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June 2003
Vol. IX, No. 4
Short Takes
Grantee Nets a Gunrunner
Intrepid investigative reporting led to the arrest and extradition of an international arms dealer.
A documentary program supported by the Institute led to the arrest of an international arms dealer last fall.
The Military and the Making of Foreign Policy How are the makers of foreign policy and the military facing the new challenges of the 21st century? This question was addressed by an April 23 panel, chaired by Ambassador Samuel Lewis and featuring former guest scholar Dana Priest of the Washington Post, former fellow Yoram Peri of Tel Aviv University, and Charles Moskos of Northwestern University. Moskos noted that the American military has long been torn about the appropriateness of participation in peacekeeping and peacebuilding. However, arguments that peacekeeping undermines the "warrior ethic" are disproved by recent research. Moskos has found that troops working more closely with local communities in the Balkans had a higher level of morale than those performing more traditional military tasks at Camp Bondsteel in Kosovo. Specialized tracking among long-term and short-term recruits, recommends Moskos, will help maintain a war-ready military that can also perform in peacekeeping and peacebuilding situations. Priest cautioned that the military alone cannot rebuild nations, as in Afghanistan and Iraq. However, she continued, if the State Department and other U.S. agencies are to play a more active role in peacebuilding and other activities they must have the support of both Congress and the administration. This support has eroded over the past several years. Peri provided a different angle by describing the Israeli politico-military situation. While the Israeli military is more involved in policymaking than the U.S. military, there is still a solid civil-military balance, according to Peri. He cited a diversity of opinion within the military and the forming of various civil-military coalitions based on common positions over the years. Peri concluded that the blurring of politics, military affairs, and policymaking seen in Israel may become more common in other nations in response to complex security challenges since September 2001. |
The Center for Investigative Reporting (CIR), with the support of an Institute grant, produced the documentary "Gunrunners," a Frontline/World program aired on public television in May 2002. The program, and its companion web site, ultimately resulted in the arrest and extradition of Jean Bernard Lasnaud. Lasnaud had been living in Florida. Spooked by the interest of CIR reporters in his business dealings—much of which was Internet-based—he fled to Switzerland. He was arrested in Switzerland only a few days after the program aired on PBS and the story about Lasnaud broke on-line. He was extradited to Argentina in September 2002 to face charges there.
CIR has been reporting on the illegal gun trade since the development of its 1997 program "Hot Guns," a Frontline co-production on the U.S. domestic black market. In the case of small arms, CIR has monitored a booming international black market trade that fuels conflict around the world—in countries such as Sierra Leone and Liberia. The trade has led to an estimated 4 million deaths since the end of the Cold War, according to CIR.
"Gunrunners" won an Investigative Reporters and Editors Award in the online category.
Danger in the Caucasus
The unresolved conflict between Armenia and Azerbaijan over the secessionist province of Nagorny Karabakh could erupt yet again, destabilizing the entire southern Caucasus region of the former Soviet Union.
"It was a very bad war, it is an even worse peace," said Thomas de Waal, independent journalist and Caucasus editor for the Institute for War and Peace Reporting, who spoke at the Institute on April 16. His new book, Black Garden: Armenia and Azerbaijan through Peace and War (New York: NYU Press, 2003) was largely supported by an Institute grant.
A cease-fire in the war for independence by the overwhelmingly ethnic Armenian province in Azerbaijan's western region has given the region a modicum of stability since 1994. But the doomsday scenario that permeates discussion of the conflict is that of a "proxy war" between Turkey (supporting Azerbaijan) and Russia (supporting Armenia). "These are two small countries," said de Waal. "Each believes they are the victimized and endangered party while the other is backed by a large power."
In conclusion, de Waal said that the conflict between Armenia and Azerbaijan is a 20th century problem, not a matter of inherent, ancient hatreds. The conflict is being perpetuated by politically motivated "hate narratives" that are domestically convenient for both sides. But actually, says de Waal, "there is a long history of trading, intermarriage, and shared culture. And informal cooperation continues to this day." With the proper support, that cooperation could form the basis for a negotiated settlement.
