IASPS's Africa Oil Policy Initiative Group (AOPIG)
The most important geo-strategic developments in recent US energy policy are linked to West Africa. Institute Strategic Fellow Paul Michael Wihbey spearheaded four years of policy entrepreneurship capped off in this Institute White Paper. Wihbey (and Barry Schutz) organized the Institute’s AOPIG with IASPS Director Robert Heiler. The policy recommendations assume an American strategic commitment. But the ramifications of the Initiative reach back to the “other Gulf.” West African oil is what can help stabilize the Middle East, end Muslim terror and secure a measure of energy security. First, the Africa Initiative is Africa’s Turn. And, turning Africa can help turn the kaleidoscope that will reset misalliances and unseat misrule driven by oil and murder. It’s a policy.

-Click here to read the White Paper
-Click here to read the transcript of a recent IASPS Symposium on the subject

-Click here for coverage of a press conference announcing the project

 

The Peace Process has Come to America
Click here for a list of articles in IASPS' new series of commentaries.  

Turkish Daily News Interviews IASPS Analyst
The Turkish Daily News published an interview with IASPS Strategic Fellow Paul Michael Wihbey on July 17th entitled “Strategic alliance in Central Asia creates new Eurasian power center.”  Click here to read it.

Institute Hosts Conference on Turkish Water and Caspian Energy in Israel
On May 30th, in Jerusalem, the Institute held a daylong symposium focusing on the regional and strategic dimension of the importation of Turkish water to Israel and Caspian oil and gas for the Eastern Mediterranean. Among the speakers were Israeli Minister of National Infrastructure Avigdor Lieberman; Minister of Regional Cooperation Tsippi Livni; Deputy Minister of National Infrastructure (water) Naomi Blumenthal; deputy minister in the Prime Minister's Office Dr. Yuri Stern; and His Excellency Ahmet Uzumcu, Turkish ambassador to Israel, as well as IASPS analysts. Click here to read more about it. 

Herald Tribune: IASPS Analysis Shows US Needs Reality Check on Energy
On May 8th, 2001, the International Herald Tribune pointed its readers to IASPS research and analysis showing that the United States no longer needs to rely on Persian Gulf oil to meet its energy needs. Click here to read the article. 

IASPS Analyst Addresses Washington Times Editorial Board on African Issues
On March 29th, 2001, Paul Michael Wihbey, IASPS Strategic Fellow, was a featured guest along with Congressman Ed Royce, Chairman of the House International Relations Subcommittee on Africa at an editorial board meeting of the Washington Times.  The topic of Mr. Wihbey’s presentation centered on the strategic significance of Africa for U.S. energy security policy, noting that we already import as much oil each day from Nigeria as from Saudi Arabia. Click here to read the resulting Washington Times Article.

IASPS Fellow addresses Turkish Conference on Water Resources
On November 28, 2000, IASPS Strategic Fellow Paul Michael Wihbey was a keynote speaker at a conference in Ankara, Turkey sponsored by the Center for Eurasian Studies (ASAM).  He spoke on the issue of water as a key component of regional security including its impact on Israeli-Turkish bilateral relations. Click here to read his remarks.


 
The division's staff regularly write op-ed pieces for the website or for newspapers and magazines. Here are a few:

-Crusaders for Energy
by Barak Palatchi

-Peace in our Time
by Yuval Levin

-The Strategic Importance of Africa
by Paul Michael Wihbey

-Appeasing China
by Angelo Codevilla

-The War is Over
by Zev Golan

 


In a continuing effort to break through the conventional foreign policy wisdom, the Institute publishes a series of IASPS Research Papers in Strategy.  Here are some recent titles:

-Ilan Berman, Russia and the Mideast Vacuum  

-Yuval Levin, American Aid to the Middle East: A Tragedy of Good Intentions

-Paul Michael Wihbey and Ilan Berman, The Geopolitics of Water

-Elie Krakowsky, The Afghan Vortex  

   
The Strategic Division of IASPS teaches, researches, and publishes about what generates power in the world, and how power is exercised. Our current teaching program involves graduate students who take three intensive courses in Washington on geopolitics, military - intelligence matters, and missile defense, work as Fellows on Capitol Hill, and prepare research projects that qualify them as experts in their fields. Our associates are well known scholars in their own right, who publish in a variety of journals and newspapers. The division publishes a number of detailed papers each year on topics ranging from the geopolitics of water in the Middle East to missile defense. In addition, our website contains brief insights into current topics. Although we have a special interest in the Middle East, the origin of that interest is primarily academic: this is a region from whose dangers and follies many generally applicable lessons are to be drawn.