July, 2008

PCR Project Co-Directors Rick Barton and Karin von Hippel wrote a piece for the Post's Think Tank Town section this weekend, suggesting there are new opportunities opening up for

Full details after the jump.

From PCR consultant Mehlaqa Samdani:

Prime Minister Gilani will begin his three-day visit to the United States amid embarrassing and dramatic policy reversals back home.  In an unprecedented move over the weekend, a directive issued by the PM placed the country’s two leading intelligence agencies, the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) and the Intelligence Bureau (IB) under the control of the interior ministry headed by the enigmatic Rehman Malik.  This move sent ripples throughout the country’s political and military circles and within hours of being issued the directive was retracted and the decision, particularly in reference to the all-powerful ISI, reversed. 
 
In theory, the ISI and IB are supposed to be under the purview of the prime minister, while the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) is answerable to the Ministry of Interior.   In practice, the ISI reports to the Chief of the Army Staff as traditionally it is the COAS who selects the director-general of the ISI.  In some instances when civilian governments have tried to assert greater control over the ISI, they have met with resistance and plots hatched within the agency to remove them from power.  

Today's USA Today reports on the Pentagon's plan for more troops in Afghanistan. PCR Project Co-Director Rick Barton is quoted:

PCR Project research consultant Mehlaqa Samdani has a piece in today's Far Eastern Economic Review on negotiations between the Pakistani government and the Tehreek-e-Taliban (Taliban Movement of Pakistan), and how the U.S. can balance countering extremism and its own security interests.

The audio recording from our event this week on ongoing militant negotiations in Pakistan's North-West Frontier Province is now available.

The event featured two speakers from the province, both close to ongoing developments with the negotiations and the  political and security situation:

Great piece from the Post on Father Ryan Maher's experience teaching theology at a branch campus of Georgetown University in Qatar. His discussion on how faith needs to be felt and understood, not just intellectually/sociologically observed is compelling.

Author of The Places in Between (and CSIS Ladies Book Club favorite) Rory Stewart weighs in on exactly what it is we're doing in Afghanistan, in this issue of Time.

As part of the PCR Project at CSIS’s Religion in Foreign Policy series, we invite you to join us for a discussion focusing further on the legal aspects of U.S. foreign assistance and religious groups.

The PCR Project invites you to join us at CSIS or via phone for:

Negotiating with Militant Groups in Pakistan
A Teleconference from the North-West Frontier Province

Tuesday, July 22, 2008 | 9:00-10:00am

As part of the broader discussion on reforming foreign aid, Oxfam is developing a series called Smart Development, which focuses on success stories in foreign assistance.

Full details after the jump.

Yesterday the PCR Project hosted Kathleen Cravero, Director of UNDP's Bureau of Crisis Prevention and Response, for an off-the-record session on a variety of UN-related topics, including peacekeeping, reform, early recovery, and the work of her office.

In accordance with some of the lessons we learned during research for the report Engaging Youth to Build Safer Communities, a segment from today's NPR Morning Edition discusses how a hacienda owner in Venezuela is PCR Event | Understanding Khamenei | The Writings of Iran’s Supreme Leader

Yesterday, PCR hosted the second event in a series on poorly understood religious figures - a series inspired by the findings from our Mixed Blessings report, issued last year.

If elected, Democratic nominee Barack Obama says he would immediately withdraw thousands of ground troops from Iraq and send them to Afghanistan to help undermanned US forces defeat the Taliban and Al Qaeda. "It's time to refocus our attention on the war we have to win in Afghanistan."

A Monday suicide bomb at the gate of Indian Embassy killed at least 40 and injured 140 in Kabul, Afghanistan.  A senior Indian diplomat, an Indian Brigadier, three other Indians, and six Afghan policemen were among the deads including women and children.

PCR Project alum Alice Hunt, now a research associate at the Center for a New American Security, wrote an op-ed on the firing of top Air Force officials and the service's larger problems:

Full details after the jump

Bob Boorstin, Director of Corporate and Policy Communication at Google, talks about "The Internet's Impact on Global Public Opinion and Politics" in a conference in Venice, Italy. 

June 7, 2008

 Introduction 

• Our topic today is neither small nor subject to certainties. 

• But one thing is clear.  When you talk about the Internet nobody can really tell you what’s coming next – except a lot more change. Things are moving so fast that whatever we think to be true today may well be overtaken by events or inventions of tomorrow.  This is the fundamental truth both for the sector and for my company.
• That said, today I want to address this topic – and offer a few thoughts on the positive and negative impact that Internet is having on political life.

 Context – Three Trends  

• First, the growth of the Internet on an unimaginable scale.  Throw out a few numbers.
  
  • Internet today has 1.4 billion users globally, a number that’s growing between 200 and 250 million every year
    
    • China just surpassed the United States in the number of Internet users in the first quarter of this year – and only 16 percent of Chinese are online
  • Those people – users of the Internet – are not shy.  Now about 113 million blogs.
  • Perhaps more important, the world is now home to about 3 billion mobile devices…figure another billion in the next three or four years.
    
    • They’re far cheaper than PC’s and their capacity to handle data is increasing daily.
    • World Bank says that more than 2/3s of world’s population lives within range of mobile phone network.
  • Finally, people are now uploading ten hours of video to YouTube every minute.
    
    • The results of this can be truly scary.
    • If you’ve spent any time randomly watching videos on YouTube, you too may be asking, “Is this the best humankind has to offer?”

• Second trend – the Internet has created the potential for a fundamental shift in power.
  
  • New ways of communication, interaction and collaboration.
    
    • Communications: one person to another.
    • Mass or broadcast media: one sender to many recipients.
    • Now networks: many senders to many recipients and back again.   Not one way.
  • Everyone has the potential not only to be a consumer of information but a creator.  We are witnessing what author and Internet guru Clay Shirky has called “the largest increase in expressive capability in the history of the human race.”
  • Power is multiplied by the rise of social tools with great names like Facebook, Bebo and Twitter.
  • The question is whether this potential will result in change outside the online world, in what we used to call the real world. 
    

Full details after the jump.

Full details after the jump.