Authors

America's Nervous Allies Look for Post-Missile Defense Options

By Peter Doran 22 Sep 2009 | World Politics Review President Barack Obama's rollback of the European-based ballistic missile defense system is a strategic blunder that will incentivize Russian intransigence, erode relations with loyal U.S. allies, and ultimately place the American homeland at greater risk. Without the security assurance that BMD offered, NATO's Central and Eastern European members will now look for alternate guarantees.

EU Energy Security and Bulgaria's Nuclear Option

By Peter Doran 25 May 2009 | World Politics Review A recent EU summit on the Nabucco natural gas pipeline convened just as the Bulgarian government finalized its participation in Russia's competing South Stream pipeline. Bulgaria's effort to link that agreement to Russian financing for a domestic nuclear power program demonstrates the perverse incentives which arise when EU energy security and environmental policy collide.

Overhauling the Iran Sanctions Act

By Peter Doran 16 Dec 2008 | World Politics Review As President-elect Barack Obama prepares to take office, the Turkish government is readying to outflank the U.S.'s Iran policy on a vast scale, having signed a milestone agreement in November to invest $12 billion in Iran's energy sector. The move presents an immediate conflict between Washington's efforts to contain Iran's nuclear ambitions and its desire to wean Europe from Russian energy dependence, and the choice between overhauling American efforts to isolate Iran or inviting a sour demonstration of its waning influence among close allies.

In Georgia, Moscow Has Been Allowed to Play Both Mediator and Spoiler

By Peter Doran 11 Aug 2008 | World Politics Review Exclusive The fighting in South Ossetia highlights the danger of allowing Eurasia's frozen conflicts to simmer under the veil of international management. Over the last decade, the United States and international partners failed to directly challenge the logic of Russia's dual status as both mediator and spoiler in the Georgian peace process. In the current environment, this failure has allowed Moscow to claim the role of peacekeeper as it pursues its own agenda in the Caucasus.