increasingly sophisticated use of the Internet by politicians and citizens alike. The potential impact of political campaigns that harness the Internet in this new wave of regional elections is therefore greater than ever before. As a result, analysts of Latin American electoral politics—and Latin American politicians themselves—should pay attention to the Internet’s role in these upcoming elections and the impact it may have on future political campaigns in the region. Click here to read the full article. Wall Street Journal - Brian Katulis analyzes the importance of Afghanistan's presidential election outcomes: "The Obama administration's policy hinges on whether a legitimate leader emerges from this election ... Without a legitimate civilian leadership here you'll have a shaky foundation for the whole policy." National Public Radio - Brian Katulis, monitoring the vote in Kabul, describes the challenges inherent in conducting elections in Afghanistan: "[it] is completely in a category of its own, given the nature of the terrain, given the decentralized nature of the situation, just the pure infrastructure challenges that people face here." USA Today - Brian Katulis says that the active campaigning by politicians across Afghanistan: "speaks volumes of a desire to move beyond the old way of thinking." Reuters - Lawrence Korb assesses the administration's new focus on the situation in Afghanistan: "(Obama) has provided a change of leadership, he's provided a strategy going from counterterrorism to counterinsurgency, and he's provided more resources ...The question becomes: will these things be able to reverse the situation that is deteriorating?" To The Point - Brian Katulis discusses the ongoing uncertainties in the Afghan election process: "We went into this election understanding that there was a great deal of uncertainty about this process. ...The counting process is one of the most important periods in an election process, and we're not out of the woods yet." Assessing the Afghan Elections September 1, 2009, 9:00 AM - 10:30 AM On August 20, the Afghan people went to the polls to vote in the country's second presidential elections since the fall of the Taliban regime in 2001. Despite record levels of voter registration, a heavy campaign of intimidation by insurgents is reported to have depressed turnout, and allegations of fraud in the run up to and conduct of the election have raised questions about how legitimate the eventual announcement of official results will be perceived by the Afghan people. Please join the Center for American Progress for an assessment of the elections and their implications for the future Afghan government and U.S. policy in the region, featuring observations from international election monitors Eric Bjornlund and Brian Katulis and NPR National Security Correspondent Jackie Northam. Moderated by: Caroline Wadhams, Senior Policy Analyst, Center for American Progress Featured panelists: Eric Bjornlund, Principal, Democracy International Jackie Northam, National Security Correspondent, National Public Radio Brian Katulis, Senior Fellow, Center for American Progress For more information and to RSVP, please click here. Sign up: Policy e-newsletters The Progress Report To unsubscribe, click here Support the Center for American Progress Comments, questions: Email Us National Security Policy Weekly is a product of the Center for American Progress www.americanprogress.org | contact us | unsubscribe