Latest Articles about Military/Security
Danger Recedes of New Conflict in the South Caucasus
This week in an unusual demonstration of solidarity, the authorities in Tbilisi and Moscow jointly welcomed the E.U.-sponsored report on the origins of the August 2008 Russian-Georgian war, compiled by Swiss diplomat Heidi Tagliavini. Each side praised the 1000-page report as "balanced" and concluded that... MORE
Zapad 2009 Rehearses Countering a NATO Attack on Belarus
On September 29 the Russian President Dmitry Medvedev and his Belarusian counterpart Alyaksandr Lukashenka attended the end of joint military exercises at the Obuz-Lesnovsky firing range in Belarus. The two stage "Zapad 2009" (West 2009) began on September 8, involving a total of 12,500 servicemen,... MORE
Turkey Presses Ahead with its Attack Helicopter Project
The test flights of Turkey's national attack helicopters, which will be produced jointly with Italy, were concluded on September 28, producing satisfactory results for Turkish defense officials.Following a decade of discussions on developing a combat helicopter program, Turkey awarded the bid to produce combat and... MORE
Obama’s Missile Defense Decision Renews Discussion on Gabala in Azerbaijan
President Barack Obama's recent decision to scrap plans to deploy elements of ballistic missile defense (BMD) in Poland and the Czech Republic has renewed speculation in Baku over the future of the Gabala Radio Location Station in Azerbaijan. This powerful Soviet-era radar station is currently... MORE
Murder of Dagestani District Chief and Top Police Official Raises Tensions in Republic
The head of the administration of Dagestan's Khasavyurt district, Alimsultan Alkhamatov, was shot to death on Moscow on September 27. His driver-bodyguard, Nadzhmutdin Mitikov, was wounded in the attack, which took place in the southwestern part of the Russian capital. The head of the investigations... MORE
Ten Years of Anti-NATO Exercises by Russian and Belarusian Armed Forces
On September 26 the official publication of the Russian ministry of defense Krasnaya Zvezda announced the beginning of the second phase of Zapad 2009 (West 2009), a large-scale combined arms exercise conducted in Belarus. This phase of the exercise lasted from September 26-29 and involved... MORE
Death from the Skies: An Overview of the CIA’s Drone Campaign in Pakistan – Part One
In the spring of 2004 the CIA began its most extensive targeted assassination campaign since the Vietnam War by launching dozens of unmanned aerial drones into the inaccessible tribal regions of Pakistan to hunt and kill Taliban and al-Qaeda militants. Since then, more than six... MORE
Exclusive Interview with the Head of the Militant Arm of the Separatist Group PKK
Murat Karayilan is the acting commander of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (Partiya Karkeren Kurdistan - PKK) and chairman of the executive council of the Kurdish Democratic Confederation (Koma Civaken Kurdistan - KCK). Karayilan, whose surname means “black snake,” joined the PKK in 1979, just a... MORE
Djibouti Facing Local Insurgency and Threats from Somali Islamists
Few nations in the world are as strategically important but as little known as Djibouti, a small desert nation of half a million people in the heart of the Horn of Africa. A lingering insurgency by the ethnic-Afar Front pour la Restauration de l’Unité et... MORE
Ingush Rebels Extend an Olive Branch to Sufis
The latest move by the insurgency in the North Caucasus was not entirely unexpected. It has finally dawned on the rebel leadership of the Caucasus Emirate that waging a war against everyone is a hopeless proposition. Their perpetual hostility toward Sufi Islam resulted in pushing... MORE