Latest Articles about Military/Security
Pakistani Responses to the CIA’s Predator Drone Campaign against the Taliban and al-Qaeda
Conventional wisdom in the West seems to have coalesced around the notion that the CIA’s airborne assassination campaign against al-Qaeda and the Taliban in Pakistan’s remote FATA (Federally Administered Tribal Areas) is driving Pakistanis to new levels of anti-Americanism. Western news sources report routinely on... MORE
European Proposal on Tactical Nuclear Weapons Highlights Russian Nuclear Dilemmas
As the negotiations on a bilateral arms control treaty lumber towards conclusion, the issue of tactical nuclear weapons (TNW) in Europe has regained prominence. Recently Germany, Norway, Poland, and Sweden have individually proposed that both Russia and the US eliminate their TNW from Europe or... MORE
Russia Struggles to Establish a Viable Military Base in Abkhazia
This week, the Abkhaz separatist leader, Sergei Bagapsh, arrived in Moscow to sign a number of deals with President Dmitry Medvedev on military, logistical, financial and economic cooperation. The Russian military have been officially allowed to establish a permanent “unified military base” in Abkhazia for... MORE
China’s Arms Sales to Latin America: Another Arrow in the Quiver
Strengthening China’s military presence in Latin America is one of the many manifestations of Beijing’s increased activity on the international stage. Arms sales is a subset of the Chinese military's growing involvement in Latin America. Yet, Chinese arms sales represent a small portion of its... MORE
Advances in PLA C4ISR Capabilities
C4ISR (Command Control Communication Computer and Intelligence Surveillance Reconnaissance) systems are a key measure of military capability, and an area in which the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) is steadily advancing. Determining how strong PLA capabilities in this area are presents some analytical challenges, as unlike... MORE
Turkmenistan’s Naval Plans: Promoting its Maritime and Energy Interests
Turkmenistan’s President Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov has approved a program to create naval forces under the jurisdiction of the defense ministry, and will be deployed at the Turkmenbashi Caspian Sea port by 2015. The approval was announced at a meeting of the National Security Committee on January... MORE
Despite Official PR, North Caucasus Situation Remains Volatile
Against the backdrop of Moscow’s attempts to find new ways of changing the situation in the North Caucasus one can observe the militants becoming more active in the region. In previous years, militants’ activity slowed in the winter, but as of last year their strategy... MORE
Franco-Russian Naval Sale is a Challenge to NATO
NATO is being tested, with “its future at stake,” not so much in Afghanistan as the line recently went, but rather in Brussels itself and in the Alliance’s most influential capitals. The latest among these tests –one that the Alliance seems only determined to side-step–... MORE
La France D’Abord: Paris First to Capitalize on Russian Military Modernization
French President Nicolas Sarkozy has approved the sale of one Mistral-class warship to Russia; and France is now considering Moscow’s request for three more of that class of helicopter-carrier and amphibious-assault ship.The Russian Navy’s First Deputy Chief of Staff, Vice-Admiral Oleg Burtsev, broke the news... MORE
Moscow Remembers the Soviet Invasion of Afghanistan
In late December 2009, the Russian press carried numerous articles reflecting on the Soviet intervention in Afghanistan and its impact on the fate of the Soviet Union. On December 25, the State Duma adopted a statement on the intervention, which recalled the sacrifices of those... MORE