Since Soviet times, Russian analysts have mused about the possibility that Germany might try to recover Kaliningrad, or East Prussia as it was known before Joseph Stalin seized it at the end of World War II. Later, during the 1990s, they focused on the risk... MORE

On October 18–23, the Moscow-led Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO), which includes Afghanistan as an observer, held its Combat Brotherhood 2021 strategic military exercises, with three drills codenamed Echelon-2021, Search-2021 and Interaction-2021, in southern Tajikistan’s Momirak and Harb Maydon military ranges. The scale was substantial,... MORE

Introduction With the fall of Kabul on August 15 and the reestablishment of the Afghan Taliban government, an uptick in Islamist terrorism in neighboring Pakistan appears inevitable. Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) is taking the lead in perpetrating terrorist strikes in Pakistan with a sharp surge of... MORE

Mullah Muhammad Hassan Akhund is the new Prime Minister of Afghanistan in the Taliban's interim government formed in September (Dawn, September 7). The Taliban captured Kabul on August 15, but delayed the announcement of the interim government twice. Its ministers were ultimately unveiled after three... MORE

The governments of Russia and Pakistan are uneasy over the continued tensions between Tajikistan and the Taliban-led Afghanistan, and they are urging both neighbors to exercise restraint. The exchange of fiery statements between Dushanbe and Kabul, combined with recent friction along the Tajikistani-Afghan border, have... MORE

Diplomats often speak of creating “facts on the ground,” that is, actions and faits accomplis of various kinds that determine future outcomes even before any negotiations occur. Sometimes these new “facts” are created by military actions. However, when the guns are silent, other moves can... MORE

The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) and Russia have effectively severed their diplomatic relations, which were established some 20 years ago, when both sides declared their Cold War rivalry was over and they were no longer enemies. On October 6, 2021, NATO Secretary General Jens... MORE

The leadership of Russia’s Armed Forces has used the introduction and diversification of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV) as a means to boost target acquisition in combat operations. The role of both UAVs and unmanned aerial combat vehicles (UACV) in Russian military planning is extending into... MORE

The Cossack revivalist movement in southern Russia (and beyond) since the collapse of the Soviet Union is marked by two parallel tendencies. On the one hand, there is Cossack activism based on appeals to ancestral identity. This is geared not merely toward the revitalization of... MORE

In its multi-domain confrontation with the West, Russia presumes that the main driver is the rivalry with the United States, while typically portraying the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) as a sworn but disorganized enemy. However, it is in fact the European Union that is... MORE