International Security & Defense

12 Items

President-elect Joe Biden and his climate envoy, John Kerry, at The Queen theater.

Carolyn Kaster/AP

Analysis & Opinions - Bloomberg Opinion

What Does Success Look Like for a Climate Czar?

| Dec. 02, 2020

President-elect Joe Biden’s decision to create a new cabinet-level position for climate-related issues — and to choose so prominent a figure as former Secretary of State John Kerry to fill it — demonstrates Biden’s sincerity over putting climate at the very center of U.S. foreign policy. It is easy to understate the importance of this appointment, given the flurry of czars created by most new administrations.

Kurdish protest against ISIS

Alan Denney

Analysis & Opinions - Bloomberg Opinion

How the U.S. Can Quell the Kurdish Crisis

| Oct. 04, 2017

More than 90 percent of Iraq's Kurds voted to declare independence last week, bringing tensions to an even higher boil across the Middle East. The regional governments that opposed the referendum -- Turkey, Iran and the Iraqi government in Baghdad -- are intent on punishing the Kurds, already beginning economic measures and even threatening a military response.

The U.S., which also vigorously opposed the referendum, must resist the urge to pile on. Rather, Washington should shift its policy away from combating a Kurdish challenge to the unity of Iraq to a more neutral, less outcome-oriented stance.

Millions of Venezuelans marching on 20 May 2017 during the We Are Millions march.

Voice of America

Analysis & Opinions - Bloomberg Opinion

The Right Way to Do Regime Change in Venezuela

| Sep. 28, 2017

Unsurprisingly, President Donald Trump hasn’t held back when speaking about the political crisis in Venezuela. Before the United Nations General Assembly, he demanded the full restoration of “democracy and political freedoms” in the Latin American country. A month earlier, he stunned many by stating that he would not rule out a military intervention. His UN ambassador, Nikki Haley, has echoed the fierce rhetoric, declaring that the U.S. will not tolerate a “dictatorship” in Venezuela.

Observers are forgiven if they are perplexed. How is the administration’s position toward Venezuela consistent with its oft-stated insistence that every country has the right to be sovereign? Or with Trump’s promises that the days of Washington meddling in the domestic affairs of other countries are over?

January 25, 2012 – President Barack Obama speaking at Intel's Fab 42, an art chip manufacturing plant in Chandler, AZ.

Nick Knupffer/Intel/Flickr

Analysis & Opinions - Politico

In Iraq, Obama Has Two Terrible Choices

| June 22, 2014

In his efforts to save Iraq, President Obama is right to demand more power-sharing and other political reforms from Iraqi leaders before the United States offers more military assistance. But Obama should not think he can hold off offering such assistance until he secures those reforms—not if he wants to prevent the bloody breakup of the country and a wider regional war. As sensible as a conditional approach seems, the president simply doesn’t have that option open to him.

Report

Challenges to U.S. Global Leadership

In a Harvard Kennedy School IDEASpHERE session titled "Challenges to US Global Leadership," Graham Allison, Nicholas Burns, David Gergen, David Ignatius, and Meghan O’Sullivan discussed challenges as well as opportunities facing the United States. Burns moderated the session.

Challenges include the rise of China and the future of the U.S.-China relationship, the crises taking place around the world, and the reputation of the U.S. worldwide. An unexpected opportunity is the increase in available energy sources in the United States.

An Iraqi police officer casts his vote at a polling center in Baghdad, Iraq, Monday, April 28, 2014.

AP Images

Paper

Choosing an Electoral System

| April 29, 2014

As the drama of the Middle East’s democratic upheaval unfolds, the design of electoral systems is a crucial but underreported part of the story. Our original analysis of Iraqi elections in 2005 and 2010 demonstrate that small changes in how votes become seats can have a major impact on who governs. As such, they offer critical lessons for those shaping the contours of the democracies struggling to emerge in the Middle East today.

Supporters of ousted President Mohammed Morsi protest at the Republican Guard building in Nasr City, Cairo, Egypt, Tuesday, July 9, 2013.

AP Images

Analysis & Opinions - Bloomberg Opinion

What Egypt Can Learn From Iraq, and Vice Versa

| July 10, 2013

While arguing over the merits of continuing U.S. aid to Egypt, commentators and analysts tend to agree on two main points. First, there is a general consensus on what President Mohamed Mursi and the Muslim Brotherhood got wrong. Second, virtually all Western observers are stressing the need for an inclusive government in Egypt. In the first point, Egypt offers a lesson to Iraq and, in the second, Iraq offers a lesson to Egypt. Together, they point to the direction U.S. policy should take.

March 10, 2003 - Bush and his top aides engaged in last-minute telephone diplomacy to world leaders in an uphill struggle to gain support for a U.N. resolution setting up war against Iraq.

AP Images

Journal Article - American Interest

The Iraq War at Ten

| March 19, 2013

April marks the tenth anniversary of the overthrow of Saddam Hussein by the United States and its partners. At this juncture, it is reasonable for Americans—and Iraqis and others—to ask whether the past decade of U.S. involvement in Iraq was worth it. Did the large human and financial costs produce an outcome that justifies the sacrifice?

A pro-Syrian regime protester waves a national flag as he stands in front of huge portrait of Syrian President Bashar Assad during a protest against the Arabs and European sanctions, in Damascus, Syria, on Friday Dec. 2, 2011.

Muzaffar Salman - AP Photo

Analysis & Opinions - Bloomberg Opinion

Sanctions Alone Won’t Topple Syria’s Assad

| February 22, 2012

On Feb. 24, the U.S., European nations, members of the Arab League and other sympathetic countries making up the newly established “Friends of Syria” group will gather in Tunisia for an emergency meeting on how to stem the bloodshed in Syria. Their deliberations are almost certain to involve calls for more crippling sanctions to bring about regime change and debates over providing military support to the fractured opposition groups inside the country.