Latest Articles about Military/Security
Russia Looks East and Sees Storm Clouds: Part Two
Attention to both combat capabilities and combat-readiness by senior officers in Russian military forces echoes comments made by retired Army-General Makhmut Gareev in early March during a conference organized by the Academy of Military Sciences on the lessons of the Great Patriotic War and their... MORE
The UN Accepts CSTO as a Regional Security Organization
On March 18, in Moscow, United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and the Collective Security Treaty Organization’s (CSTO) Secretary-General, Nikolay Bordyuzha, signed a declaration on cooperation between the two secretariats. The document, and the UN’s steps preceding it, can be interpreted as UN recognition of this... MORE
Russia Looks East and Sees Storm Clouds: Part One
As Roger McDermott has already noted (EDM, March 16), Army-General Makhmut Gareev, the President of the Russian Academy of Military Sciences, recently addressed what he called the “eastern vector” of Russian national security in an interview with Krasnaya Zvezda (Krasnaya Zvezda, March 5). He noted... MORE
Hobson’s Choice: China’s Second Worst Option on Iran
In late February, a high-level Israeli delegation visited China in an attempt to convince Beijing to go along with sanctions against Iran. Headed by Lieutenant General (ret.) Moshe Ya'alon, vice prime minister and minister for strategic affairs and former chief of general staff of Israel's... MORE
Taiwan’s Navy: Still in Command of the Sea?
The Republic of China Navy (ROCN), or Taiwan Navy, has an ambitious vision for its future strategy. According to the “ROC Navy Vision,” which is available on the Navy’s website, “Based on the guidance of ‘Command and control automation, Three-dimensional mobile strike capabilities and Missile-oriented... MORE
Chinese Strategic Thinking: People’s War in the 21st Century
People’s war is not a static or dead theory. As the People's Liberation Army (PLA) modernizes through the processes of mechanization and informationization, "China is striving to make innovations in the content and forms of people's war" (2008 China's Defense White Paper). Contrary to the... MORE
Strategic Implications of China’s Access to the Rajin Port
At the recently concluded National People's Congress (NPC), Chinese Communist Party (CCP) Deputy Secretary-General of the Yanbian Korean Autonomous Prefecture in Jilin Province, Li Longxi, announced that North Korean authorities are currently studying a proposal to grant a 10 year extension to China's lease of... MORE
Murder of Circassian Activist Unsettles Multi-Ethnic Karachaevo-Cherkessia
On March 15, the funeral of a Circassian activist killed the previous day turned into an impromptu protest rally. An estimated 200 Circassian demonstrators gathered at the central square, next to the republican government building in Cherkessk, the capital of Karachaevo-Cherkessia, to protest against the... MORE
Yanukovych Will Ignore Russian Espionage Against Ukraine
The election of the Party of Regions leader Viktor Yanukovych as Ukraine’s president presents a fundamental shift in the country’s national security culture as outlined by his three presidential predecessors. The most important revision will be Yanukovych’s, and the Party of Regions, view of Russia... MORE
Insurgent Violence Reported in Dagestan, Ingushetia, Chechnya and Kabardino-Balkaria
An empty freight train was bombed and derailed on the outskirts of Dagestan’s capital Makhachkala on the evening of March 11. A source in the transport police department of the North Caucasus branch of Russian Railways told ITAR-TASS that the blast left a crater about... MORE