Harlan Ullman, Author at Centrul de analiza si studii de securitate

When governments become destructive
When governments become destructive

Blogs, Democracy & Human Rights, Global Governance, Harlan Ullman., Issues, Studies and Analysis

When governments become destructive

Tomorrow, July 4th, marks America’s Independence Day. The document we celebrate, the Declaration of Independence that rejected British rule, was the masterpiece of democratic expression written by Thomas Jefferson in 1776. The most profound lines are not the more famous “When in the course of human events” and “all men are created equal.” They appear at the end of the first sentence of the document’s second paragraph: “when… government…becomes destructive, it is the right of the people to alter or abolish it and institute new government.” Two hundred and thirty-seven years later, too many governments have become destructive in governing whether through smashing dissent with force or blatant, repressive misuse [...]

By Harlan Ullman|2017-11-14T21:28:36+02:00July 7th, 2013|Blogs, Democracy & Human Rights, Global Governance, Harlan Ullman., Issues, Studies and Analysis|0 Comments

Too many archdukes, too many bullets
Too many archdukes, too many bullets

Blogs, Global Governance, Harlan Ullman., International Peace, & Security, Issues

Too many archdukes, too many bullets

Ninety-nine years ago this Friday, Archduke Franz Ferdinand and his pregnant wife Sofia were gunned down in Sarajevo by a nineteen-year old Bosnian Serb nationalist named Gavrilo Princips. The assassinations quickly provoked a crisis that more quickly erupted into world war. Ironically, many of the elites in Europe believed that an early 20th century version of globalization and economic interdependencies on the continent made war too expensive to contemplate or to wage. Indeed, Nobel Prize winner Sir Norman Angell’s The Great Illusion, written in 1910 and required reading for the intelligentsia, made that case eloquently and, as it turned out, entirely wrongly. Today, the nearly four hundred year old Westphalian [...]

By Harlan Ullman|2017-11-14T21:28:36+02:00July 3rd, 2013|Blogs, Global Governance, Harlan Ullman., International Peace, & Security, Issues|0 Comments

America strikes out
America strikes out

Blogs, Defense / Homeland Security, Harlan Ullman., Issues, Studies and Analysis

America strikes out

Using a baseball metaphor, in the field of national security, when the United States comes to the plate to bat, it often starts with two and a half strikes against it. Strike one is the chronic tendency to misinterpret, distort and even invent threats often for politically expedient reasons. Strike two is the failure to address the question of “what next?” once crucial foreign or national security policy decisions have been taken. Strike two and a half are lapses in oversight of sensitive national security programs that too often occur. Regarding threat assessment, during the Cold War, the U.S. believed that the Soviet Union was “ten feet tall.” It turned [...]

By Harlan Ullman|2017-11-14T21:28:37+02:00June 21st, 2013|Blogs, Defense / Homeland Security, Harlan Ullman., Issues, Studies and Analysis|0 Comments

Trapped in the cul de sac of no good choices
Trapped in the cul de sac of no good choices

Blogs, Harlan Ullman., Studies and Analysis

Trapped in the cul de sac of no good choices

Unlike the past when the United States faced potentially existential dangers, from the Revolution to the Civil War, Great Depression, World War II and the Cold War, since the attacks on New York City’s Twin Towers on September 11th, too many of today’s crises and challenges have no obvious solutions let alone good ones. The United States seems caught in a no-man’s land of danger that eludes choices that can affect positive outcomes. Syria is one of many examples. As this column asked, suppose in human terms, supporting the horrible regime of Bashar Assad would claim the fewest number of lives. Are a hundred or two hundred thousand lives worth [...]

By Harlan Ullman|2017-11-14T21:28:38+02:00June 4th, 2013|Blogs, Harlan Ullman., Studies and Analysis|0 Comments

Syrian Supernova?
Syrian Supernova?

Blogs, General, Harlan Ullman., Orientul Mijlociu

Syrian Supernova?

Doha, Qatar: Syria is dying. A further tragedy is that there is little the outside world can do to end that war. The struggle between Bashar al Assad's Alawite-Shia regime and the largely Sunni opposition has already claimed upwards of 80,000 lives and turned hundreds of thousands into refugees seeking shelter in less dangerous parts of Syria or in neighboring states. A British Member of Parliament who knows the region well believes that if Assad defeats the opposition, at least 100,000 will perish. And if Assad goes, that number could double or triple in the ensuing bloodbath. Despite powerful domestic pressure to act, for the United States and other Western powers, every [...]