Latest Articles about Military/Security

NATO Consolidating ‘Collective Defense’ in Europe’s East

Since the beginning of February 2017, the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) has begun to implement the decision taken at the Alliance’s summit in Warsaw last July to deploy a rotational battalion-sized combat unit to each of the Baltic States and Poland. The bolstering of... MORE

Georgian Authorities Reinstate Military Conscription

The Georgian Ministry of Defense (MoD) has reintroduced compulsory military service in the army, eight months after then–defense minister Tina Khidasheli abolished military conscription (Civil Georgia, February 15). As early as November 2016, Georgian Minister of Defense Levan Izoria announced his plans to ultimately restore... MORE

Uzbekistan Turns to Russia in Search of Modern Weapons

On January 13, 2017, the newly elected president of Uzbekistan, Shavkat Mirziyaev, attended a ceremony commemorating the 25th anniversary of the establishment of the independent Uzbekistani army (January 14, 1992). The event is an annual fixture on Uzbekistan’s calendar. But this year, the celebration gained... MORE

Does the Kurdish Issue Undermine Turkish-Russian Relations?

A technical round of the so-called “Joint Task Force” on the crisis in Syria, launched on the initiative of Turkey and Russia, was held in Kazakhstan’s capital Astana, on February 6 (Syrian Arab News Agency, Sputnik News, February 6). Participants included experts from Russia, Iran,... MORE

Little-Known Turkmenistan About to Become Known for Its Big Problems

No post-Soviet republic is so little known beyond its borders as Turkmenistan. This relative obscurity internationally is the result of three legacies: its poverty in Soviet times; its relatively tiny cohort of intellectuals who might have called attention to the country; and perhaps most importantly,... MORE