Articles by Ariel Cohen

Security

Russian–North Korean Naval Maneuvers Endanger Peace in Pacific

Ariel Cohen | September 19, 2011

Yesterday, the State Department released an official reaction to media reports on upcoming joint naval exercises between Russia and North Korea. The U.S. declared that… Read More

 

Prokhorov’s Ouster a Blow to Obama’s Russia Policy

Ariel Cohen | September 19, 2011

Last week, Russian political scandal season reached a boiling point. On September 16, Mikhail Prokhorov, Russia’s third richest man (with an estimated personal net worth… Read More

 

Total’s Caspian Gas Discovery

Ariel Cohen | September 12, 2011

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… Read More

Energy

Exxon Storming the Arctic

Ariel Cohen | September 07, 2011

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… Read More

Security

Iran–Russia S-300 Affair Takes a New Spin

Ariel Cohen | August 30, 2011

Iran escalated its dispute with Russia recently. Tehran filed a lawsuit against the Russian Federation at the International Court of Arbitration as Russia refused to… Read More

 

Russia’s Arctic Claims: Neither LOST nor Forgotten

Ariel Cohen | August 16, 2011

The Arctic is becoming the “wild west” of the 21st century, and the Russians have been quick to claim a good part of it as… Read More

 

Turkey’s ‘Zero Problems with Neighbors’ Policy Meets the Reality of Syria

Ariel Cohen | August 11, 2011

Turkey finds its “zero problems with neighbors” foreign policy severely compromised by upheaval in the Arab world. Relations with its closest friends, such as Syria,… Read More

 

Russian Threats a Heavy Blow to Obama’s “Reset” Policy

Ariel Cohen | August 11, 2011

The U.S. State Department appears to be preempting and diluting the Senate’s Sergei Magnitsky Rule of Law Accountability Act of 2011 (S. 1039) by placing… Read More

Security

Who Are the Real Cold War Monsters?

Ariel Cohen | August 04, 2011

The recent statements by Vladimir Putin and Dmitry Rogozin, the Russian President’s Special Representative for Missile Defense Cooperation with NATO, raised hackles in Washington.  Putin… Read More

 

Moscow’s Sanctions Tit-for-Tat Threatens to Kill the “Reset”

Ariel Cohen | August 01, 2011

This week the State Department has placed some 64 Russian officials on a visa blacklist that would prevent them from entering the United States. These… Read More

Security

U.S. Shale Gas: The Geopolitical Impact

Ariel Cohen | July 28, 2011

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… Read More

 

Israel–Lebanon Natural Gas Dispute Threatens Security in Eastern Mediterranean

Ariel Cohen | July 18, 2011

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… Read More

Energy

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

Ariel Cohen | July 18, 2011

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… Read More

 

Azerbaijan’s Afghan Contribution

Ariel Cohen | July 14, 2011

Late on Tuesday, July 5, an Azerbaijani tanker plane crashed in Afghanistan en route to U.S./NATO Bagram Air Base with a load of fuel. The United… Read More

 

Washington Mum as France, Germany Arm Russia

Ariel Cohen | July 08, 2011

Amidst the ongoing aerial campaign against Muammar Qadhafi’s forces in Libya, NATO is struggling with a problem that is affecting the integrity of the alliance…. Read More

Security

As Heritage Predicted, Bin Laden Planned Attacks on Energy Infrastructure

Ariel Cohen | May 25, 2011

Materials obtained in the U.S. SEAL raid that killed Osama bin Laden confirm what Heritage suspected all along: Al-Qaeda considered attacking tanker ships and other… Read More

SecurityNews

After bin Laden’s Death, al-Qaeda Turns to the North Caucasus

Ariel Cohen | May 20, 2011

After Osama bin Laden’s death, it is clear that the war on terrorism is not over. Ayman al-Zawahiri, the former al-Qaeda’s number two, may take… Read More

SecurityNews

Stop Relying on Russian Aircraft

Ariel Cohen | May 17, 2011

The United States is increasingly relying on the Russian Federation for supplying U.S. forces stationed in Iraq and Afghanistan. This is because the U.S. does… Read More

 

Russia Fighting to Save Arms Sales to the Middle East

Ariel Cohen | May 02, 2011

Ambitious efforts to modernize Russia’s defense and industrial base undertaken during the Putin administration have been paying off—at least, in some cases. The Russian leadership… Read More

 

Putin and Medvedev Break Up over Libya

Ariel Cohen | March 22, 2011

Russia originally abstained from vetoing the U.N. Security Council resolution allowing operation “Odyssey Dawn” in Libya. Now, however, Moscow is changing its tune: Russia has… Read More

 

Emerging Threats in the Middle East

Ariel Cohen | February 10, 2011

HERZLIYA, ISRAEL. Emergence of a nuclear Iran; turmoil in Egypt and destabilization of secular, pro-Western Middle Eastern states; blurring of the lines between unconventional, conventional,… Read More

 

Middle East Security Deteriorates

Ariel Cohen | February 09, 2011

Two years of President Barak Obama’s Middle Eastern foreign policy, and especially its handling of the Egyptian revolution, earned poor marks at Israel’s flagship national… Read More

 

BP–Rosneft Deal: Beyond Energy

Ariel Cohen | January 19, 2011

On January 15, British Petroleum (BP) agreed to form a joint venture with Russia’s state-owned Rosneft to develop three of Rosneft’s offshore exploration blocks in… Read More

 

Meet Katya, a New Mata Hari

Ariel Cohen | December 09, 2010

On December 5, British security detained Katya Zatuliveter, also known as the “British Anne Champan.” Anne, or Anya, was a redheaded Russian spy arrested in… Read More

 

Russian Duma Threats Race Should Not Deter Due Diligence on New START

Ariel Cohen | December 06, 2010

Boris Gryzlov, Speaker of Russia’s State Duma, the lower house of parliament, said on Saturday that if the U.S. Senate moves to amend the text… Read More

 

Putin and Medvedev Threaten a Renewed Arms Race

Ariel Cohen | December 03, 2010

In his annual address Tuesday to both houses of parliament, Russian President Dmitri Medvedev warned that a new arms race would erupt if Moscow and… Read More

Security

Viktor Bout: Weapons Smuggler May Be the Tip of the Iceberg

Ariel Cohen | December 01, 2010

Documents from WikiLeaks published in International Business Times disclosed that American officials warned Washington that the Russian intelligence services are working closely with organized crime…. Read More

Security

The New START Ratification: Russia Tactical Nuke Advantage Should Caution the Senate

Ariel Cohen | December 01, 2010

In their most recent Wall Street Journal article, Adam Entous and Jonathan Weisman write that Russia has moved short-range tactical nuclear warheads to facilities near… Read More

 

‘Do it for Dmitry’ Is Poor Policy

Ariel Cohen | November 30, 2010

In his latest Los Angeles Times article, Doyle McManus identifies President Obama’s attempts to sell New START, the nuclear arms reduction treaty between the U.S…. Read More

 

The New START Debate Is Not A Jewish Issue

Ariel Cohen | November 20, 2010

Partisan Democrats in the Jewish community are attempting to politicize the security debate of the New START nuclear arms control treaty, the centerpiece of President… Read More