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Joint Task Force East and Shared Military Basing in Romania and Bulgaria

Authors: Dorinel Moldovan, Plamen Pantev, and Matthew Rhodes - Date: August 2009 - Joint Task Force East (JTFE), the framework for shared used of select military bases in Romania and Bulgaria, marks a major milestone in America’s military presence in Central and Southeast Europe. Following previous, more limited deployments across the region, U.S. forces are poised to become long-term fixtures in both countries under renewable, ten-year agreements signed in late 2005 and early 2006. The arrangements potentially serve as representative models for similar efforts in other countries. All three governments have hailed their new cooperation as of great strategic, even historic, significance. For the U.S., it exemplifies the broader transformation of defense capabilities and...

Friday, 02 October 2009 | Read more

Jihadist Terrorist Use of Strategic Communication Management Techniques

Author: Dr. Carsten Bockstette - Date: December 2008 - As long as the East bloc existed, military conflicts were largely determined by the policy of the USA and the USSR. Since the East-West conflict was decided in favor of the West, numerous asymmetrical conflicts have erupted around the globe in the aftermath. Terrorist conflicts have become a worldwide menace. Jihadist terrorism has spread beyond the borders of the regions in which it had its origin and has reached a global dimension. The terrorist abuse of airliners as bombs on September 11, 2001 was a sad climax in this new asymmetrical jihadist conflict. To offset this threat requires knowledge of what motivates, feeds and sanctions jihadist terrorists and their followers. Research and analysis of the root causes and...

Monday, 01 September 2008 | Read more

Europe's Dependence on Russian Natural Gas: Perspectives and Recommendations for a Long-term Strategy

Author: Richard J. Anderson - Date: September 2008 - While the current European Union energy policy is forward thinking in its targets for renewable energy, economizing, and emission reduction, it falls short in its failure to recognize the security threat of the increasing dependence on Russian hydrocarbons – in particular, natural gas. This paper proposes a diversification strategy with concrete steps that can be taken in a variety of energy policy areas to create, over the long-term, a more balanced approach to meeting energy needs. Europe must undertake such a strategy not only because over-reliance on any one source represents unsound policy, but more importantly because domination of the European market has been a clear and calculated goal that an unreliable Russian...

Monday, 01 September 2008 | Read more

Business as Usual: An Assessment of Donald Rumsfeld’s Transformation Vision and Transformation’s Prospects for the Future

Author: Mark G. Czelusta - Date: June 2008 - While Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld did not invent transformation, he made the effort a singular priority. But by 2007, defense language shifted from “transforming” to “recapitalizing” the military. Rumsfeld was out of office and the organizations he created to facilitate transformation were reabsorbed by the larger Pentagon bureaucracy. If Rumsfeld’s transformation is indeed dead, does this mean that transformation, as a greater process is dead as well? Answers to such questions require one to understand first that “Rumsfeld’s transformation vision” is actually the result of multiple influences that predate his time in office. Second, “Rumsfeld’s transformation vision” is actually an umbrella term for a new...

Monday, 02 June 2008 | Read more

Sword or Ploughshare? New Roles for NATO and the Changing Nature of Transatlantic Relations

Author: Dr. Olaf Theiler - Date: February 2008 - The new strategic environment has challenged the mission and identity of the Atlantic Alliance and caused serious disputes. Disputes between the European nations and the United States of America over burden-sharing and different roles have been a recurring feature of transatlantic relations. A great deal of thought is currently being given to new forms for the transatlantic partnership, although a viable outcome is still a long way off. At present, the political elites in the U.S. and Europe are in a phase of redefining their relationship to one another. In Washington, conclusions and consequences are gradually being drawn from the difficult experiences of the Iraq crisis, while in Europe the controversy that has existed since the...

Sunday, 10 February 2008 | Read more

Provincial Reconstruction Teams in Afghanistan

Author: Markus Gauster - Date: January 2008 - Since 2003, the so-called Provincial Reconstruction Teams (PRTs) have attempted to combine relatively small civilian and military components on the ground in Afghanistan, to achieve comprehensive results by focusing on provincial and district centres and to support the political leadership as well as the Afghan society extensively, without, however, releasing them from their responsibilities, or dominating them. Up to now, experience with the PRTs point towards their considerable potential as an instrument in comprehensive conflict management and nation building. On the one hand this volume gives general information on the PRT model, and, on the other, compares the US, British and German realization of this model. It is to be seen as an...

Monday, 28 January 2008 | Read more

Blogs, Cyber-Literature and Virtual Culture in Iran

Author: Dr. Nima Mina - Date: December 2007 - Since the beginning of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s presidency, increased concerns about the Islamic Republic’s political behavior have aggravated the confrontation between Iran and the international community more than ever. As the relationship between the regime and the international community has become more antagonistic, the Iranian people are increasingly losing their voice and are deprived of their right of self- determination. The Iranians are now in danger of becoming the losers of a conflict provoked by the regime’s political and ideological agenda. Some observers are convinced that the “problem” of the Islamic Republic can only be solved in the interest of the international community if the initiative for change comes from...

Monday, 03 December 2007 | Read more

The German EU Council Presidency (January - June 2007) and the Further Development of Transatlantic Relations

Author: Veneta Momtcheva - Date: December 2007 - This research paper focuses on further developments in EU-US cooperation, an area in which substantial progress has been made. The purpose of this research paper is to discuss the aims and outcomes of the German EU Council Presidency in the above field, analyze the challenges, and highlight certain trends. The very contemporary nature of this topic necessitated the use of limited and primarily electronic sources of information, but also provided an inspiring opportunity to examine a topic that has not yet become the subject of numerous analyses by politicians, academics and the media. Read full paper...  

Monday, 03 December 2007 | Read more

North Korea and Iran's Nuclear Programs as Instability Factors in the New System of International Relations

Author: Dr. Natalia P. Romashkina - Date: November 2007 - The article carefully examines the historical conditions and security concerns that have led the two nations to take extraordinary risks and make extraordinary investments in their nuclear programs, which have led the two countries, independently, to their current status. The important role of geopolitics and the shifting - critical - relations with neighbors have greatly influenced the choices that each country has made. The technical challenges associated with creating the necessary infrastructure to pursue a goal as costly and complex as the development of nuclear weapons are examined in the two cases as well. Finally, the role of other nations that made the development of these capabilities possible - more rapidly than...

Monday, 05 November 2007 | Read more

Ukrainian Membership in NATO: Benefits, Costs and Challenges

Author: John Kriendler - Date: July 2007 - The issue of Ukraine's integration in NATO is an important one. Looking to the evolution of this issue, the author addresses in this paper the benefits that Ukraine could expect to derive from NATO integration as well as the costs of membership and some misconceptions, usually advanced by critics of Ukraine's NATO aspirations. For completeness, he also highlights some of the key challenges that Ukraine is facing regarding NATO membership. This involves the question of how far NATO will go in enlarging into the former Soviet space and what security arrangements Russia will develop to assure its own security. Read full paper...  

Tuesday, 17 July 2007 | Read more