Latest Articles about Military/Security
![](/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/Suzuki.png)
Japan Considers a New Security Relationship Via “Networking” with Taiwan
Introduction—Japan Seeks “Networking” with Regional Allies In early May 2019, Japanese Foreign Minister (FM) Taro Kono tweeted support for Taiwan’s bid to attend the World Health Assembly as an observer—thereby advocating for Taiwan’s return to a status it previously held from 2009 until 2016, when... MORE
![](/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/Donbas-Yunarmia-640x427.jpg)
Ukraine’s Occupied Donbas Adopts Russia’s Youth Militarization Policies
On May 9, a newly formed military-patriotic movement, Young Guard–Yunarmia, opened the Victory Day parade in Donetsk, the largest city in de facto occupied eastern Ukraine (Dan-news.info, May 9). Earlier, members of the movement took part in events dedicated to the 30th anniversary of the... MORE
![](/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/Russia-Flotilla.jpeg)
Russia’s Caspian Flotilla Gains an Air Arm
Until the Russian Federation launched a barrage of cruise missiles against Syria from ships in the Caspian Sea in October 2015 (see EDM, October 26, 2015), few people in the West devoted much attention to Russia’s Caspian Flotilla, viewing it, if at all, as a... MORE
![](/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/Putin-640x480.jpg)
Control Over Russian Political Agenda Slipping From Putin’s Hands
In key global debates, Russia’s voice has been uncharacteristically timid lately, and various Russian domestic controversies are developing without the usual heavy-handed interference from the Kremlin—almost as if President Vladimir Putin has lost interest in the affairs of state. Such local disturbances as protests in... MORE
![](/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/Lukashenka-Pivot-640x307.jpg)
Debating Belarus, A Country In-Between
“Getting Out From ‘In-Between’ ” was the suggestive title of a 2018 RAND Corporation study devoted to the former Soviet republics that became members of the European Union’s Eastern Partnership (EaP) initiative. The EaP just celebrated its tenth anniversary; and according to some not quite impartial... MORE
![](/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/Zelensky-Inauguration-640x522.jpg)
Zelensky-Putin Direct Dialogue? A Whiff in the Air
President Volodymyr Zelensky’s inaugural address to the country, delivered on May 20 in the Ukrainian parliament, includes an unprecedented offer to start a direct dialogue with the Kremlin (see EDM, May 22). Switching to Russian for this part of his speech, Zelensky made an opening... MORE
![](/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/Volodymyr-Zelenski-inauguration-May-20-EDM-May-22-2019-640x400.jpg)
In Inauguration Address, Ukrainian President Zelensky Gives Hints About His Policies at Home and Abroad
Volodymyr Zelensky was sworn in as Ukraine’s next president on May 20. The popular comedian won a landslide victory over the incumbent, Petro Poroshenko, by accumulating a critical mass of protest votes across the country. In his inaugural address, Zelensky disbanded the Verkhovna Rada (Ukrainian... MORE
![](/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/Russian-Special-Forces.png)
Russia’s Special Operations Forces Command and the Strategy of Limited Actions
Since Moscow’s military intervention in Syria, expert attention has intermittently turned to the role played by Russian special forces in this theater of operations. On May 10, a number of photographs were published online showing Russian special forces operating in northwestern Syria (Almasdarnews.com, May 10).... MORE
![](/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/Yamal-LNG-EDM-May-20-2019-640x427.jpg)
Moscow as Beijing’s ‘Useful Partner’ in the Arctic Region
Speaking at the Belt and Road Forum, in Beijing (April 25–27), President Vladimir Putin stated that Russia is “considering a merger between the Northern Sea Route [the segment of the Northeast Passage running along the Russian coast] and the Chinese ‘Maritime Silk Road’ initiative,” which... MORE
![](/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/Pompeo-and-Lavrov.jpg)
Putin and Lavrov Rebuff Pompeo’s Overtures in Sochi
On May 3, United States President Donald Trump phoned Russia’s President Vladimir Putin and had “a long and very good conversation” discussing “trade, Venezuela, Ukraine, North Korea, Nuclear Arms Control and even the ‘Russian Hoax’ [sic],” according to Trump. The two leaders did not talk... MORE