An Inconvenient Flag
Liberia's Ship Registry in the Age of Global Terrorism
Charles Taylor
Zimbabwe Zigzags Onto Another Rough Patch
The ongoing stand-off in Zimbabwe between incumbent President Robert Mugabe and the main opposition leader, Morgan Tsvangirai, shows how much the political landscape can shift back and forth in t...
Op-eds
Securing Africa
On February 6, 2007, President George W. Bush launched a major evolution in American military posture when he formally announced that he had directed the Pentagon to establish a new unified...
Op-eds
On the NRO Libya Editorial, I Respectfully Dissent
I respectfully dissent from Wedesday’s NRO editorial, which urges that the United States go to war with Libya. The editorial doesn’t put it that way. Indeed, it doesn&r...
Op-eds
Don’t Let Gaddafi Retire as Tyrant Emeritus in Venezuela
While Libyans battle over ending Moammar Gaddafi’s 42-year tyranny, Venezuela’s President Hugo Chavez has been itching to provide his services as a broker. Libya’s rebels...
Op-eds
The Battle for Libya: Implications for Africa
As battle lines crisscross between the rebels marching west to overthrow him and loyal military units taking the offensive against rebel-held towns in the eastern Libya, Colonel Muammar al-Qadhaf...
Op-eds
Emerging West African Terror-Drug Nexus Poses Major Security Threat
Over the course of the last month, the foiled attempt by would-be "underwear bomber" Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab to blow up a Detroit-bound passenger flight on Christmas Day has underscored the dan...
Op-eds
Sudan: The Beginning of the End
On Monday the prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (ICC), Luis Moreno-Ocampo, presented evidence to a panel of judges asking for the issuance of an arrest warrant against Sudanese Presi...
Op-eds
Building Security by Ending Impunity: The Trial of Charles Taylor
This being a column devoted to terrorism and other security issues affecting Africa, it regrettably must devote most of its coverage to the bad news of which the continent is all too familiar: po...
Op-eds
The Battle for Nigeria
WITH AROUND 36 billion barrels of proven petroleum reserves-the largest in Africa and the eighth largest in the world-Nigeria is America's fifth-largest supplier of oil. In 2006, the United...
Op-eds
Nigeria’s Electoral Intrigue
It barely registers on inside-the-Beltway policy discussions, but few countries are as vital to the strategic interests of the United States as Nigeria. With some 35.9 billion barrels of proven p...
Op-eds
Islamism Comes to the Niger Delta
Last month, I discussed in this column the immense importance of the Nigerian elections scheduled for April 21, 2007, concluding: "If President Obasanjo manages to hand ov...
Op-eds
A U.S. Security Agenda in Africa: Part II
Since its inception, this column has been dedicated to the proposition that that Sub-Saharan Africa which, even in the best of times, has historically been treated as something of a stepchild by...
Op-eds
Still at Large: Qadhafi the War Criminal
It's hard to have any sympathy for Charles Ghankay Taylor. During his murderous fourteen-year rampage through West Africa, the former Liberian president was responsible - according...
Op-eds
Hezbollah’s African Network
Despite the valiant efforts of the men and women of the Israeli Defense Forces to degrade the lethal capacity of Hezbollah terrorist organization&...
Op-eds
General Hayden, Invest in the Arms Trade
On June 26, representatives of governments and non-governmental organizations will gather in New York for the United Nations Review Conference on Small Arms. In the grand scheme of things, little...
Op-eds
The Middle East Link to Africa’s Conflicts
In an earlier commentary in this series, I lamented the fact that, despite clear and substantial evidence of terrorist activities, Sub-Saharan Africa remains largely ignored by both policymakers...
Op-eds
The War on Terrorism’s Forgotten Front
In early March, two American warships, the cruiser USS Cape St. George and the destroyer USS Gonzalez, were conducting maritime security operations off Somalia when a suspected "pirate" boat open...
Op-eds
The War on Terrorism’s Forgotten Front
In early March, two American warships, the cruiser USS Cape St. George and the destroyer USS Gonzalez, were conducting maritime security operations off Somalia when a suspected "pirate" boat open...
Op-eds
One Down, Dozens More to Go
We got Saddam Hussein. Now, what about all the other dictators? That long list of surviving despots makes up the true axis of evil, which is the source of the worst troubles of the moder...