SILVER LININGS. Martin Walker, The American Interest, January-February 2009, var. pages. "This is not your grandfather’s Great Depression. It’s ours, and it will scar and mold and re-shape us in its own unique way. In its accumulation of bad debt and consequent squeeze on credit, it may have similar origins to the social and economic trauma that brought us Adolf Hitler and the New Deal, Britain’s 'Hunger Marchers' and John Steinbeck’s The Grapes of Wrath. But the course and the casualties and the impact of our Great Depression will be different. At the same time, its long-term effects, like those of the 1930s, may prove to be surprisingly useful, re-shaping our global economy and our social systems in fundamentally positive ways. READ MORE

THE DOGS THAT DIDN'T BARK: THE EU AND THE FINANCIAL CRISIS. Daniel Gros, Current History, March 2009, pp. 105-109. "At first blush, the European Union’s complicated system of multilayered economic governance seems, in response to the global financial crisis, to have performed no worse, but also no better, than that of the United States. Regulators and supervisors on both sides of the Atlantic did nothing to stop the largest-ever credit and housing bubble from developing. Credit on both sides of the Atlantic was allowed to expand for years at excessive rates, and house prices increased by about the same percentage in the United States and in Europe. In terms of crisis prevention, there was thus little difference." READ MORE

PUBLIC-WORKS PROJECTS: DO THEY STIMULATE THE ECONOMY MORE THAN TAX CUTS? Marcia Clemmitt, The CQ Researcher, February 20, 2009, pp. 153-176. "To battle the Great Depression, President Franklin D. Roosevelt put millions of unemployed Americans to work on New Deal projects such as repairing roads and building cabins in national parks. To stimulate today's ailing economy, Congress has enacted a $787 billion package that includes tax cuts and spending on infrastructure, including expanding highway and rail systems and weatherizing buildings. But many conservatives argue that government spending does not create jobs and merely diverts money from the private sector, which they call the only true engine of job creation. Meanwhile, infrastructure experts worry that if federal public-works dollars are spent too quickly, the money will go to eco-unfriendly projects, such as additional highway lanes that encourage fossil-fuel use and suburban sprawl, rather than to more future-oriented 'green' initiatives like expanding rail and public transit and upgrading the electrical grid to accommodate alternative power sources." READ MORE

TRANSATLANTIC ECONOMIC RELATIONS IN A CHANGING GLOBAL POLITICAL ECONOMY: ACHIEVING TOGETHERNESS BUT MISSING THE BUS? Michael Smith, British Journal of Politics and International Relations, February 2009, pp. 94-107. "This article focuses on the changing context for transatlantic relations within the global political economy. The first part of the article identifies key areas of structural change in the GPE and in particular the potentially revolutionary shifts caused by global instability and the emergence of new economic powers. The argument then explores changing patterns of economic relations between the EU and the US, within a general framework of continuity created by the coexistence of competition and convergence. These contextual factors are then related to patterns of Atlanticism and transatlanticism, to questions of values and identities in the GPE and to the possibility of an EU-US `grand strategy' for the changing GPE. The conclusion argues that although there is perhaps more secure ground for a sustainable EU-US `compact' than previously, the EU and the US may have `missed the bus' in terms of jointly shaping the future of the global economy." READ MORE

Old and New Axis of Upheaval

THE AXIS OF UPHEAVAL. Niall Ferguson, Foreign Policy, March-April 2009, var. pages. "Forget Iran, Iraq, and North Korea—Bush’s 'Axis of Evil.' As economic calamity meets political and social turmoil, the world’s worst problems may come from countries like Somalia, Russia, and Mexico. And they’re just the beginning." READ MORE

WHAT IS HAPPENING IN PAKISTAN? Hilary Synnott, Survival, February-March 2009, pp. 61-80. "Because of the importance attached to military operations to destroy al-Qaeda, Pakistan is often viewed in the context of Afghanistan. As a result, events in Pakistan are usually assessed in terms of their effect on US objectives for Operation Enduring Freedom and on the operations of NATO’s International Security Assistance Force. Their implications for Pakistan as a whole have been neglected and sometimes poorly analysed. But the wellbeing and stability of Pakistan is of supreme importance in its own right." READ MORE

HEMISPHERIC SECURITY: A NEW APPROACH. John A. Cope and Frank O. Mora, Current History, February 2009, pp. 65-71. "The Obama administration will encounter in Latin America and the Caribbean Basin a new strategic environment, in which security issues will require innovative attention. Many experts in the United States and Latin America believe that Washington has not paid sufficient attention to the Americas in recent years. They warn that this indifference may prove costly at a time when the region is undergoing political, social, and economic transformations. They believe the United States is projecting a detached, unsympathetic attitude just as democratic legitimacy is weakening across Latin America and populism and anti-Americanism are gaining momentum. To underscore the potential costs of neglect, some observers point to inroads that China, Russia, and Iran have made in regional affairs." READ MORE

TOOLBOX: THE REFUGEE IMPERATIVE IN IRAQ. Rhodri C. Williams, The American Interest, January-February 2009, var. pages. "The recent news from Iraq has been mostly good. Violence is down significantly, sectarian militias are giving ground to Iraqi security forces, and we see signs of a political process that could foster reconciliation, deliver basic services and pave the way for an orderly U.S. withdrawal. However, one major threat to Iraq’s hard-won stability has yet to be fully acknowledged, let alone addressed: the problem of displacement." READ MORE

THE PRECEDENTS FOR WITHDRAWAL. Bennett Ramberg, Foreign Affairs, March/April 2009, var. pages. "As Washington ponders how long to stay in Iraq, it would do well to remember the limited impact of the United States' withdrawal from Vietnam and Cambodia in the 1970s, Lebanon in the 1980s, and Somalia in the 1990s." READ MORE

Homeland Security

HOMELAND SECURITY: IS AMERICA SAFE FROM TERRORISM TODAY? Peter Katel, The CQ Researcher, February 13, 2009, pp. 129-152. "Following the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, the U.S. government created the Department of Homeland Security, giving it stepped-up power to shadow and detain terrorism suspects. Then-President George W. Bush credited these measures — and intelligence and military operations abroad — with preventing new attacks on U.S. soil in the nearly eight years since 9/11. But some intelligence experts argue that the new department failed to coordinate the nation's many turf-conscious intelligence agencies, and that continued U.S. military pressure has rendered Osama bin Laden's al Qaeda terrorist network incapable of mounting new attacks within the United States. Moreover, jihadist cells that have wreaked havoc in Europe lack counterparts in the U.S., where Muslims are far less alienated, experts say. Still, the danger of a new attack remains. According to an emerging school of thought, Americans should learn to live with the possibility of an eventual attack, rather than expecting government to eliminate all danger." READ MORE

THE NEXT CATASTROPHE: READY OR NOT? Christine Wormuth, The Washington Quarterly, January 2009, pp. 93-106. "The United States is still not ready for a domestic catastrophe. Four organizational steps should be taken to help build a homeland security system with clear lines of authority and guidelines to determine and assess the capabilities state and local authorities should have." READ MORE

US–EUROPEAN INTELLIGENCE CO-OPERATION ON COUNTER-TERRORISM: LOW POLITICS AND COMPULSION. Richard J. Aldrich, British Journal of Politics and International Relations, February 2009, pp. 122-139. "Since 9/11, intelligence has been viewed as an integral part of a controversial `war on terror'. The acrimonious public arguments over subjects such as Iraqi WMD assessments, secret prisons and the interrogation of detainees suggest intense transatlantic discord. Yet improbably, some of those countries that have expressed strident disagreement in public are privately the closest intelligence partners. It is argued here that we can explain this seeming paradox by viewing intelligence co-operation as a rather specialist kind of 'low politics' that is focused on practical arrangements. Intelligence is also a fissiparous activity, allowing countries to work together in one area even while they disagree about something else. Meanwhile, the pressing need to deal with a range of increasingly elusive transnational opponents—including organised crime—compels intelligence agencies to work more closely together, despite their instinctive dislike of multilateral sharing. Therefore, transatlantic intelligence co-operation will continue to deepen, despite the complex problems that it entails." READ MORE

CONSIDERING THE CREATION OF A DOMESTIC INTELLIGENCE AGENCY IN THE UNITED STATES: LESSONS FROM THE EXPERIENCES OF AUSTRALIA, CANADA, FRANCE, GERMANY, AND THE UNITED KINGDOM. Brian Jackson et al. RAND, February 19, 2009, var. pages. "With terrorism still prominent on the U.S. agenda, does the country need a dedicated domestic intelligence agency? Case studies of Australia, Canada, France, Germany, and the UK provide lessons that may help policymakers decide." READ MORE

EU-U.S. Relationship

REVITALIZING THE TRANSATLANTIC SECURITY PARTNERSHIP: AN AGENDA FOR ACTION. F. Stephen Larrabee and Julian Lindley-French. RAND, 2009, pp. 1-47. "The report urges the creation of a new architecture founded on strong U.S. involvement in NATO, NATO-European Union relations aimed at promoting and projecting civil-military security beyond the Euro-Atlantic area, and a U.S.-EU security relationship that assures the protection of both parties. 'Over the next 10 years the United States and Europe face a daunting array of challenges -- the Israeli-Arab conflict, Afghanistan, Pakistan, the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction, and an increasingly assertive Russia, among others, said report co-author F. Stephen Larrabee. These new global and political challenges will demand closer cooperation between the United States and its European allies.'" READ MORE

EUROPEAN PERSPECTIVES ON THE NEW AMERICAN FOREIGN POLICY AGENDA. Álvaro de Vasconcelos and Marcin Zaborowski, European Union Institute for Security Studies (EUISS) paper, var. pages. "This EUISS publication was conceived to highlight what we consider to be the major political event of 2009, the election of President Barack Obama and the impact that the change in the American administration will have on the world. The various contributionsaim to outline European perspectives on the foreign policy agenda of the new US administration, and define the priorities for EU-US cooperation in the years ahead." READ MORE

NO TIME FOR A TIME-OUT IN EUROPE. Simon Serfaty, Current History, March 2009, pp. 99-104. "Twenty years after the end of the cold war, expectations run high on both sides of the Atlantic for another renewal of the Atlantic alliance and a relaunching of European integration. On a growing number of issues, US relations with the EU matter more than do bilateral relations between the United States and any of the union’s members. And bilateral relations now draw much of their relevance from EU members’ ability to represent the union to which they belong. However, with such satisfaction
also comes a bit of apprehension. Much remains to be done on the path to an enduring arrangement for Euro-Atlantic consultation and multilateral action, especially in a security environment transformed by the end of the cold war and the advent of the 'war on terror.'" READ MORE

Climate Actions

CAN EUROPE CATALYZE CLIMATE ACTION? Jason Anderson, Current History, March 2009, pp. 131-137. "Global warming is an issue that cries out for central policy coordination, and in many respects policy making in this area has paved the way for EU cooperation. Combating climate change is frequently cited as the preeminent global environmental challenge we now face. Successfully averting the worst effects of global warming will require technical, political, economic, and social changes of a kind never seen before, and will put political will severely to the test. For its part, the European Union has considered itself a leader in climate policy for nearly two decades—both in developing domestic emissions reduction measures and in pushing forward global agreements in the United Nations. This leadership has been particularly evident during the past eight years, as the United States has stood on the sidelines." READ MORE

THE GEOENGINEERING OPTION. David G. Victor, M. Granger Morgan, Jay Apt, John Steinbruner, and Katharine Ricke, Foreign Affairs, March/April 2009, var. pages. "As climate change accelerates, policymakers may have to consider 'geoengineering' as an emergency strategy to cool the planet. Engineering the climate strikes most as a bad idea, but it is time to start taking it seriously." READ MORE