Like his Soviet predecessors, Russian President Vladimir Putin favors spending money on giant projects in order to demonstrate his and his country’s greatness to both its citizens and others. But in contrast to Soviet leaders, he has an additional reason for doing so. Such mega... MORE

The culmination of the combat training year in Russia’s Armed Forces results in an annual operational-strategic military exercise involving air, land and sea elements to test forces in one of four theaters: these are the rotating Kavkaz (“Caucasus”), Tsentr (“Center”), Zapad (“West”) and Vostok (“East”)... MORE

On May 8, after weeks of negotiations with European leaders, US President Donald Trump withdrew the US from the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), the nuclear deal signed between Iran and several other world powers, citing concerns that the JCPOA had failed to constrain... MORE

At the end of 2015 the missile branch of the People’s Liberation Army (PLA), the Second Artillery Force (第二炮兵部队), was formally elevated to a full service and renamed the Rocket Force (火箭军; PLARF) part of a sweeping drive to improve the PLA’s joint operations, command... MORE

In the past two weeks, obvious signs of discontent with CCP General Secretary Xi Jinping’s ambitious policy agenda have emerged into public view. (Willy Lam explores these signs and their policy implications in “Xi’s Grip on Authority Loosens Amid Trade War Policy Paralysis”, also in... MORE

China’s “New Silk Road” or “Belt and Road Initiative” (BRI) has reached Central Asia in resounding fashion. As a result, the republics of Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan have seen large increases in Chinese presence and investment. Although both countries have overlapping needs, the degree and character... MORE

The hopes of China and some Central Asian countries for the construction of a new canal between the Caspian and the Black Sea have sparked serious ethnic and environmental opposition even before the first spade of ground is turned. The project has its roots in... MORE

China has a serious and worsening Islamophobia problem. While relations between China’s Muslim minorities and its Han majority have been fraught since 2009’s deadly inter-ethnic riots in the far western city of Urumqi, recent years have seen the normalization of online hate speech directed at... MORE

In early 2017, CCP Secretary General President Xi Jinping announced his desire to build a “Great Wall of Iron” to apparently promote security and peace in China’s Xinjiang Uighur Autonomous Region (Xinhua, March 10, 2017). This is likely a continuation Beijing’s focus on implementing strict... MORE

China has firmly established itself as the world’s dominant manufacturer of clean energy technologies, having been the largest producer of solar photovoltaic cells and modules for at least a decade (Energy Policy, February 2011). The country now accounts for half of all solar manufacturing (International... MORE