April, 2008

Frederick Kagan has published an article on defining success in Iraq, a prominent issue during the Petraeus/Crocker hearings a couple weeks ago and an important area of disagreement among presidential candidates.

The food crisis in pictures--a Washington Post image gallery.

A New York Times, Barry Bearak, reporter tells the story of his imprisonment while covering the election in Zimbabwe:

In yesterday’s New York Times, Ms. Carlotta Gall wrote an article in which she explains

A roundup of relevant hearings on Capitol Hill next week:

Senate Committee on Foreign Relations
Monday, April 28, 2008
4:00 pm
Dirksen 419

Hearings to examine the nominations of William J. Burns, of the District of Columbia, to be an Under Secretary of State (Political Affairs), Janice L. Jacobs, of Virginia, to be an Assistant Secretary of State (Bureau of Consular Affairs), and T. Vance McMahan, of Texas, to be Representative of the United States of America on the Economic and Social Council of the United Nations, with the rank of Ambassador.

Presiding: Senator Nelson

Full details after the jump.

Full details after the jump.

World Food Program executive director Josette Sheeran called the food crisis a silent tsunami.

Following on this post, there's been a pretty cool find in the Bamiyan region of Afghanistan - the world's first known oil paint

Does anyone have a good sense of how likely something like this is?

The Economist put out a great article concentrating on the Baluchistan province in Pakistan. Here in Washington we mostly hear about the North West Frontier Province and the Federally Administered Tribal Areas, which is not suprising considering the U.S.

The Nation (a Pakistani newspaper) ran the following article by Raoof Hasan covering his view of an event from PCR Project Co-directors Rick Barton and Karin von Hippel's two week visit to Pakistan. The visit bore out of a project we are working on to strengthen relationships between the United States and Pakistan in all levels of society. Please check out our report, "A Perilous Course," focusing on U.S. Assistance to Pakistan.

"Musharraf must go!"

A team representing the Centre for Strategic & International Studies (CSIS) was visiting Pakistan in connection with its Post Conflict Resolution (PCR) Project. Comprising of Rick Barton, Karin von [Hippel] and Mehlaqa Samdani, the members of the team were eager to connect with representatives of the civil society to assimilate information regarding their viewpoint about the current situation in the country with specific input about the growing negative perception vis a vis the US involvement in Pakistan's affairs.

Here's an interesting wrinkle in the conventional wisdom about terrorist use of the internet.

The International Journal of Transitional Justice invites submissions for its upcoming special issue on ‘Transitional Justice and Development.’ It is widely acknowledged that the relationship between peace-building, transitional justice and development is one that is characterized by mutual dependence in the aftermath of conflict or repression; it is not possible to achieve any one of these go

Full details after the jump.

We've been writing a good amount on the global food crisis, so this piece on

In a fascinating article for the New York Review of Books, Tony Judt posits that the lessons of the 20th century and the horrors of war are largely lost on the United States. In an impressive use of statistics to quantify a lack of empathy, Judt points out that the U.S.

openDemocracy.net gives another excellent overview of the conflict in Somalia.

Patrick Philippe Meier critiques our report, Early Warning? A Review of Conflict Prediction Models and Systems.

The Cultural Policy Center at the University of Chicago has recently released a book, Antiquities Under Seige, that reaffirms an important soft power component of dealing with post-conflict settings. This issue r

With PCR Project co-directors Rick Barton and Karin von Hippel just back from a couple of weeks in Pakistan, we invite you to join us as the PCR Project and South Asia Program at CSIS present:

A Democratic Opening? Impressions from Post-Election Pakistan

Tuesday, April 29, 2008 | 3:30pm-5:00pm | 4th floor conference room
CSIS | 1800 K Street, NW | Washington, DC

Featuring:

Flickr photo by audra k. under the creative commons license. 

Full details after the jump.

 The Wall Street Journal features Africa's electricity shortfalls on its front page today. In addition to the problems of low investment and disruption due to conflict, the continent's power grids face pressures from two directions.

We've all fallen victim to the phenomenon Nicholas Kristof describes - cherry-picking only evidence that supports what we already believe.

Committees, memos, application forms, retirement benefits. A trove of recently declassified memos captured in Afghanistan and Iraq sheds light on al Qaeda's bureaucratic side:

Richard Haass, President of the Council on Foreign Relations (and panelist at CSIS's big 80th birthday bash for Zbigniew Brzezinski last week), has

Following up on the report Mixed Blessings: U.S. Engagement with Religion in Conflict-Prone Settings, we've been delving into some of the legal issues surrounding foreign assistance and how U.S. funds can be used constitutionally while working with faith-based groups.

Full details after the jump.

A new Refugees International report is getting attention.

 The new U.S. embassy complex in Baghdad has been certified as "ready to open" by the State Department and staff are expected to begin moving in next month. The new building has living and working space to accommodate 1,000 personnel.

Back in February the PCR Project hosted representatives from three of Pakistan's political parties--the ANP, PML-N, PML-Q--who touched on the necessity for a new strategy in combating terror.

A new study concludes California is 99.7% certain to be hit by a 6.7 magnitude earthquake or larger in the next 30 years (see the map below). One seismologist said, "It basically guarantees it's going to happen."

 School children from Rwanda's Eastern province.

Flickr photo by John & Mel Kots under the Creative Commons license.

Full details after the jump.

NPR aired a nice segment this morning on the international response to the food crisis, in which food prices have risen 83% in the last three years. It is the first part of a series this week examining the impact of the crisis.

A new WorldPublicOpinion.org poll finds that although Iranians continue to view the United States negatively, they strongly support steps to improve US-Iran relations including direct talks on issues of mutual concern, greater access for each others' j

Given Vanessa's last few posts on the global food crisis, here's a reminder to check out freerice.com - it's a cool vocab game, where each correct answer sends 20 grains of rice to the World Food Program.

The UN World Food Programme is in need of your help! Click here to donate and help ease the food crisis causing internal strife and increased poverty in countries around the world.

At PCR's Overcoming Extremism conference last October, the final panel featured voices of the victims who'd lost loved ones in terrorist acts (video here - a seriously moving event).

Since 9/11, the word al Qaeda has been thrown around in the media, on Capital Hill and in most American households.

RAND released a new monograph, Women and Nation-Building, examining the role of women in post-conflict situations using Afghanistan as a case study.

Assistant Secretary of State Richard Boucher told the Dawn that the United States supports talks between Pakistan's government and militants in the tribal areas considered reconcilable.

A roundup of relevant hearings on Capitol Hill this week:

In more bad news from Zimbabwe, IRIN reports that the election commission closed its "national command centre" with the results of the presidential election yet to be announced.

Following up on Vanessa's post about Iran's influence in Iraq, that the war has empowered Iranian-backed factions looks even worse in the context of the U.S. regional strategy of isolating Iran.

"Did he get kissed?" A facetious question coming from Senator Joe Biden (D-Delaware) who wondered whether Vice President Cheney received a kiss on both cheeks from the Iraqi ministers, as had Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad when he visited. The answer was no. In stark contrast, top U.S.

Jill Dougherty, U.S. Affairs Correspondent describes on the CNN.com  AndersonCooper360° blog how Iraq earns billions more through oil now than in the past five years.

In response to a question from Senator Biden, General Petraeus said he thought the United States was at about a 6 or 7 on a scale of 1 to 10, with 10 defined as the point at which the U.S. troop presence could be reduced significantly below pre-surge levels. Yet there was little agreement on what those conditions would be. More broadly, the question is: What constitutes success in Iraq?

The Senate was alive yesterday for the appearance of General Petraeus and Ambassador Crocker. For those without press credentials, finding space in the gallery meant showing up early. Anyone arriving after 8:30am for the morning hearing and 1:00pm for the afternoon hearing were likely out of luck.

Iraq's ambassador to the U.S., Samir Sumaida'ie, spoke at CSIS yesterday, with an introduction by CSIS's Anthony Cordesman. While the room was full, Amb.

One of General Petraeus' charts in yesterday's Senate hearings graphically illustrates the U.S. strategy against al Qaeda. Although the chart is initially visually overwhelming, he deserves credit for organizing a strategy with so many wide-ranging elements into a logical diagram.

The hearings on the Hill have just begun (watch live here) and CSIS is hosting the Iraqi Ambassador, Samir Sumaida'ie, in about 15 minutes.

A new U.S. Institute of Peace paper by Daniel Serwer and Sam Parker lays out several U.S. policy options in Iraq and explains how they trade off with strategic interests.

Diamonds in the Rough: A Ugandan Hip Hop Revolution

Wednesday, April 16, 2008 
3:00 - 5:00 p.m.
6th Floor Auditorium

Woodrow Wilson Center

A screening of the documentary film, Diamonds in the Rough, followed by a brief panel discussion, as part of the part of the first annual Washington, DC, Hip Hop & Peacebuilding Festival.

Featuring:

Brett Mazurek, Director

Silas Balabyekkubo, Featured Artist

Fredinah F. Peyton aka Rah-P, Featured Artist

Here is a quick roundup of press coverage ahead of tomorrow's Iraq hearings on the Hill.

Findings from an In-Depth Poll and Focus Groups

Wednesday, April 9th, 2008

8:30-9:00am: A light breakfast will be served

9:00-10:30am: Presentations and panel discussion

The Paul H. Nitze School of Advanced International Studies Johns Hopkins University – Kenney Hall, Nitze Building 1740 Massachusetts Ave, NW, Washington, DC

The Henry L. Stimson Center presents

Misha Glenny on Global Crime

The Brookings Institute presents: U.S. Relations with the Islamic World

A Discussion with William Dalrymple

Tuesday, April 8, 2008, 10:30 am — 12:00 pm
The Brookings Institution, Saul/Zilkha Rooms, 1775 Massachusetts Ave, NW, Washington, DC

In a Washington Post op-ed, two Yale law professors write that the administration's legal authorization to continue waging the war in Iraq will expire on December 31, 2008 when the clock strikes midnight.

Meet Abu Yahya al-Libi, a Libyan in his late 30s (or maybe his mid-40s), and a rising star within al Qaeda. He became famous after escaping U.S.

After a day of division within President Robert Mugabe's inner circle over whether to attempt to hold onto power, it was announced that he would contest a runoff election if the official resu

Matt Sherman has an important op-ed in the New York Times, reminding us of the tenuous foundation Iraq's reduced levels of violence rest on.

In advance of next week's hearings, David Corn posted a list of questions (and yesterday added

Andrew Rathmell, author of the PCR Project Special Briefing, "Fixing Iraq’s Internal Security Forces," is speaking at the United States Institute of Peace on Fixing the Interior Ministry and Police in Iraq.

There are many events in Washington and sometimes you come across one that really touches you. That’s just what happened when Washington Post reporter Amar Bakshi reported on "The 'W' Generation," at the New America Foundation.

One of our favorite writers, Ann Scott Tyson (Washington Post), describes the seemingly bleak circumstances British troops face in Garmsir, Afghanistan.

USAID's FrontLines, long available as a printed publication and for download, is now accessible through online subscription.

James Glanz of the NY Times paints a picture of fighting in Iraq from a different corner, an alley corner.

Natural Security: A New Perspective on International Security
April 10, 2008

Speakers:

• Ellen Laipson, President and CEO, Henry L. Stimson Center
• Raphael D. Sagarin, Assistant Research Professor,Duke University

4:00 PM - Registration and Light Refreshments
4:30-6:00 PM - Presentations and Discussion