Does Islamic State Pose a Threat to India?
Counterintelligence Remains Weakness in Taiwan’s Defense
Russia Seizes Opportunity to Expand Drone Usage
US Defense Secretary’s Visit to Ukraine and Perspectives for US-Ukraine Military Cooperation
Last month’s (August 24) visit of the United States Secretary of Defense James Mattis to Ukraine was the first such trip by a Pentagon head in the last ten years. Before arriving in Kyiv, Mattis... MORE
Romania on Course to Revamp Its Air Defenses
Faced with Russia’s military buildup in the Black Sea, Romania is set to acquire US-made Patriot anti-aircraft and missile-defense systems as well as 36 F-16 fighters in order to bolster its air-defense capabilities (Hotnews.ro, July... MORE
Language Fight in Tatarstan Set to Ignite Political Explosion Across Russia
Political leaders normally like to convert “either/or” issues into “more or less” ones because the latter permit compromises while the former typically do not. However, the fight over the requirement that all residents in Tatarstan... MORE
Georgia Hosts Large-Scale, Multinational Military Drills
From September 3 to September 11, Georgia hosted the multinational military exercise Agile Spirit 2017 (Agenda.ge, September 11). Originally, Agile Sprit started off as a bilateral United States–Georgia military exercise, normally held at the Vaziani... MORE
Rapprochement With Kyrgyzstan: Mirziyaev’s Greatest Foreign Policy Achievement to Date
Until September 4, 2017, the president of Uzbekistan had not paid a state visit to Kyrgyzstan in 17 years. But Uzbekistan’s new head of state, Shavkat Mirziyaev, is determined to build a “security belt” around... MORE
Kaliningrad Oblast: Russia’s Testing Ground for ‘Warfare of the Future?’
Russia watchers had collectively identified Kaliningrad as a serious anti-access/area-denial (A2/AD) “bubble” by 2016 (see EDM, October 12, 2016; Neweasterneurope.eu, August 2, 2017). Now, this westernmost Russian region may be on its way to becoming... MORE
Encroaching Extremism in West Kazakhstan: A Challenge for ‘Cyber Shield’
Speaking at a joint session of Kazakhstan’s parliament, on September 4, President Nursultan Nazarbayev stressed the importance of speeding up the implementation of the “Cyber Shield” information security project, one of the priority tasks he... MORE
A Dexterous Move Propels Saakashvili Back Into Ukraine’s Political Limelight
What occurred on September 10, at the Medyka-Shehyni crossing on the Polish-Ukrainian border, is remarkable. Earlier that day, Mikheil Saakashvili, the third president of Georgia and a Ukrainian opposition politician, declared his intention to reenter... MORE
Strategic War Game Zapad 2017 Has Begun
Last November, in Minsk, at a session of the joint Russian-Belarusian “defense collegium,” Russia’s minister of defense, Army-General Sergei Shoigu, declared the upcoming strategic war game, Zapad 2017, to be “the most important joint military... MORE