Introduction The People’s Liberation Army (PLA) has been responsible for conducting military diplomacy since the founding of the People’s Republic of China (PRC) in 1949. In the 1950s, military cooperation was limited almost entirely to other communist nations and insurgent movements in Southeast Asia. In... MORE

*To read Part One, please click here. The quasi-annual charade surrounding the North Atlantic Treaty Organization’s Membership Action Plans (NATO MAP) for Ukraine and Georgia took a different form at the Alliance’s June 14 summit in Brussels. The Joseph Biden administration has retreated from the... MORE

The heads of state and government of the North Atlantic Organization’s (NATO) 30 member countries held a summit at the Alliance’s Brussels headquarters on June 14. NATO summits usually take two days. This year’s vast agenda—reflected in an unusually long communiqué—clearly would have needed the... MORE

The Ukrainian Special Operations Forces (UASOF), the newest branch of the country’s Armed Forces, continue their development. Recently, UASOF operators conducted Chemical, Biological, Radiological, Nuclear (CBRN) defense training in the Chernobyl exclusion zone (the abandoned city of Pripyat). As part of the exercise, the operators... MORE

The problems plaguing Russia’s shipbuilding sector, both military and civilian, run so deep and widespread that even Moscow’s decision to award a contract to Turkey to build a giant floating dry dock in the Russian High North (The Barents Observer, June 15) will do relatively... MORE

On June 12, Azerbaijan and Armenia, through the mediation of the US State Department and the Georgian government, made an exchange: Baku released 15 Armenian captives, and Yerevan handed over to Azerbaijan maps of minefields in one of the formerly occupied regions around Karabakh. The... MORE

The smooth sailing and genuine bonhomie of United States President Joseph Biden’s proceeding European tour will grow much more tense at the last event—the Wednesday (June 16) meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin, in Geneva. Biden comes to this no-themes-barred face-to-face armed with conclusions on... MORE

On May 24, a meeting of Polish and Turkish representatives at the highest level took place in Ankara. The two countries’ presidents, Andrzej Duda and Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, were accompanied by ministers and officials from various sectors, including agriculture, culture, and defense. Five bilateral agreements were... MORE

Despite the relative success of the Syrian regime in stopping the advance of the armed opposition (with help from the Russian expeditionary force and Iranian-backed Shia militias), the war-torn country still remains a magnet for foreign Islamic volunteers. Over 1,800 Dagestanis from the Russian Federation... MORE

On April 12, amid escalating tensions along the Ukrainian border, Ukrainian Defense Minister Andriy Taran expressed concern that “Crimea’s infrastructure is being prepared for potentially storing nuclear weapons” (Radio Svoboda, April 14). Even though Taran did not supply evidence for this claim, it is plausible... MORE