Afghanistan Escalators Need to Provide Strategic Rationale

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(Photo credit: Army.mil’s photostream) Max Boot, Frederick Kagan, and Kimberly Kagan argue in today’s New York Times that we cannot afford to “lose” Afghanistan and suggest a number of tactical changes to our operations there. Their argument contains three major flaws.

Guest Post by Katherine Tiedemann: Admiral Mullen’s Priorities

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Katherine Tiedemann is a program associate at the New America Foundation. Last night I attended an event sponsored by Young Professionals in Foreign Policy featuring Admiral Michael Mullen, the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff (apologies for the poor picture quality–the iPhone camera is still woefully lacking).

Guest Post by Amjad Atallah: The Fight for the Primacy of US National Security Interests Continues ……

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This is a guest post by Amjad Atallah, co-director of the New America Foundation/Middle East Task Force. Charles (Chas) Freeman withdrew his candidacy yesterday for the post of chairman of the National Intelligence Council. This development sets up a worrying trend that will need to be reversed at the highest levels of government.

Perspectives and Context on U.S.-Syria Negotations

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(Photo credit: Eric Molly’s photostream) President Obama’s decision to reopen negotiations with the Syrians is about much more than bilateral relations between the two countries. Syria’s cooperation is integral to initiating game-changing policies toward Iran and to achieving progress on the Israeli-Palestinian track.

Energy and Finance Highlight Europe’s Divisions

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(Photo credit: G.hostbuster’s photostream) Following the Russia-Ukraine gas disagreement last December, European leaders promised to diversify their natural gas supply away from Russia in order to prevent politically motivated shortages in the future. German President Angela Merkel said that Russia’s actions would have consequences and European Commission Chief Jose Manuel Barroso called the crisis “unacceptable.