Micah Zenko

Politics, Power, and Preventive Action

Zenko covers the U.S. national security debate and offers insight on developments in international security and conflict prevention.

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Showing posts for "3PA Recommended Reading"

Guest Post: Pakistan’s Elections and Drone Strikes

by Guest Blogger for Micah Zenko
Supporters of different opposition political parties during a rally in Islamabad on February 4, 2013 (Mian Khursheed/Courtesy Reuters). Supporters of different opposition political parties during a rally in Islamabad on February 4, 2013 (Mian Khursheed/Courtesy Reuters).

On Tuesday, my colleague Dan Markey published a new CFR Policy Innovation Memorandum (PIM), “Support Process Over Personalities in Pakistan.” In it, he argues that the United States should avoid playing favorites as Pakistani leadership transitions unfold over the course of 2013. As part of his broader argument, he suggests that the U.S. government should refrain from drone strikes during the campaign season prior to parliamentary elections. I’ve asked him to write a guest post about this aspect of the PIM. Read more »

You Might Have Missed: Drones, Cyber, and Mythologies of Intervention

by Micah Zenko
A drone takes off from a U.S. base in Afghanistan (Handout/Courtesy Reuters). A drone takes off from a U.S. base in Afghanistan (Handout/Courtesy Reuters).

Jill Lepore, “How Much Military is Enough?” New Yorker, January 28, 2013.

Veit Medick, “Germany Plans to Deploy Armed Drones,” Spiegel Online International, January 25, 2013. Read more »

Preventing Electoral Violence in Kenya

by Micah Zenko
Kenyans walk past a destroyed house in the sprawling Kibera slums, which was one of the most affected areas during the post-election violence in 2007 (Antony Njuguna/Courtesy Reuters). Kenyans walk past a destroyed house in the sprawling Kibera slums, which was one of the most affected areas during the post-election violence in 2007 (Antony Njuguna/Courtesy Reuters).

Since 2007, after a widely contested presidential election precipitated a descent in violence that killed over one thousand people, Kenya has taken steps to rebuild its political system through a power-sharing agreement and a new constitution. However, as tensions among rival ethnic groups rise ahead of the next elections, to be held in March 2013, continued stability in Kenya—already threatened by sporadic outbreaks of violence—remains uncertain. In a new Contingency Planning Memorandum “Electoral Violence in Kenya,” Joel Barkan warns that the March elections (with a potential run-off in April) are “arguably the most important and complex since the country’s return to multiparty politics two decades ago.” Events on the ground are further complicated by ongoing proceedings of the International Criminal Court, which has indicted one of the leading presidential candidates, Uhuru Kenyatta, for his role in perpetuating ethnic conflict in the aftermath of the 2007 elections. Read more »

A Primer on Military Force

by Micah Zenko
U.S. Sheridan tanks mothballed at Fort Irwin, California Army National Training Center (Courtesy Reuters/Rick Wilking). U.S. Sheridan tanks mothballed at Fort Irwin, California Army National Training Center (Courtesy Reuters/Rick Wilking).

As I’ve written previously, policymakers and pundits have some pretty silly proposals for the use of military force. Whether it’s President Clinton,“[It would] scare the shit out of al Qaeda if suddenly a bunch of black ninjas rappelled out of helicopters into the middle of their camp,” or uberconservative Pat Robertson, “We really ought to go ahead and [assassinate Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez]…It’s a whole lot cheaper than starting a war,” such harebrained schemes lack a basic understanding of military strategy, geography, and logistics, not to mention international law. Read more »

You Might Have Missed: Libya Edition

by Micah Zenko

A man holds a weapon and a Kingdom of Libya flag as people gather near the courthouse in Benghazi on August 22, 2011 (Esam Al-Fetori/Courtesy Reuters).

–Joby Warrick and Scott Wilson, “U.S. Presses Libyan Rebels to Preserve Order,” Washington Post, August, 22, 2011.

“’This is precisely the way that we had been saying the strategy was suppose to work,’ said Ben Rhodes, the deputy national security adviser for strategic communications.”

–Senators John McCain and Lindsey Graham, “Graham and McCain on the End of Qadaffi Regime in Libya,” joint statement, August 22, 2011.

“Americans can be proud of the role our country has played in helping to defeat Qaddafi, but we regret that this success was so long in coming due to the failure of the United States to employ the full weight of our airpower.” (3PA: A remarkable statement from Sen. Graham who in early April offered perhaps the best burden-sharing quote ever: “”When we call[ed] for a no-fly zone, we didn’t mean our planes.”) Read more »

You Might Have Missed

by Micah Zenko

Welcome to a new semi-regular feature of 3PA: “You Might Have Missed.” The objective of this format will be to present news articles, speeches, reports, books, and recent bits of information that could be of interest to readers of this blog, but went unreported in the mainstream media. When possible, I will also highlight quotes, facts, or data that were buried in these publications and provide analysis for how they relate to current or past events. Read more »

Five Years After the Israel-Hezbollah War

by Micah Zenko

An Israeli artillery unit fires a shell towards Lebanon from its position near the Israeli-Lebanese border August 9, 2006. Israel decided on Wednesday to expand its ground offensive in Lebanon, and Hizbollah's leader vowed to turn southern Lebanon into a graveyard for Israeli troops and to unleash more rockets on the city of Haifa. REUTERS/Yonathan Weitzman

Read more »