21st Century Security

Challenging America: How Russia, China, and Other Countries Use Public Diplomacy to Compete with the U.S.

June 21, 2012

Competing aggressively with the United States for the “hearts and minds” of people around the world, many state and non-state actors are funneling significant resources into their public diplomacy strategies. The Chinese government announced in 2009 that it would spend almost $7 billion on a “global media drive” to improve its image. The Russian government allocated $1.4 billion for international propaganda in 2010.

The Heritage Foundation, June 21, 2012

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Obama-Putin Meeting Brings Chill to Mexico

June 20, 2012

President Barack Obama and Russian president Vladimir Putin met at the G-20 summit in Cabo San Lucas, Mexico. The meeting’s results disappointed realists and international interventionists alike.

The two leaders failed to reach agreements on core geopolitical issues. But the body language said it all: after the two hour meeting the two barely looked at each other, and Reuters reported their demeanor as “cool and detached.”

By Ariel Cohen

The National Interest  

June 20, 2012

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Dialogue of the Deaf: Obama and Putin at the G-20 Meeting

June 18, 2012

Today, President Barack Obama and Russian President Vladimir Putin are meeting [1] at the G-20 summit in Cabo San Lucas, Mexico. This meeting is likely will be tense, as the two leaders have fundamentally different agendas regarding some of the most pressing international problems.

By Ariel Cohen

The Heritage Foundation, June 18, 2012

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Russia, PNTR, and Human Rights

June 13, 2012

Progress on the ability of U.S. firms to take advantage of new business opportunities when Russia joins the World Trade Organization (WTO) took a step forward yesterday when Senate leaders acknowledged that legislation to promote human rights will be a condition needed for permanent normal trade relations (PNTR) to move forward, too.

By Ariel Cohen and Bryan Riley

The Heritage Foundation, June 13, 2012

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The Magnitsky Act: The Moment of Truth

June 5, 2012

This Thursday, the House Foreign Affairs Committee will put the Sergei Magnitsky Rule of Law Accountability Act up for a vote. The bill seeks “to impose sanctions on persons responsible for the detention, abuse, or death of Sergei Magnitsky, and for other gross violations of human rights in the Russian Federation, and for other purposes.”

By Ariel Cohen

The Heritage Foundation

June 5, 2012

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The Secretary's Daunting Agenda

June 4, 2012

Late last week, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton began her tour of Denmark, Norway, Sweden, Armenia, Georgia, Azerbaijan and Turkey. In Scandinavia, she was to address several forums on climate change and green energy. While in Sweden, she also planned to discuss Internet freedom, Afghanistan and the Middle East.

By Ariel Cohen

The National Interest, June 4, 2012

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Hillary Clinton to engage in intense geopolitical discussions in Caucasus

May 31, 2012

U.S Secretary of State Hillary Clinton will engage in intense geopolitical discussions in the Caucasus and Turkey during her visit, the leading expert of the Heritage Foundation for Russian and Eurasian Studies and International Energy Policy, member of Trend Expert Council, Ariel Cohen said.

Today.AZ

May 31, 2012

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Azerbaijan: Between Iran and a Hard Place

March 21, 2012

The former Soviet republic of Azerbaijan is a small country sandwiched between Russia and Iran along the coast of the Caspian Sea, which is in fact the largest salt lake on earth, not a sea. Americans should not feel bad if they can't find it on a geography quiz. But due to its unique location, the country is playing an increasingly important role in the West’s confrontation with Iran.

The National Interest,  

March 21, 2012

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Global U.S.–Russian Rivalry Fuels Syria Clash in the U.N.

March 13, 2012

On Monday, Washington and Moscow clashed yet again in the U.N. Security Council over what to do about the bloody conflict in Syria. Neither side came up with a solution the other one agrees to. But this rivalry is about much more than just Syria.

By Ariel Cohen

The Heritage Foundation

March 13, 2012

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Total’s Caspian Gas Discovery

September 12, 2011

By Ariel Cohen and Anton Altman

The Heritage Foundation

Total, Europe’s third largest oil company, announced last Friday that they have made a major gas discovery in the Caspian Sea.

The discovery, made in the Absheron block off the coast of Azerbaijan, is thought to have large pockets of gas spread over a 270-square-kilometer field and holds about 350 billion cubic meters of natural gas and 45 million metric tons of gas condensate, according to SOCAR, the state oil company of Azerbaijan.

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Exxon Storming the Arctic

September 7, 2011

By Ariel Cohen and Anton Altman

The Heritage Foundation

Last week, oil giant ExxonMobil announced an agreement with Russia’s state oil company, Rosneft, to explore for oil in the Arctic continental shelf in the Kara Sea. America’s largest oil company is taking the place of BP (British Petroleum), whose dealings with Rosneft earlier this year collapsed.

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The Northern Sea Route: Mired in Ice and Red Tape

August 19, 2011

Ariel Cohen and Anton Altman

The Heritage Foundation

The accelerated melting of the polar icecaps and recent Russian announcement that the Northern Sea Route (NSR) is now “ice-free” beg the question of whether or not the passage is already a commercially viable option. The Heritage Foundation examined Russia’s ambitious plans for the “last frontier” in the High North in great detail.

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U.S. Shale Gas: The Geopolitical Impact

July 29, 2011

By Ariel Cohen & Anton Altman

The Heritage Foundation

A report released last week by the Baker Institute at Rice University, “Shale Gas and U.S. National Security,” focused on the foreign policy benefits of this domestically produced fuel. The authors undertook the study in light of the tremendous growth in discoveries of natural gas from shale in North America and the technological innovations that made it possible.

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Behind the Israeli-Lebanese Gas Row

July 26, 2011

By Ariel Cohen

Wall Street Journal

Tensions are rising in the eastern Mediterranean between Israel and Lebanon, this time over roughly 430 square miles of contested waters that contain considerable underwater gas reserves. Iran, Hezbollah and Syria are all interested in a war withIsrael, each for their own reasons. Tehran and Damascus want to save the embattled regime of Bashar Assad.

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Heritage Findings Reaffirmed: U.S. Not Ready for a Massive Oil Crisis

July 18, 2011

Ariel Cohen and Michaela Bendikova

The Heritage Foundation

The United States lacks effective energy policy responses in the event of a major oil crisis. This was the conclusion reached at a recent simulation by Securing America’s Future Energy. Little surprise here: We arrived at the same conclusion in three energy simulation exercises conducted at The Heritage Foundation in 2007,2008, and 2010.

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Israel–Lebanon Natural Gas Dispute Threatens Security in Eastern Mediterranean

April 17, 2011

By Ariel Cohen & Anton Altman

The Heritage Foundation

Tensions are rising between Israel and Lebanon, this time over underwater gas reserves. After months of debate, Israel’s cabinet approved last week a proposed maritime border that overlaps with a competing Lebanese claim, creating a sliver of some 430 square miles in dispute.


Islamist Terrorists Target Oil Tanker Again

September 9, 2010

By Ariel Cohen

The Foundry

Last Friday, the United Arab Emirates acknowledged that [2] damage sustained by a Japanese supertanker on July 28, 2010, in the Persian Gulf, was the result of terrorism——not a “huge wave” as was announced earlier. The attack demonstrated the increasing danger of maritime terrorism against critical energy infrastructure. Prior to this , both UAE and Iran discounted the possibility of a terrorist attack.

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From Russian Competition to Natural Resources Access: Recasting U.S. Arctic Policy

June 15, 2010

By Ariel Cohen

The Heritage Foundation

During the past decade, the Arctic re-emerged as an area of vital U.S. interest. In addition to the oil and gas bonanza, two strategic maritime routes cross the region: the Northern Sea route along the northern coast of Eurasia and the Northwest Passage along the northern coast of Canada.

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Authoritarian Arms

August 20, 2009

By Ariel Cohen

President Hugo Chavez recently announced that Venezuela will purchase dozens of Russian tanks and other arms, signaling growing military ties between the two countries -- and trouble ahead in the hemisphere.

The deal comes amid tensions with Colombia as Mr. Chavez continues to support the narco-terrorism of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) and as he campaigns against the United States using Colombian facilities for anti-drug efforts in the Andes.

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The Russian Handicap to U.S. Iran Policy

April 22, 2009

By Ariel Cohen

There are voices in the Obama Administration who believe that the Kremlin is able and willing to exert pressure on Iran to prevent it from acquiring nuclear weapons. However, perceived geopolitical and economic benefits in the unstable Persian Gulf, in which American influence is on the wane, outweigh Russia’s concerns about a nuclear-armed Iran.

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America, Russia, and the World: The Grim Reality of 2009

January 15, 2009

By Ariel Cohen

While Azerbaijan had a bumper year in 2008, the Caucasus at large suffered a shock as Russian tanks rolled into Georiga. This was only one symptom of a deteriorating security situation in Eurasia and the Middle East. With the gas war and the Gaza clash, people shudder as to what else may be coming.

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Russia’s Gas War

January 13, 2009

By Ariel Cohen

Despite feverish negotiations with participation of the European Union, Russia and Ukraine failed to agree on resolution of the gas dispute between them. Mutual disdain escalated haggling and acrimony between leaders in Moscow and Kiev to hysterical pitch.

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The Oil-Price Roller Coaster : Global Challenges for The Obama Administration

December 18, 2008

By Ariel Cohen & Owen Graham

The global financial crisis has caused a massive slide in energy prices, down to $40-$50 a barrel of NYMEX light sweet crude from the July 2008 highs of $147. While oil prices, along with other commodities, are expected to continue their fall in the short term, over the medium to long term, economic recovery is likely to generate growth in demand, and oil prices are expected to recover as energy markets tighten.

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The New Cold War: Reviving The U.S. Presence in the Arctic

October 30, 2008

By Ariel Cohen

The Arctic is quickly reemerging as a strategic area where vital U.S. interests are at stake. The geo­political and geo-economic importance of the Arctic region is rising rapidly, and its mineral wealth will likely transform the region into a booming eco­nomic frontier in the 21st century.

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OPEC Redux: Responding to the Russian-Iranian Gas Cartel

October 28, 2008

By Ariel Cohen

Steadily and stealthily, a natural gas cartel has emerged over the last seven years. On October 21 in Tehran, the Gas Exporting Countries’ Forum (GECF) agreed to form a cartel. Russia, Iran, and Qatar announced that they intend to form a yet–unnamed group to "coordinate gas policy." The Group of Three (the "troika") will meet quarterly to coordinate and exercise control over close to two–thirds of the world’s gas reserves and a quarter of all gas production.

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