Latest Articles about Foreign Policy
What’s in a Story?: Chinese Narratives on Territorial Conflict in the Pacific
Last week, China finished hosting the 2015 Boao Forum and also participated with Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) members in the 13th round of talks on the Implementation of the Declaration on the Conduct of Parties in the South China Sea. Both were promoted... MORE
The Maritime Silk Road and the PLA: Part Two
In the previous issue, the first part of this article examined the various strategic and other motivations behind China’s desire for an increased military presence west of Singapore (see China Brief, March 19). Having laid out China’s basic purpose in building up a military presence... MORE
GATIA: A Profile of Northern Mali’s Pro-Government Tuareg and Arab Militia
A little more than a year after a French and African Union military intervention drove an Islamist coalition from their bases in northern Mali in early 2013, Prime Minister Moussa Mara ignited the seething tensions in the area with an ill-advised visit to the Kidal... MORE
Continued Confrontation With the West Will Prop up Putin’s Regime for Years
A fragile ceasefire is partially holding in Donbas (eastern Ukrainian region encompassing Donetsk and Luhansk provinces). Massive offensive operations have ceased and some heavy weapons have been withdrawn from the front line. But the truce is constantly broken by gun battles and bombardments. The Organization... MORE
Russia Orchestrates Gagauz Election in Moldova, Ponders the Next Steps
On March 30, Irina Vlah was officially declared the winner of the election for the post of Bashkhan (head of the executive authority) in Moldova’s Gagauz Autonomous Territorial Unit (Gagauz Yeri). As now confirmed, Vlah won the election in the first round on March 22,... MORE
Are Georgian-Ukrainian Bilateral Relations Deteriorating?
On March 26, Georgian Prime Minister Irakli Garibashvili declared that he was postponing his state visit to Ukraine because he was too busy dealing with Georgia’s domestic affairs. Garibashvili took pains to emphasize that the postponement of his visit was not due to his unhappiness... MORE
Putin’s Conveniently Imperfect Memory
The Kremlin press service announced last week that President Vladimir Putin would not celebrate the 15th anniversary of his first election, which occurred on March 26, 2000 (RBC.ru, March 26). Indeed, many murky circumstances cloud his improbable arrival to the summit of power as Boris... MORE
One Country, Two Governments, Plenty of Chaos: Portraits of Libya’s Competing Prime Ministers Abdullah al-Thinni of Tobruk and Omar al-Hasi of Tripoli
Libya is experiencing a very critical phase of its post-revolutionary era. The country is engulfed by a civil war in which a number of local conflicts and fault lines overlap (Terrorism Monitor, March 20, 2015). The international community, namely the UN, has stepped up efforts... MORE
Common Currency for the Eurasian Economic Union: Testing the Ground?
On March 20, Russian President Vladimir Putin, while on a visit to Astana, Kazakhstan, said that Russia, Belarus, and Kazakhstan—the three main founding members of the Eurasian Economic Union (EEU), and formerly Eurasian Customs Union—should consider creating a monetary union. As Putin argued, “working shoulder... MORE
Why Is Russia Deploying Nuclear Weapons to Crimea?
Recently, there has been an uptick in Russian efforts to defend the placement of nuclear-capable weapons, if not actual nuclear weapons, on Ukraine’s Crimean peninsula, which Russia illegally annexed one year ago. Notably, TU-22M3 long-range bombers, which would be able to carry and deliver such... MORE