AICGS Advisor - October 12, 2007

Analysis

Click here to access this week's AICGS Podcasts.

In this week's At Issue, Executive Director Dr. Jackson Janes discusses the recently-extended mandate for Germany's military presence in Afghanistan and how the ISAF and OEF missions in Afghanistan are essential to the security and prosperity of that nation.
To read this essay, please click here.

On October 1, 2007, Russian President Vladimir Putin announced that he would stand for election to the Russian Parliament, raising the possibility he would become Prime Minister. On the same day, AICGS held a policy briefing featuring prominent Russia scholars Dr Lilia Shevtsova of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, Dr. Angela Stent of Georgetown University's Center for Eurasian, Russian and East European Studies, and Dr. Jörg Himmelreich of The German Marshall Fund of the United States, who discussed the results of two AICGS conferences and what this and other recent developments in Russian foreign policy mean for transatlantic relations. Please follow the links below for audio versions of the speakers' presentations.
To listen to Dr. Lilia Shevtsova's remarks, please click here.
To listen to Dr. Angela Stent and Dr. Jörg Himmelreich's remarks, please click here.
To read Dr. Stent's Working Paper on the May 2007 Russia conference, please click here (PDF).
To read a summary of the September Russia conference, please click here.

The Lebanon War was a bumpy ride not only for the parties directly involved in the military conflict, but also for the German media, which had a hard time coming to grips with what was actually going on and deciding which side to hold responsible for the destruction. In the newest AICGS Working Paper, Clemens Wergin, Chief Foreign Policy Editor of Die Welt, argues that most of the German media became unconsciously complicit with Hezbollah's agenda and was unaware of how Hezbollah used international media coverage in order to achieve its objectives..
To access this Working Paper, please click here (PDF).

Former AICGS/DHI Fellow Jeffrey Herf, Professor of History at the University of Maryland, analyzes the Rote Armee Faktion and its reign of terror throughout West Germany over 22 years in his essay, "An Age of Murder: Ideology and Terror in Germany, 1969-1991." This essay is the text of a speech given at the German Historical Institute on September 27, 2007.
To read this essay, please click here (PDF).

In a speech given on May 30, 2007, in Edinburgh, Scotland, Dr. Jackson Janes explores the similarities and differences in German-American relations between 1979 and today. More than ever before, the United States and Germany are confronted with the same challenges, and neither country can deal with these challenges on its own. This speech was turned into an essay which will also appear in the March 2008 edition of German Politics, the journal of the International Association for the Study of German Politics.
To read this essay, please click here (PDF).

The Atlantic Community, an online platform for transatlantic debate, recently interviewed many European policy experts with a focus on Iraq and what should be done to solve the problems of the Middle East. Three articles, titled "European Analysts Want America to Stay in Iraq," "Europe Should Help, But Not Follow U.S. Lead," and "Premature U.S. Withdrawal Would Threaten Europe," summarize the results of these interviews and are available thanks to The Atlantic Community.
For the first article in the series, please click here.
For the second article in the series, please click here.
For the third article in the series, please click here.

Upcoming Events

As the December deadline for ending talks on the future status of Kosovo approaches, both German foreign policy and the EU's Common Foreign and Security Policy (CFSP) are facing tremendous challenges. On October 15, AICGS will host Markus Ederer, Head of Policy Planning at the German Federal Foreign Office, for a discussion titled "Kosovo's Independence: A Challenge for Germany, the European Union, and Regional Stability," during which he will talk about whether or not Germany will join the United States and other European countries and call for Kosovo's independence.
To RSVP and for more information, please click here.

Social Security has often been described as a "third rail" of American politics; it is a program that cannot be fundamentally reformed because retrenchment efforts have a history of producing backlashes that have ended political careers. On October 24, 2007, AICGS will host former DAAD/AICGS Fellow Christian Eckert, who will look back on the effort to reform Social Security during the 109th Congress and discuss the reasons for the failure of President Bush's proposal. Additional commentary will be provided by Dr. Stephen Silvia of American University.
To RSVP and for more information, please click here.

The Grand Coalition governing Germany has been riding the wave of the cyclical upswing since late 2005, showing progress in consolidating public finance and a proposal for a comprehensive approach to tackle climate change, yet current economic policy has done little to put the economy on a more sustainable path of economic growth. On October 25, Klaus Deutsch of Deutsche Bank Research will discuss a recently-produced Deutsche Bank study that analyzes the first two years of Chancellor Angela Merkel's economic policies and whether or not they have been successful. Additional commentary will be provided by Dr. Adam Posen of the Peterson Institute of International Economics.
To RSVP and for more information, please click here.

Announcements

On September 24, 2007, AICGS hosted Ingo Rollwagen, former Deutsche Bank/AICGS Fellow and Senior MacroTrends Analyst of Deutsche Bank Research, for a workshop titled "Policies for Profit AND Progress? Education Policy Trends and Challenges in the United States." Mr. Rollwagen argued that in both the United States and in Germany, there has already been much improvement in the educational sector; however, there are still a lot of challenges to be faced.
For a summary of this event, please click here.

AICGS offers unpaid internships to undergraduate and graduate students in spring, summer, and fall. AICGS internships provide a professional and educational experience in a not-for-profit organization; the deadline for Spring 2008 applications is October 31, 2007.
For more information, please click here.

AICGS is pleased to announce its thirteenth annual Global Leadership Award Dinner, honoring Dr. Josef Ackermann, Chairman of the Managing Board and the Group Executive Committee of Deutsche Bank AG, on November 15, 2007, in New York City. Please join us for this special evening in honor of Dr. Ackermann.
For more information about the dinner, please click here.

For past issues of the AICGS Advisor, please check the Advisor Archive.