Center for Strategic Communication

21 September 2012

Pakistan to talk counterterrorism with US, Afghans

Kimberly Dozier and Bradley Klapper/AP

WASHINGTON (AP) — Pakistan’s foreign minister revealed Thursday that her country would soon hold confidential talks with the United States and Afghanistan to improve a three-way counterterrorism relationship beset by misunderstandings, including one over the Pakistan-based Haqqani network that Washington considers the greatest threat to Afghan stability. But she refused to say whether her government was ready to take any action against the militants.

Mitt Romney and Obama embrace coal industry

Sean Cockerham/McClatchy Newspapers

ASP Senior for Energy and Climate Fellow Andrew Holland commented in this article, “Coal is being done in by cheap natural gas… Even if there were no regulations on coal, I think you’d still be seeing a move toward natural gas.”

Defend our veterans at home like they defend us abroad

William M. Chodkowski/The Hill

In many debates on national defense and security, we tend to focus on tangible evidence: troops deployed, dollars spent, or insurgents eliminated. Often lost in the numbers are the profound efforts and sacrifices of our servicemen, whose dedication to the country should be reflected through programs designed to ease their transition back into civilian life.

Mideast Ambitions: Turkey and Egypt Seek Alliance

AP/NYT

The descendants of yesterday’s sultans and pharaohs, so to speak, also have ambitions of an outsized role for their respective countries. Each wants to speak for the Middle East..

Why Presidents Love Foreign Affairs

Daniel Drezner/NYT

Why do presidents campaign as economic wizards but govern as foreign policy leaders? The first thing to realize is that presidents are not doing this on purpose. Their focus on foreign policy actually reveals the constraints on the modern American presidency.

Deadly blast rocks Somalia capital

Al Jazeera

Fifteen people were killed and several more injured when a suicide bomber detonated a bomb near a restaurant in part of Mogadishu frequented by journalists and political elite.

In Pakistan, U.S. ads try to dampen anger over anti-Islam film

Munir Ahmed and Rebecca Santana/AP in The Washington Times

The US has released television ads in Pakistan with hopes that they will quell continuing protests sparked by an American-made film’s “vulgar depiction of the Prophet Muhammad.”

Cyberwar on Iran more widespread than first thought, say researchers

Peter Beaumont/The Guardian

Researchers from Kaspersky Lab and Symantec believe that the creators of the Flame and Stuxnet viruses that targeted Iran’s computer systems may have been state-sponsored, after revealing a link between the two codes.

 

From Our Flashpoint Blog

The Future of the US-Moroccan Alliance

Elizabeth Deal

Morocco, the United States’ oldest ally, was not immune to the fervor that swept the Islamic world last week. Protests broke out in front of the US consulate in Casablanca over the film The Innocence of Muslims, which ignited popular uproar in almost every country in the region. While these protests were highly organized and largely peaceful, they indicate a deepening resentment toward the US just as the two countries begin negotiating a closer partnership.

The New York Times Editorial Highlights Iran Report

Sean Boers

While much news coverage was devoted to the recent protests in the Middle East, the New York Times editorial board recently highlighted the Iran Project Report titled “Weighing the Costs and Benefits of Military Action Against Iran.”

 

About the American Security Project: The American Security Project is a non-profit, non-partisan public policy and research organization dedicated to fostering knowledge and understanding of a range of national security issues, promoting debate about the appropriate use of American power, and cultivating strategic responses to 21st century challenges.

 

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