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August 2009
Other Report
Egypt is now entering a period of political transition with the expectation that President Hosni Mubarak's almost twenty-eight-year tenure will shortly come to an end. This Center for Preventive Action Contingency Planning Memorandum assesses the possibility of a troubled leadership succession or an Islamist push for political power, the implications for the United States, and policy steps the U.S. government might take depending on what it determines as its broader policy objectives in Egypt.
See more in Egypt
July 20, 2009
Op-Ed
Time Magazine
Leslie H. Gelb remembers Robert McNamara.
See more in Vietnam, Wars and Warfare, U.S. Strategy and Politics
June 30, 2009
Op-Ed
Guardian UK
Micah Zenko argues, "The U.S. military wants to minimize civilian deaths from airstrikes in Afghanistan, but conditions on the ground won't let it.'
See more in Afghanistan, Wars and Warfare, U.S. Strategy and Politics
July 2009
Other Report
This Center for Preventive Action Contingency Planning Memorandum examines how crisis scenarios between Ukraine and Russia could unfold, the implications for the United States, and the steps the U.S. government might take both to reduce the prospects of a crisis and manage it should it occur.
See more in Russian Fed., Ukraine
June 22, 2009
Op-Ed
The Daily Beast
Leslie H. Gelb argues that President Obama is right to keep his distance--this is what Iranians want, and they have smart, sophisticated reasons for it.
See more in Iran, U.S. Strategy and Politics
June 15, 2009
Op-Ed
Democracy: A Journal of Ideas
See more in Iraq, National Security and Defense, Media and Foreign Policy
June 15, 2009
Op-Ed
The Daily Beast
Leslie H. Gelb writes that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu "made some significant points that Washington shouldn’t ignore," in his speech on Sunday.
See more in Middle East, Israel, U.S. Strategy and Politics
June 13, 2009
Op-Ed
The Daily Beast
Leslie H. Gelb discusses the outcome of the Iranian election and its significance for U.S. policy.
See more in Iran, U.S. Strategy and Politics
June 10, 2009
Op-Ed
The Daily Beast
Leslie H. Gelb discusses the surge of reformers ahead of the Iranian elections.
See more in Iran, Elections, U.S. Strategy and Politics
May 31, 2009
Op-Ed
The Daily Beast
Leslie H. Gelb discusses Secretary Geithner's trip to China.
See more in United States, China, Geoeconomics, International Finance
May 26, 2009
Op-Ed
The Daily Beast
Leslie Gelb argues, "the president's cool Korea strategy is wise."
See more in North Korea, U.S. Strategy and Politics
May 15, 2009
Op-Ed
Guardian UK
Micah Zenko argues that the adjustment of Predator operations in Pakistan is a "creative and unprecedented arrangement" that will benefit the battle against al-Qaeda and the Taliban.
See more in Pakistan, Wars and Warfare, U.S. Strategy and Politics
May 14, 2009
Op-Ed
The Daily Beast
Leslie H. Gelb discusses foreign policy bestsellers.
See more in Foreign Policy History
May 8, 2009
Op-Ed
The Daily Beast
Leslie H. Gelb discusses the meeting among Presidents Obama, Zardari, and Karzai.
See more in Afghanistan, Pakistan, U.S. Strategy and Politics
May 2009
Other Report
Iraq is currently in the early stages of a negotiated end to an intense ethnosectarian war. As such, there are several contingencies in which recent, mostly positive trends in Iraq could be reversed, threatening U.S. national interests. This Center for Preventive Action Contingency Planning Memorandum by Stephen Biddle assesses four interrelated scenarios in Iraq that could derail the prospects for peace and stability in the short to medium term and posits concrete policy options to limit U.S. vulnerability to the possibility of such reversals.
See more in Iraq, U.S. Strategy and Politics
May 6, 2009
Op-Ed
The Daily Beast
Leslie H. Gelb argues that President Obama's upcoming meeting with Asif Ali Zardari will ignore the issue of Pakistan's supply of nuclear weapons.
See more in United States, Pakistan
May 4, 2009
Op-Ed
Christian Science Monitor
Micah Zenko discusses several considerations the United States should make before using unmanned aerial drones in Pakistan.
See more in Afghanistan, Pakistan, Wars and Warfare
April 27, 2009
Op-Ed
The Atlantic
Leslie H. Gelb discusses what President Obama's first 100 days in office have revealed about his foreign policy strategy.
See more in U.S. Strategy and Politics, Presidency
May/June 2009
Foreign Affairs Article — Summary
The United States is declining as a nation and a world power.
See more in United States, Global Governance
April 23, 2009
Op-Ed
Los Angeles Times
Micah Zenko argues that given the ineffectiveness of recent U.S. operations in Somalia, airstrikes against Somali pirates would be militarily and politically unsuccessful.
See more in Somalia, International Peace and Security
This CSR, authored by Steven Pifer and sponsored by the Center for Preventive Action, comprehensively analyzes Ukraine's difficulties, related to both domestic conditions and foreign policy, and recommends ways for the United States to encourage Ukraine on a path of stability and integration with the West.
This report, coauthored by Paul Stares and Joel Wit and sponsored by the Center for Preventive Action, examines the possible outcomes the United States must consider should the situation in North Korea deteriorate and the current North Korean government collapse.
For more information on the CPA, contact:
Paul Stares
General John W. Vessey Senior Fellow for Conflict Prevention
and Director, Center for Preventive Action
+1.202.509.8461
pstares@cfr.org
Micah Zenko
Fellow for Conflict Prevention
+1.212.434.9845
mzenko@cfr.org
Elise Vaughan
Research Associate
+1.202.509.8463
evaughan@cfr.org
Stephen Wittels
Research Associate
+1.202.509.8524
swittels@cfr.org
Rebecca Friedman
Research Associate
+1.212.434.9744
rfriedman@cfr.org
Copyright 2009 by the Council on Foreign Relations. All Rights Reserved.