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

Barack Obama, a fantastical strategist?
Barack Obama, a fantastical strategist?

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

Barack Obama, a fantastical strategist?

To take Martin Luther King wildly out of context: I too have a fantasy. Suppose it is President Barack Obama and not Russian President Vladimir Putin who is the cleverer strategist. Suppose Mr. Obama cunningly set a trap in Syria for President Putin that either will lead to a negotiated political settlement or embroil Moscow in a Syrian quagmire? Or is this a dream run amuck in that there is no way that a community organizer turned university law professor could have outwitted and outmaneuvered a former KGB spymaster? Last week was not a good one for either the United States or for President Obama. The annual UN General Assembly [...]

By Harlan Ullman|2017-11-14T21:27:42+02:00October 25th, 2015|Blogs, Harlan Ullman., International Peace, & Security, Issues|0 Comments

Seymour Hersh in wonderland over the killing of Osama bin Laden
Seymour Hersh in wonderland over the killing of Osama bin Laden

America, Blogs, Harlan Ullman., Issues, Regions, Studies and Analysis

Seymour Hersh in wonderland over the killing of Osama bin Laden

The revelations, assertions and accusations made by Seymour Hersh in his “London Review of Books” piece on “The Killing of Osama bin Laden” are worthy of a Nobel Prize for fiction or, better yet, fantasy. For those who have neither read nor heard of this 10,000 word descent into wonderland, Hersh asserts that the raid that killed bin Laden four years ago was a set-up wonderfully play acted by President Barack Obama and his entire national security team from the Pentagon, State Department and CIA to Capitol Hill and the Pakistani Army and ISI who allegedly had been holding Osama prisoner as a means to control al Qaeda and the [...]

By Harlan Ullman|2017-11-14T21:27:49+02:00June 1st, 2015|America, Blogs, Harlan Ullman., Issues, Regions, Studies and Analysis|0 Comments

A dear John (McCain) letter
A dear John (McCain) letter

America, Blogs, General, Harlan Ullman., Regions

A dear John (McCain) letter

Dear Senator McCain: As you know better than anyone, the Department of Defense and the U.S. military are at greater risk today perhaps than at any time since September 11th. The principal threat is not al Qaeda, Da’esh or a resurgent China or Russia although a good part of the world remains dangerously unstable. Nor is sequestration, despite its irrationality and mindlessness, the mortal danger although it will harm the forces. Instead, the Pentagon faces three internal threats provoked by flaws in strategy, personnel policies and explosive cost growth. If these flaws are not corrected, the predictable outcome will be a “hollow force,” reminiscent of what happened after the Vietnam [...]

By Harlan Ullman|2017-11-14T21:27:49+02:00May 25th, 2015|America, Blogs, General, Harlan Ullman., Regions|0 Comments

A mightily tangled geostrategic web of intrigue and danger
A mightily tangled geostrategic web of intrigue and danger

America, Blogs, Harlan Ullman., International Peace, & Security, Issues, Orientul Mijlociu, Regions, Studies and Analysis

A mightily tangled geostrategic web of intrigue and danger

Just when events in the Middle East could not seem to be more complicated, this web of intrigue and danger has become even more complex and intertwined. People following these events are well aware of the crises wracking the huge stretch of geography from the Eastern Mediterranean and Maghreb through the Middle East and Persian Gulf to the Bay of Bengal. Libya, Syria, Iraq and Yemen are embroiled in chaos and conflict. The U.S., Saudi Arabia and Iran are actively engaged in disrupting and defeating the mutual threat posed by Da’esh (aka the Islamic State). But despite the framework agreement to prevent Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons, these three states [...]

By Harlan Ullman|2017-11-14T21:27:50+02:00May 3rd, 2015|America, Blogs, Harlan Ullman., International Peace, & Security, Issues, Orientul Mijlociu, Regions, Studies and Analysis|0 Comments

Hills, Bills and spills
Hills, Bills and spills

America, Blogs, Harlan Ullman., Issues, Regions, Studies and Analysis

Hills, Bills and spills

Last Sunday, Hillary Clinton announced her candidacy for the 2016 Democratic presidential nomination. The affair was low key relying on Twitter, Facebook and social media where a video was posted. The slogan “Ready for Hillary” is the current mantra along with “peace, progress and prosperity.” In ’08 it was “in for the win,” “ready for change, ready to lead” and then a batch of other lesser slogans. But slogans will not win the next presidential election. The profoundly crucial question is what will it take to become the next president? Cynics, realists and professional politicians have a simple answer: 270 electoral votes. As most people may not know, the U.S. [...]