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

Bush v Gore 2000 – Cruz v Constitution 2016?
Bush v Gore 2000 – Cruz v Constitution 2016?

America, Blogs, Democracy & Human Rights, Harlan Ullman., Issues, Regions

Bush v Gore 2000 – Cruz v Constitution 2016?

Remember the 2000 presidential elections? Vice President Al Gore won the popular vote. But for thirty-one days after the election, no one knew whether he or Texas Governor George W. Bush had prevailed in Florida winning the needed electoral votes that would determine the nation’s 43rd president. “Hanging chads” and the spectacular hair-do of Florida’s Secretary of State Kathleen Harris dominated the news as Republicans and Democrats took to the courts to determine the winner. Both sides filed three separate lawsuits. Finally, the most critical case of Bush v. Gore was decided by a 5-4 decision in the Supreme Court. Divided among along party lines, the decision stopped the recount [...]

By Harlan Ullman|2017-11-14T21:27:52+02:00May 1st, 2015|America, Blogs, Democracy & Human Rights, Harlan Ullman., Issues, Regions|0 Comments

IRAN 2015 – are 1914 and 1964 calling?
IRAN 2015 – are 1914 and 1964 calling?

America, Blogs, Defense / Homeland Security, Energy/Environment, Harlan Ullman., International Peace, & Security, Issues, Orientul Mijlociu, Regions, Studies and Analysis

IRAN 2015 – are 1914 and 1964 calling?

The March 31st negotiating deadline with Iran over limiting its nuclear programs is upon us. Even if a further extension follows which is likely, suppose at some future point, these negotiations ultimately fail. What options are left? Eerily, chilling parallels with 1914 and 1964 arise. A century ago, the world “sleep walked to war.” The assassinations of Archduke Franz Ferdinand and his pregnant wife Sophie lit the fuse for World War I and sowed the seeds for future conflicts. In August 1964, President Lyndon Johnson used the pretext of a non-existent second set of attacks by North Vietnamese PT boats against two U.S. Navy destroyers to rally a nearly unanimous [...]

By Harlan Ullman|2017-11-14T21:27:53+02:00April 2nd, 2015|America, Blogs, Defense / Homeland Security, Energy/Environment, Harlan Ullman., International Peace, & Security, Issues, Orientul Mijlociu, Regions, Studies and Analysis|0 Comments

Winston Spencer Ghani
Winston Spencer Ghani

America, Blogs, Democracy & Human Rights, Harlan Ullman., Issues, Regions, Studies and Analysis

Winston Spencer Ghani

Last month when Israeli Prime Minister Benyamin Netanyahu made his ill-advised plea to Congress to scuttle the nuclear negotiations with Iran, fringe Republican elements in Congress, along with right wing fellow travelers, called Bibi the 21st century’s version of Winston Churchill. Clearly they must have been referring to Churchill’s flip-flops to and from the Conservative Party as Netanyahu would do vis a vis opposing the two state solution. Possibly they may have been referring to Churchill’s tenure as First Lord of the Admiralty and the disastrous Gallipoli assault he initiated in 1915 or his five years as Chancellor of the Exchequer after World War I and the monumental economic blunder [...]

By Harlan Ullman|2017-11-14T21:27:53+02:00April 2nd, 2015|America, Blogs, Democracy & Human Rights, Harlan Ullman., Issues, Regions, Studies and Analysis|0 Comments

The U.S. government – bad joke or just bad?
The U.S. government – bad joke or just bad?

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

The U.S. government – bad joke or just bad?

In this corner, wearing black trunks and weighing in at 175 pounds is the president of the United States. In that corner, weighing collectively 101,101 pounds and wearing even darker trunks are the 535 members of the U.S. Congress. When the bell rings, please do something. That six-year fight has had only one result so far---broken government. But this state of failed government did not happen over night or even in six days. The current disintegration of government is akin to a disease that took years to metastasize. The potentially fatal flaws lay in the Constitution and divided government based on separation of powers in which not one word is [...]

By Harlan Ullman|2017-11-14T21:27:53+02:00March 26th, 2015|America, Blogs, Harlan Ullman., Regions, Studies and Analysis|0 Comments

Carter’s Dilemma – New Secretary Must Balance Force Size, Cost
Carter’s Dilemma – New Secretary Must Balance Force Size, Cost

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

Carter’s Dilemma – New Secretary Must Balance Force Size, Cost

When Ashton Carter takes the oath of office as the US secretary of defense, he will be caught on the horns of an excruciating dilemma. If unresolved, the long-term consequence will be a 21st century replay of the “hollow force” that arose after the Vietnam War ended. That force was unready and largely incapable of carrying out all its duties to defend the nation. The first and very visible horn of this dilemma is White House guidance. One of many reasons why Carter was chosen for the post is that he is highly experienced, hence a “safe pair of hands” who is unlikely to do “stupid stuff.” One [...]