Latest Articles about Military/Security
The Role of Tribal Lashkars in Winning Pakistan’s War on Terror
After successive failed attempts to tackle the rising militancy in Pakistan’s Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA) and the adjoining North-West Frontier Province (NWFP), Pakistan’s new civilian government is now encouraging local tribal people to stand up against the Taliban and al-Qaeda and flush them from... MORE
What Lies Ahead for U.S.-Turkish Counterterrorism Cooperation in the Obama Era?
The strategic relationship between Turkey and the United States entered into a new phase on November 5, 2007, when President Bush pledged real-time intelligence sharing with the Turkish military while condemning the Kurdistan Workers Party (Partiya Karkeren Kurdistan - PKK): "The PKK is a terrorist... MORE
Iraq’s Shias Split over the Impending U.S.-Iraq Status-of-Forces Agreement
Major divisions have begun to emerge in the Shia political bloc following the Iraqi cabinet’s approval of a proposed security agreement between Baghdad and Washington that would authorize American forces to remain in the country until the end of 2011 (Voices of Iraq, November 18;... MORE
Addressing Naval Imbalance in the Black Sea After the Russian-Georgian War
During the last decade a network of maritime security arrangements developed in the Black Sea, with all riparian countries participating. These arrangements center on the BLACKSEAFOR activities, the Black Sea Harmony operation, and a few other joint projects on maritime security. Focused on handling post-modern... MORE
A Rogue Fleet in the Black Sea
Russia’s Black Sea Fleet operated with total impunity—political and legal, as well as military—against Georgia during the August war. Breaching the neutrality of Ukraine, where it is mainly based, and tearing apart international maritime law, the Russian fleet’s actions exploited the vacuum of Western power... MORE
PLAs Mechanization and Informationization Come of Age: Sharpening and Vanguard-2008
The People’s Liberation Army (PLA) is developing a force that resembles the efforts of the Soviet Army in East Germany in 1986, which was creating an Operational ‘Shock Division’ of three regiments with each regiment containing two tank and two mechanized infantry battalions. Armored divisions... MORE
Arms Sales and the Future of U.S.-Taiwan-China Relations
The outgoing Bush Administration made an 11th hour decision to notify the U.S. Congress on October 3—a day before Congress went into recess ahead of the groundbreaking November presidential election in the United States—that a raft of arms and weapons systems, which have been effectively... MORE
Polish, Georgian Presidents’ Motorcade Shot at from South Ossetia
At dusk on November 23, machine-gun fire from the direction of a Russian checkpoint forced Presidents Mikheil Saakashvili of Georgia and Lech Kaczynski of Poland to cut short a visit with Georgian refugees from South Ossetia. By most accounts, three bursts were fired into the... MORE
Brazilian and Russian Military Cooperation Deepens
According to Russia's Economic Development Ministry, Russia is negotiating to supply helicopters to the Forca Aerea Brasileira (Brazilian Air Force, or FAB). The Ministry noted in a statement, "In order to promote Russian helicopters, the Mi-171A helicopter has completed, and the Ka-32A helicopter is currently... MORE
Turkey Adjusts Its Foreign Policy to the Planned U.S. Withdrawal from Iraq
U.S. and Iraqi officials finally agreed on a withdrawal plan requiring Washington to withdraw its forces within three years. The withdrawal will have a direct impact on Turkish-Iraqi relations. Ankara’s immediate concern is related to the control of Iraqi airspace, which will fall under the... MORE