At this year’s Shangri-La Dialogue on Asian security, held in Singapore, China’s territorial claims in the South China Sea were in sharp focus. Admiral Sun Jianguo (孙建国) again represented China at the conference, a position he is uniquely suited for due to his role as... MORE

Kazakhstan has traditionally been considered the most stable and prosperous country of Central Asia and was even dubbed by external observers an “island of stability” in a chronically volatile region. Yet, on June 5, this image was shattered when a group of more than 20... MORE

President Vladimir Putin ordered, on June 14, another of the traditional “snap inspection exercises,” which have become a hallmark of the approach to testing combat readiness in the hands of Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu. The latest snap inspection exercise, running from June 14 to 22,... MORE

The creation of new multi-service (joint) headquarters organizations at the national (strategic) and theater (operational) levels is a major component of the current tranche of reforms underway in the People’s Liberation Army (PLA). These changes further concentrate ultimate leadership of the armed forces in the... MORE

On June 3, the Armenian National Assembly’s (parliament) Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs approved the draft agreement with Russia on establishing a joint regional air defense system (see EDM, November 18, 2015). The National Assembly was expected to vote on the agreement before breaking for... MORE

On December 31, 2015, the PRC announced that after many years of planning and preparation, the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) would begin its most substantial reorganization since 1949 (PRC Defense Ministry, January 9). According to statements by the PRC defense ministry, these reforms are designed... MORE

The Memorial human rights center has monitored the situation in the North Caucasus since the start of the first Russian-Chechen War, in 1994. Memorial’s latest report, which covers the past two and a half years in the North Caucasus, concludes that the government is pursuing... MORE

The end of May–beginning of June turned out to be quite a tense period in Ingushetia, with the armed Islamist opposition suddenly becoming more active than in previous years. The authorities announced the elimination of suspected militants, although it is hard to verify whether the... MORE

While continuing to exchange barbs, the West and Russia are building a more institutionalized pattern of standoff in Europe that involves increasingly predictable tit-for-tat mirrored actions. Both sides profess their actions to be purely defensive, but these are increasingly robust defenses. The North Atlantic Treaty... MORE

Vladimir Putin’s surprise decision, in April, to establish the Russian National Guard attracted wide attention from analysts (RIA Novosti, April 6). Much of the analysis focused on the personality at the head of the new force—Viktor Zolotov, the long-time chief of Putin’s body guards (Openrussia.org,... MORE