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Negotiating with the Taliban: Issues and Prospects
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Antonio Giustozzi,
The Century Foundation,
6/21/2010
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The resilience of the Taliban insurgency in Afghanistan over the past half-dozen years has dispelled illusions of a military “victory” excluding them, and an end to the thirty years’ war in Afghanistan seems certain to involve their reintegration in some form into Afghan politics. In considering possible negotiations with the Taliban, one particular concern is how united, or disunited, the Taliban really are: Is the control exercised by the leadership of the Taliban sufficiently strong to deliver on any negotiated settlement? Or is the control weak enough to allow for easily co-opting or buying off individual commanders, avoiding the pursuit of a settlement with the political leadership? This report by Antonio Giustozzi, written as part of The Century Foundation Project on Afghanistan in Its Regional and Multilateral Dimensions, lays out how the Taliban are structured and organized, with an eye to assessing the impact of their organization and modus operandi on their willingness to negotiate and honor a political settlement.Download the report here.
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Russia's Policy in the Middle East: Prospects for Consensus and Conflict in the Middle East
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Dmitri Trenin,
The Century Foundation,
3/2/2010
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In "Russia's Policy in the Middle East," Dmitri Trenin maps the
complicated relationship between Russia and the Middle East, and how
Russia's renewed involvement in the region will have far-reaching
effects on American foreign policy. Russia, by the mid-2000s, had
recovered from its domestic crisis, and so did its global ambitions.
While Moscow’s principal interests still lie mostly toward the west, the
Middle East is back on Moscow’s radar screen and Russia’s withdrawal
from the region has been reversed. The Middle East is important to
Moscow for several reasons-- its physical proximity; the Muslim factor,
as continuing religious and political turbulence within the Muslim world
brings radical ideas and militants from the Middle East into Russia and
impacts Russia’s policy in the Caucasus, the central Russian republics
of Tatarstan and Bashkortostan, and post-Soviet Central Asia; large
emigration from Russia to Israel, where 20 percent of the population are
former Soviet Jews; the energy riches of the region; and Russian
attention to the current U.S. focus on the region, and American military
involvement in Iraq and Afghanistan. Download the paper.
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Exceptional Meets Universal: Moscow and Washington at the United Nations
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Edward C. Luck,
The Century Foundation,
1/4/2010
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When times are good, the United Nations provides a global stage to showcase cooperative efforts between Moscow and Washington to advance common interests. When times are bad, difficult bilateral relations take on an
even more
malignant cast as they are projected on the UN’s global screen and as
each side
seeks to caricature the other and to curry favor from the 190 other member states. Today, as Moscow and Washington struggle to adjust to changing times and to transitions in global geopolitics not of their making and
not necessarily
in the narrow interests of either capital, it is the complexity of their relationship that stands out. After years of frustrated relations, 2009
emerged as one of change,
as the United States and the Russian Federation, each with new leadership and each in its own way, have sought to push the “restart button” on their bilateral relationship. As in earlier years of promise, the realization
of change
will no doubt come more gradually and grudgingly than the encouraging rhetoric. And as before, some of the more interesting developments will be played out at the United Nations and in other multilateral fora. These
days, for
two unavoidable and related reasons, the multilateral agenda has to be seen as unusually compelling, even to those cynics (or “realists”) in both
capitals
who have long regarded international law and institutions as little more
than
distractions from the core bilateral relationship. Download the PDF here.
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Baghdad Endgame and Afghan Ambiguity
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Jeffrey Laurenti,
The Century Foundation,
9/1/2010
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Out of one war, working our way out of the other, was President Obama's message Tuesday night in announcing the withdrawal of the last U.S. combat forces in Iraq. The president claimed credit, legitimately, for having stuck to his campaign promise and timetable to end the American war in Iraq—an unprovoked war that shredded the credibility of American global leadership. His Republican adversaries were reduced to complaining that Obama had opposed his predecessor's gamble on a big troop increase, or "surge," in the war's fifth year —though they modestly decline to claim due credit for having started the war in the first place.
Continue Reading on the Taking Note Blog.
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Facing the Pakistan Flood
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Morton Abramowitz,
The Century Foundation,
8/23/2010
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Great natural disasters are a defining moment for nations and their friends. They have vast humanitarian and often political consequences, nationally and internationally.The Pakistan flood is another of those sudden earthshaking disasters. The continuing flood, already almost a month old, would have overwhelmed Pakistan no matter whether its President was ineptly slow to fly home to lead the rescue. The world has to help, but the American response—almost always the most important for poorer countries—has been slow, still inadequate, but growing. Read more at Huffington Post.
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Kosovo Status Talks Redux
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Morton Abramowitz,
Koho Ditore,
8/9/2010
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How do you deal with a government, in today’s case Serbia’s, that refuses to accept reality, achieves defeat, and persists in proposals that continue to defy reality? Clearly with difficulty, certainly in a divided Brussels.
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Brazil’s American Challenge
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Jeffrey Laurenti,
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7/12/2010
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The leaders of Brazil and Turkey did not get where they are in politics by being political naïfs, but they learned a hard lesson in international power realities in the United Nations Security Council this month.
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Salvaging Afghanistan
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Morton Abramowitz,
The Century Foundation,
6/25/2010
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The charge of hand-wringing is again heard in the land, mostly from our friends on the Right. Have any doubt about our war in Afghanistan after close to nine years and you are hand-wringing. Eighteen months into the new administration, two strategic reviews, and fifty thousand more troops later—and still, expressing doubt qualifies you for a top hand-wringing citation.
Continue Reading on the Taking Note Blog.
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Giustozzi on the Taliban
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Michael Wahid Hanna,
The Century Foundation,
6/23/2010
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On a non-McChrystal Afghanistan note, I wanted to draw attention to a newly-released report by Antonio Giustozzi published by The Century Foundation. The report, "Negotiating with the Taliban: Issues and Prospects," gives an updated description of various aspects of the Taliban’s organization with an eye toward how the nature of the group’s structure and control would impact potential negotiations. The report incorporates Giustozzi's most recent fieldwork in Afghanistan in April 2010. Continue Reading on the Taking Note Blog.
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Karzai and the Taliban: Let the Negotiations Begin
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Stephen Schlesinger,
The Century Foundation,
6/15/2010
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On June 12, 2010, The New York Times reported that Afghan President Hamid Karzai has new doubts that the US and its NATO allies can defeat the Taliban. As a consequence, these days he is seeking to negotiate some sort of peace settlement with the insurgents. However, The Times states, certain members of his own administration are resisting this effort and are openly decrying what he is doing. But is that which Karzai is looking for such a dangerous proposition? Isn't this exactly what the Obama Administration is itself desirous of? Continue Reading on the Taking Note Blog.
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Investment Recouped in Canceled Missiles
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Jeffrey Laurenti,
The Century Foundation,
6/11/2010
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President Obama's conservative critics have carped about his Russia "reset," his moves toward nuclear build-down, his hesitant opening to Iran, and the supposedly insipid sanctions he squeezed out of the Security Council on Iran's nuclear program this week. They sneered at his Nobel Peace Prize last fall, saying it was an award for rhetoric since he had produced no results. Continue Reading on the Taking Note blog.
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Ain't Gonna Make War No More
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Jeffrey Laurenti,
The Century Foundation,
6/11/2010
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Seventy years ago today—June 10, 1940—some of my older relatives in Rome recall, they and their fellow schoolchildren were shepherded into the vast Piazza Venezia to fill the crowd cheering Benito Mussolini's hypnotic announcement that Italy was now at war against "the plutocratic and reactionary democracies of the west." The war-intoxicated crowd, shouting "Guerra, guerra!" like the chorus in Bellini's Norma, would all too soon drink the bitter dregs of what they demanded. Continue Reading on the Taking Note blog.
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Battling Nuclear Inertia Goes Beyond Sanctions
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Jeffrey Laurenti,
The Century Foundation,
6/9/2010
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"If I had known it was going to be this popular, I would have done this a long time ago," President John F. Kennedy is said to have joked with aides when enthusiastic audiences cheered his mentions of the partial nuclear test ban treaty in 1963.
Fast forward fifty years, however, and Barack Obama gets scant acknowledgment from a cynical capital and indifferent press for tightening the noose on nuclear weapons and nuclear dangers. Continue Reading on the Taking Note Blog.
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A Gaza Test for Obama National Security Strategy
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Jeffrey Laurenti,
The Century Foundation,
6/2/2010
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Any audiologist administering a hearing test would see Israel’s heavy-handed attack on Turkish relief vessels bound for Gaza as an alarming sign of an entire political class slipping into profound deafness, no longer hearing even its most important ally. Israeli commandos launched the raid just five days after the Obama administration released a new national security strategy that rejected its predecessor’s blustery endorsement of preemptive strikes and instead affirmed collective “enforcement of international law.” Continue Reading on the Taking Note Blog.
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Talking to the Taliban
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James Dobbins,
International Herald Tribune,
5/12/2010
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President Hamid Karzai of Afghanistan wants to talk to the Taliban, and that’s going to be a thorny issue for President Obama when the two leaders meet on Wednesday.
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Karzai Comes Calling
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Jeffrey Laurenti,
The Century Foundation,
5/12/2010
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Afghan president Hamid Karzai is in Washington this week hoping to regain his international legitimacy, open wider the spigot for additional aid flows from the West, and reassure doubters about what he has in mind with his call to open talks with the Taliban.
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Ahmadinejad Tightens the Sanctions Noose
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Jeffrey Laurenti,
The Century Foundation,
5/7/2010
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You have to hand it to Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, who as the only head of state at the nuclear nonproliferation treaty review conference that opened last Monday led off the debate. He draws media attention, even if he cannot hold a crowd: The audience in the United Nations' cavernous General Assembly hall dwindled to barely one-third capacity by the time he finished his 35-minute tirade against the alleged injustices of the nonproliferation regime. Continue to the Blog
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Say Again, Why Did We Start That War?
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Jeffrey Laurenti,
The Century Foundation,
4/15/2010
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With all today's crises that we have to unwind, it's probably just as well that we let yesterday's controversies fade into distant memory. Why continue to begrudge the people who dragged America into a deadly, debilitating, and disastrous war? They now realize it was wrong, don't they? Why keep flogging the dead horse of accountability for the invasion of Iraq if the proponents and propellants for war have now wised up? Continue Reading on the Taking Note Blog.
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Pakistan's Strategic Calculus and al-Qaeda
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Michael Wahid Hanna,
The Century Foundation,
4/14/2010
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When Secretary of State Hillary Clinton visited Pakistan in the fall, she caused something of a stir when she touched upon the issue of al-Qaeda, telling a public gathering that she found "it hard to believe that nobody in your government knows where they are and couldn't get them if they really wanted to." And yet, months after this bracing upbraiding, this issue is not discussed by commentators with any particular intensity. At the same time, these commentators are transfixed by the current debate about Pakistan’s intentions with respect to the Taliban following the recent highly-publicized arrests of several leading Taliban figures in Pakistan. Continue Reading on the Taking Note Blog.
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Stay the Course of Withdrawal
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Michael Wahid Hanna,
Foreign Affairs,
4/4/2010
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Having held parliamentary elections on March 7 and endured a protracted period of vote counting, Iraqis are now focused on the arduous process of government formation.
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How much do they hate Maliki?
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Michael Wahid Hanna,
Foreign Policy,
3/26/2010
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Former Prime Minister Iyad Allawi's electoral list narrowly edged the incumbent Prime Minister Nuri Maliki's State of Law alliance in the official (but uncertified) results of the March 7 elections announced today.
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Breaching China's Great Currency Wall
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Jeffrey Laurenti,
The Century Foundation,
3/16/2010
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“It’s time to take a stand,” economics Nobel laureate and New York Times commentator Paul Krugman advises this week . “Something must be done.” No, Krugman is not talking about health care reform this time. He is calling for action against a threat to global economic recovery as dire as the creative schemes for financial destruction he regularly rails against Wall Street for hatching. Continue Reading on the Taking Note Blog.
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The Race for the Iraqi Presidency
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Michael Wahid Hanna,
Foreign Policy,
3/11/2010
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As post-election maneuvering gets underway in Iraq, commentators have focused on the battle for the Prime Minister’s office.
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Some Iraqi Odds and Ends
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Michael Wahid Hanna,
The Century Foundation,
3/10/2010
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Sunday was a good day for Iraq but it is unwise to draw overly broad conclusions based on this one day. And I am holding off on commenting about the government formation process until we get official results from the Independent High Electoral Commission of Iraq (IHEC). But I did want to comment on two very important points because they have often shaped and warped the nature of commentary and analysis on last Sunday’s elections. Continue Reading on the Taking Note Blog.
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The Only Way Out Of Afghanistan Is With A Withdrawal Deadline
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Stephen Schlesinger,
The Century Foundation,
3/10/2010
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Let me start by citing President Obama’s exact words on his much-publicized July 2011 deadline for American forces to start leaving Afghanistan. Obama stated at West Point on December 1, 2009, that “taken together, these additional American and international troops will allow us to accelerate handing over responsibility to Afghan forces and allow us to begin the transfer of our forces out of Afghanistan in July 2011. Just as we have done in Iraq, we will execute this transition responsibly, taking into account conditions on the ground.” Continue Reading on the Taking Note Blog.
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Some Western Perceptions of Turkey
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Morton Abramowitz,
The Century Foundation,
3/1/2010
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Remarks February 25, 2010 at joint meeting of Istanbul Center of Atlanta and Sam Nunn School of International Affairs, George Tech
I am always pleased to talk Turkey. It was a great diplomatic assignment and the country endlessly fascinates me. There is always something going on, Indeed sometimes I think Turkey changes by the day. I have tried hard to keep up with developments there including visiting almost every year, when I find someone to pay my way.
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Uneven Tracks for Iraq's Regional Reintegration
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Michael Wahid Hanna,
World Politics Review,
2/23/2010
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On Feb. 16, following decades of disruption, Turkey and Iraq restored a rail link running from the northern Iraqi city of Mosul to Gaziantep in southern Turkey, via Syria. The move is a concrete illustration of Turkey's increased efforts to develop commercial ties with Iraq, initiatives that Ankara has in turn used to establish a platform upon which it can deepen its diplomatic role and limit destabilizing spillover effects from its volatile neighbor.
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Extraterritorial Jurisdiction and the Takedown of the Prince of Marbella
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Patrick Radden Keefe,
The Century Foundation,
2/22/2010
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During the 1920s, the United States experienced a rash of “interstate” bank heists, in which stickup men with automobiles would rob a bank in one state before fleeing to another. Because holding up a bank was not a federal crime until 1934, the local authorities in Kansas, say, were not authorized to pursue a suspect who crossed state lines into Missouri. Nearly a century later, sophisticated international criminals enjoy a similar advantage. International law is generally weak, and Interpol, which has no arresting power, is little more than a clearing house for warrants which individual nations may elect not to enforce. As Moisés Naím, editor of Foreign Policy, has observed, sovereignty is a great advantage for criminals, terrorists, and other bad actors—and a conspicuous disadvantage for law enforcement. Continue Reading on the Taking Note.
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The Dissidents Need Some Foreign Support
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Geneive Abdo,
The Century Foundation,
2/12/2010
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Events in Iran this week showed the determination of both the regime and the opposition, but should also provide a lesson for Western governments: unless the outside world aids the opposition, the regime could continue to rule indefinitely through brutal force without an inch of reform to the system. The regime was able to show its strength, which seemed greater than in the past; millions of supporters came out to cheer for President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's government.Continue Reading in the Taking Note blog.
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An Update on the De-Ba'athification Crisis
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Michael Wahid Hanna,
The Century Foundation,
2/9/2010
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My post from last week on the Iraqi de-Ba’athification crisis (“An End to the De-Ba’athification Circus?) was titled with a question mark, meant to express a bit of hesitation in asserting that the pre-election vetting circus had truly come to an end. While there were at that time emerging indications that the electoral commission was unsure of the binding nature of the decision, it appeared that there were limited options in challenging the decision. This initial uncertainty was later amplified by a host of Shi’a politicians who were more forceful and explicit in their denunciations of the ruling (and U.S. interference), fueling a direct political intervention in the appeals process. Continue Reading on the Taking Note blog.
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What Ukrainian election?
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Jeffrey Laurenti,
The Century Foundation,
2/8/2010
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There has been a deafening silence about Ukraine's presidential election from the Beltway cheerleaders for NATO expansion, ever since the first round in January catapulted their long-time bête noire, Viktor Yanukovych, into first place with 35 percent of the vote in a field of eighteen candidates. Voters ignominiously ousted incumbent president Viktor Yushchenko, one-time hero of the 2004 "Orange Revolution" and Ukraine's most vociferous champion of NATO membership, giving him barely five percent of their votes. Continue Reading on the Taking Note Blog.
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An End to the De-Ba'athification Circus?
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Michael Wahid Hanna,
The Century Foundation,
2/3/2010
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Welcome news today out of Baghdad—Iraq’s Higher Judicial Council announced that the electoral disqualifications by the controversial Accountability and Justice Commission (AJC) had been overturned by an appellate panel. While details are sparse, it appears that this legal ruling did not reach evidentiary issues, but rather threw out the decisions based on the lack of due process afforded those caught up in the AJC’s decisions. The silver lining to this entire affair is that an Iraqi legal body appears to have stepped in to stem a political crisis and that its decision is being accorded respect by the contending actors within a highly contentious, chaotic and politicized environment.Continue Reading on the Taking Note blog.
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On Afghan Tribal Militias
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Michael Wahid Hanna,
The Century Foundation,
1/29/2010
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At the risk of engaging in a practice that I have come to abhor, I am going to draw a few parallels between Iraq and Afghanistan, knowing that the situations are not generally comparable. On the issue of tribal engagement, many knowledgeable regional experts have emphasized the fact that Afghan tribal structures have deteriorated in comparison with Iraq's tribal structures and that tribal authority is far from sacrosanct following decades of war. Continue Reading on the Taking Note Blog.
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State of the Union and foreign policy
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Jeffrey Laurenti,
The Century Foundation,
1/28/2010
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I watched President Obama’s State of the Union address with sixty of his Trenton-area campaign supporters just 300 meters from New Jersey’s State Capitol. The president’s speech certainly galvanized his supporters, who applauded lustily when he demanded Congress “get it right” on financial reform, “finish the job” on health reform, and kill the Republican tax cuts “for oil companies, for investment fund managers, and for those making over $250,000 a year.” Continue Reading on the Taking Note Blog.
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The State of Play in Baghdad and Biden's Bad Idea
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Michael Wahid Hanna,
The Century Foundation,
1/25/2010
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Iraq has receded from our headlines and our thoughts, largely due to the vastly improved security situation and the lack of U.S. combat deaths. So when it does make the headlines and op-ed pages, it means that something bad has happened: spectacular, synchronized bombings of high-profile government targets and, most recently, the extended political struggles surrounding the upcoming national parliamentary elections. Continue Reading on the Taking Note Blog.
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| A Year of Crises: Opportunities for Change
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The Century Foundation & The UNA-USA Southern New York State Division
- 2/19/2010
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The Century Foundation and the UNA-USA Southern New York State Division hosted the Mid-Atlantic Regional Conference, open to the public as the 2010 UNA-USA Members’ Day.
Amid urgent public concerns about the world economic crisis, the dangers of nuclear weapons, and the continuing war in Afghanistan, the Year of Crises conference program featured the following elements:
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| A Creative Middle Path on Iran
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Century Foundation, Center for American Progress and the National Security Network
- 4/15/2010
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In February 2010, the insideIRAN.org project at the Century Foundation and the National Security Network convened the first meeting of what will be a 12- to 18-month advisory group, bringing together Iranian activists with close ties to Iran’s Green Movement with European and American current and retired officials and diplomats. The group aims to improve understanding of the political crisis inside Iran, particularly the state of the regime and the opposition, and focus attention on policy steps that will be most effective in helping Iranians reform the political system without empowering the regime against either its own people or other nations.
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| After The Gaza Blockade: Can Palestine’s Economy Be Viable?
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The Century Foundation & The Aix Group
- 6/14/2010
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The Gaza flotilla debacle has refocused world attention on the economic strangulation of at least that shard of Palestine while overshadowing the Obama administration’s persistent effort to restart negotiations to produce a comprehensive peace settlement. Yet Gaza’s current immiseration underscores the larger questions of ensuring Palestinian economic viability and sovereignty when that settlement is achieved. Can the West Bank economy carry its own weight with independence, much less Gaza’s?
The Aix Group, a joint Palestinian-Israeli international economic research project, has been working on the economic underpinnings of a two-state political solution for Israel and Palestine. On Monday, 14 June 2010, two Aix Group principals, Ron Pundak, who is director-general of the Peres Center for Peace in Tel Aviv, and Saeb Bamya, the Group’s Palestinian coordinator and former assistant under secretary for the Palestinian National Economy Ministry, led a luncheon discussion to cover these topics.
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| 90 Years of Progress
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- 12/1/2009
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This year marked the ninetieth anniversary of the founding of The Century Foundation (which was known for most of its history as the Twentieth Century Fund). Our founder, Edward Filene, created this organization with the goal of supporting studies and analysis that could lead to constructive action on our nation’s public policy. That heritage has compelled us to educate, provoke, and develop better answers when evidence and reason show that public debates are badly off track. Over the past nine decades, we have called attention to facts and analyses to correct widespread misconceptions and provide policymakers with new ideas for addressing the challenges facing the nation.
We have created this video to provide a glimpse into our story and how it is intertwined with America’s story for much of the twentieth century and beyond.
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| Is There Still an Israeli Constituency for Peace?
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Prospects for Peace, The Century Foundation
- 7/20/2010
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Talk of peace negotiations loomed large in the July 6 meeting between President Obama and Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu, but there is little sign that Israelis seriously expect much to materialize. Since the start of the “second intifada” nearly ten years ago, the Israeli public has by most accounts become skeptical about the prospects for a durable peace with the Palestinians and resigned to isolation under nationalist rule rather than trust in internationally promoted accords. With the body blows the peace movement has suffered in Israeli politics this past decade, many ask: Is there still a constituency for peace in the Israeli public? Can it ever gain traction again?
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| Falling out with Turkey: A Post-Gaza Realignment?
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- 6/17/2010
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The Israelis’ Memorial Day assault on a Turkish ship headed for Gaza has opened a yawning gap between two non-Arab countries that were long allied in the Middle East. It has further complicated America’s own relations with its NATO anchor in the eastern Mediterranean, already strained over Iran and its nuclear program. Many commentators have begun discussing a shift in Turkey’s relationship to both its neighbors and to the West, especially the United States. Century Foundation Senior Fellow Morton Abramowitz, former Ambassador to Turkey, discusses Ankara’s vision for its role in the Middle East, the future of the Israeli-Turkish and American-Turkish relationships, and the prospects for further involvement in Central Asia and Afghanistan.
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| Iraq’s Crucial Elections
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The Century Foundation
- 3/2/2010
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With Iraqis having headed for the polling stations on March 7th, the Obama administration is looking to accelerate the drawdown of U.S. combat forces from Iraq. The U.S. withdrawal will coincide with a major reorientation of U.S.-Iraqi bilateral relations. To look at this important step, The Century Foundation organized two panel discussions—one in Washington, D.C. and one in New York City—to analyze where the U.S.-Iraqi bilateral relationship goes from here.
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| Springtime for Disarmament: How Wide a Window for Nuclear Rollback?
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The Century Foundation & Friedrich Ebert Stiftung
- 3/29/2010
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President Barack Obama and Russian President Dmitri A. Medvedev resolved the last sticking points in their arms control negotiations and announced their intention to sign early next month a new treaty reducing American and Russian nuclear arsenals. The treaty announcement initiates a rapid succession of developments on the nuclear arms front: NATO's reassessment of nuclear weapons' role in alliance strategic doctrine; a U.S. nuclear posture review that will presumably reflect Obama's Prague commitments; a summit on nuclear weapons issues that Obama will host in April; Security Council consideration of measures to rein in Iran's nuclear program; and the nuclear nonproliferation treaty (NPT) review conference in May.
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| Palestinian Politics and Obama’s Peace Plans
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The Century Foundation
- 10/30/2009
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The Century Foundation hosted a luncheon on Oct. 30 with Bassim Khoury, the Minister of National Economy of the Palestinian Authority until resigning this month to protest the deferral of Human Rights Council consideration of the U.N.’s Gaza war-crimes report. Khoury assessed the challenges facing the Palestinian political community, the difficulties posed by continuing Israeli presence in the occupied territories, and the Obama administration’s efforts to press forward on negotiations to final status.
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| Terrorism and South Asian Security: A Discussion with Dr. Shashi Tharoor, Minister of State for External Affairs, India
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The Century Foundation
- 10/16/2009
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The international community is deeply engaged in a large-scale assistance mission in Afghanistan, as President Obama told the United Nations in September, “to disrupt, dismantle, and defeat al Qaeda and its extremist allies.” Blowback from Afghanistan’s conflicts is fueling increasing terrorist violence in Pakistan. And terrorism has leaped borders to strike in India. With all the region’s interrelated anxieties and hostilities, what are the stakes of the international community in South Asia’s security, and how can it best help in underpinning peace and security there?
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| Gaza: Out of Sight, Out of Mind
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The Century Foundation's Prospects for Peace Initiative
- 10/19/2009
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On October 19, The Century Foundation's Prospect for Peace Initiative held a discussion with John Ging, the Director of Operations in Gaza for the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA). Ging was in charge of UNRWA's Gaza operations during the recent Israeli military operation Cast Lead. He continues to oversee humanitarian services in the territory.
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| Pivoting Toward Final Status Negotiations: A Discussion with Israeli MK Ophir Pines-Paz
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The Century Foundation
- 10/2/2009
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On Oct. 2, The Century Foundation hosted a discussion with Ophir Pines-Paz where he took stock of the current state of, and future prospects for, American-mediated negotiating efforts in the Middle East. Ophir Pines-Paz has led the opposition within Labor to participation in Netanyahu’s governing coalition, and was also the only person in the coalition government of Ehud Olmert in 2006 who resigned rather than sit in a government expanded to include Lieberman’s far-rightist Yisrael Beteinu party. He has perhaps become the center-left’s most politically popular and attractive next-generation leader.
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| Ambassadors Lahkdar Brahimi and Thomas Pickering Offer Exclusive Insight At First Meeting of The Century Foundation’s Afghanistan Task Force
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4/27/2010
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April 27th, 2010 NYC—As the United States and other NATO countries adopt a plan to set conditions for removing troops from a leading role in Afghan provinces by the end of this year, The Century Foundation convened the first meeting of its international task force on Afghanistan, which will make recommendations about how the international community can best assist in that transition. Task Force Co-chairs Ambassadors Lahkdar Brahimi and Thomas Pickering offered on-camera insights about the most critical issues facing the country today. Download the Press Release.
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| After the Gaza Blockade: Can Palestine's Economy be Viable
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6/9/2010
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The Gaza flotilla debacle has refocused world attention on the economic strangulation of that
shard of Palestine while overshadowing the Obama administration’s persistent effort to restart
negotiations for a comprehensive peace settlement. Yet Gaza’s current impoverishment
underscores the larger questions of ensuring Palestinian economic viability and sovereignty
when that settlement is achieved. Can the West Bank economy carry its own weight with
independence, much less Gaza’s?
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| New Book From The Century Foundation Provides “A Democracy Agenda For U.S. Foreign Policy”
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2/22/2010
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February 22nd, 2010 NYC—As Nepal prepares to draft a new constitution that reaffirms fundamental rights for Nepalese citizens, and as Honduras takes steps to restore its democracy, can the Obama Administration outline a “democracy agenda” that doesn’t echo Bush-era American interventionism? What can the United States effectively do to promote democracy abroad, either on its own or in tandem with the larger international community?
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| "Springtime for Disarmament: How Wide a Window for Nuclear Rollback?"
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3/25/2010
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A day-long conference designed to inform the rapidly accelerating
international policy debate on nuclear arms control, a week ahead of
President Obama's upcoming summit on nuclear weapons. Download the Media Advisory.
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| Century Foundation Report Presents Findings of U.S.-Iran Advisory Group
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4/14/2010
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April 14th, 2010 NYC—The Century Foundation today released a new report “Dealingwith Iran: Time for A ‘Middle Way’ Between Confrontation and Conciliation,” which
presents insights about present-day Iran that are often missing from public policy
discussions. The report is a result of the first meeting of the Iran-US Advisory Group,
convened by The Century Foundation and the National Security Network. The Advisory
Group, which is scheduled to meet over the next twelve-to-eighteen months, consists of
Iranian activists with close ties to the opposition movement in Iran, including the Green
Movement, and European and American current and retired officials and diplomats.Download the Press Release.
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| Iran Expert And Century Foundation Fellow Geneive Abdo Can Bring Unique Insight To Coverage Of New Un Sanctions Against Iran
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6/9/2010
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The U.N. Security Council today passed new sanctions against Iran – a move strongly backed by the United States. The new sanctions take aim at Iran’s military in another attempt to put pressure on the country over its nuclear program. The sanctions increase punitive measures against the Iranian state, particularly its military apparatus, the Islamic Revolutionary Guards; require countries to inspect ships or planes headed to or from Iran if they suspect banned cargo is aboard; bar all countries from allowing Iran to invest in nuclear enrichment plants, uranium, mines and other nuclear-related technology; and include a ban on selling heavy weapons to Iran.
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| Russia and America at the United Nations: A 'Reset' on the Middle East?
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4/29/2010
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With the signing of the new START treaty, the Obama administration has moved a declaratory “re-set” of relations between the Russian Federation and
United States to tangible results. But how far can their collaboration go in charting collective security policy in the Middle East? From Iran to Israel and
Palestine, the two countries have often held differing perspectives. As the Security Council debate intensifies on tightening sanctions to rein in Iran's
nuclear program, the United Nations will again be the stage where the interests of Washington and Moscow play out. What is the possibility for agreement
between the United States and Russia on these contentious issues? Download Media Advisory.
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| Century Foundation Senior Fellow Jeff Laurenti Says Nobel Prize Award to Obama “Bookends” 2002 Carter Award, Marking U.S. Policy Reversals
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10/9/2009
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The Century Foundation’s Jeffrey Laurenti, senior fellow in international affairs, drew a link between today’s award of the Nobel Peace Prize to President Obama and the Nobel committee’s granting it to former president Jimmy Carter in 2002.
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| > All International Affairs Press Releases | |
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| Visit The Century Foundation's Group Blog Taking Note—providing news, statistics, and analysis on a range of issues |
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Taking Note
