Latest Articles about Foreign Policy
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Coming Arms Race in the Balkans?
On December 2, 2015, Montenegro was formally invited to join the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO). The military alliance saw its last enlargement round in 2009, when Albania and Croatia were admitted. The acceptance of these states was widely seen as a stepping-stone in ensuring... MORE
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Perfect Is the Enemy of the Good: The Case of Belarus
On February 1, Belarusian President Alyaksandr Lukashenka met with Russian leader Vladimir Putin in Sochi. The meeting was not planned in advance: Lukashenka had reportedly only called his Russian counterpart on January 28 to request this engagement. This puzzled political commentators. After all, the two... MORE
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Russia Losing Ground Across Central Asia
Increasingly, it seems that wherever one looks in Central Asia, Russia is losing ground. This retreat is not confined to economics, though it is certainly present in this sphere. Notably, Moscow is also finding it increasingly difficult to compete militarily in Central Asia. For example,... MORE
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North Korean Nuclear Test, Satellite Launch Increase Sino-Korean Tensions
On February 7, North Korea televised the launch of a rocket that put an “earth observation satellite” into orbit (KCTV, February 6; Xinhua, February 7). South Korea’s spy agency earlier announced that the launch should be viewed as a ballistic missile test, rather than a... MORE
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The Kremlin Becomes Hostage to Its Own Imperial Propaganda
In January 2016, Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu announced the formation of three new divisions in the Western Military District of Russia. Two of them will be located near the border with Ukraine and one—near the Belarusian border (Vedomosti, January 12). At first glance, this... MORE
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Russia Watches and Puts Own Spin on Moldova’s Crisis (Part Two)
*To read Part One, please click here. Western officials and commentators seem, on the whole, to overestimate Russia’s capacity and intentions to recapture Moldova by exploiting that country‘s current crisis. This overestimation partly explains the recent decisions in Washington, Brussels and Bucharest to accept billionaire... MORE
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The Islamic State’s Targeting Strategy in Egypt
The Egyptian government’s state of alert, under which dozens of activists were arrested ahead of the fifth anniversary of the Egyptian revolution, did not prevent militants from the Islamic State group in Sinai from claiming the lives of several policemen and soldiers across the country’s... MORE
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Growing Evidence of Islamic State in Pakistan
After months of denying the Islamic State’s presence in Pakistan, the Pakistani government has finally acknowledged that the terrorist network, both as an inspiration and an organized group, is fast luring Pakistani jihadists into its fold. In one such admission, the Provincial Law Minister of... MORE
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Russia Watches and Puts Own Spin on Moldova’s Crisis (Part One)
Many international observers anticipated that Russia would move to exploit the anti-government protests in Moldova in order to (as the assumptions went) “destabilize Moldova’s pro-Europe government,” “halt and derail Moldova’s European course,” or even stage a “Maidan in reverse” in Chisinau. The Kremlin was, at... MORE
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Russian-Led forces Advance to Secure Syrian Borders With Turkey and Jordan
The Syria peace talks in Geneva, which are sponsored by the United Nations, have been postponed for three weeks by UN envoy Staffan de Mistura. The talks between the Damascus government of President Bashar al-Assad and the Syrian rebels collapsed during preliminary contacts between de... MORE