Salafi-Jihadi internet forums continue to warn of Shi’a plots to control the Sunni Arab regions of the Middle East, most recently in a posting entitled “The Sleeper Cells of the Rejectionists - The Danger Within - Iran’s Upcoming War of Bubbles" (muslm.net, June 1). The... MORE

On June 22-23, the Turkish army organized the tenth Silk Road General/Admiral seminar in Istanbul, which brought together around 119 military officers from NATO countries, Partnership for Peace (PfP) nations, and the members of NATO's Mediterranean Dialogue and Istanbul Cooperation Initiative. The theme of this... MORE

On June 23, the Kyrgyz President Kurmanbek Bakiyev announced that his government had reached a new agreement with the U.S. government on the status of Manas airbase in Bishkek. According to the president's statement, the U.S. will pay $60 million for renting space at Manas... MORE

Fresh on the heels of his claim that President Dmitry Medvedev had ordered him to fight rebels in Ingushetia following the attempt on the life of Ingushetia's president, Yunus-Bek Yevkurov, Chechen President Ramzan Kadyrov made a surprise visit to Ingushetia on June 24."We will conduct... MORE

During the summit between presidents Barack Obama and Dmitry Medvedev in London on April 1, it was decided in the words of Obama, "to prepare by the end of this year a legally binding and sufficiently bold" new nuclear arms control agreement to replace the... MORE

Russian news agencies reported today that Ingushetia's president, Yunus-Bek Yevkurov, who was severely wounded on June 22 when a suicide bomber detonated a car near his motorcade in Nazran, remains in critical condition in a Moscow hospital. Meanwhile, Chechen President Ramzan Kadyrov says he has... MORE

Chinese President Hu Jintao elevated the concept of “harmonious ocean” (hexie haiyang) in an unprecedented maritime parade during the 60th anniversary of the People's Liberation Army Navy (PLAN) at Qingdao on April 23. In Hu’s speech, the Chinese leader proclaimed that “for now and in... MORE

Robert Kaplan proclaims that “the Chinese are the Mahanians now,” enamored with the fin de siècle American sea captain who exhorted seafaring nations to amass international commerce, merchant and naval fleets, and forward bases (The Atlantic, November 2007). By those measures, China is progressing swiftly... MORE

China wants to achieve the ability, or at minimum the appearance of the ability, to prevent a U.S. carrier strike group (CSG) from intervening in the event of a future Taiwan Strait crisis. China may be closer than ever to achieving this capability with land-based... MORE

The sixth meeting of the 11th National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference's (CPPCC) Standing Committee, the highest-level advisory body of the People's Republic of China, met ahead of the general plenary that is taking place in Beijing from June 22 to 27.... MORE