Latest Articles about Military/Security
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Rising Russian-Chinese Tensions Over NSR Could Spark Russian Military Clash With West
In March 2023, at his summit meeting in Moscow with Chinese President Xi Jinping, Russian President Vladimir Putin announced that he was ready to create a joint Chinese-Russian working group to develop what the Russians call the Northern Sea Route (NSR) and the Chinese the... MORE
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Azerbaijani-Iranian Tensions Disrupt the South Caucasus
On March 30, Azerbaijan officially inaugurated its first embassy in Tel Aviv, Israel, after avoiding the move for three decades. Although the decision highlighted the importance of Azerbaijani-Israeli relations, it quickly became a catalyst behind the renewed war of words between Iran and Azerbaijan (Themedialine.org,... MORE
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Moscow Faces Serious Obstacles in Making Karelia a ‘Second Kaliningrad’
Since the demise of the Soviet Union, Moscow has viewed Kaliningrad as an important Russian outpost in the West—first under Boris Yeltsin as a bridge to Europe and then as an advanced post for projecting Russian power. More recently, in response to Finland’s decision to... MORE
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Can Muscovy Be Considered a ‘State-Civilization’?
On March 31, Russian President Vladimir Putin approved the new Foreign Policy Concept of the Russian Federation (Kremlin.ru, March 31). The previous version had been adopted seven years ago; but even then, in 2016, its wording was significantly more diplomatic than the current document. Moscow’s... MORE
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The Sivash: A Key Strategic Point in the Retaking of Crimea
As Russia’s war against Ukraine wages on, much discussion has focused on Ukraine’s strategy for retaking the Crimean Peninsula (Kyiv Independent, February 2; Ukrinform, March 14; Kyiv Post, April 6). In this context, the Sivash, or “Rotten Sea,” on Crimea’s northeastern coast and near the... MORE
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Moscow Engulfed by Anxiety About Impending Ukrainian Offensive
Combat operations in the Donbas trenches remain deadlocked, but their diminishing intensity does not signify an impasse in the course of the Russo-Ukrainian war, which continues to evolve on the ground. One notable change has been the cessation of Russian long-distance missile and drone strikes... MORE
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Profiling Ansar al-Islam: Kurdish Jihadists Threatening Russian Forces in Syria
Ansar al-Islam (AAI) is a jihadist group that formed in September 2001 in Iraqi Kurdistan from the merger of two small groups: Jund al-Islam, which was then led by Abu Abdullah al-Shafi’i, and a splinter group of the Islamic Movement of Kurdistan, which was led... MORE
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ISKP Expands its Focus Toward Central Asia
In recent weeks, Islamic State in Khorasan Province (ISKP) has been active in northern Afghanistan, which has prompted the Taliban to conduct a series of counter-terrorism operations against ISKP hideouts (Asia Plus, April 6). The location of these operations, the fact that Tajik and Uzbek... MORE
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Pakistan Taliban Shifts Strategy to Attack Police in Urban Areas
On February 17, the police chief’s office in Karachi, Pakistan's largest city, was stormed by militants armed with grenades and automatic weapons. However, security forces killed at least three attackers after four civilians had already been killed inside the building (The News, February 17). The... MORE
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Brief: Indonesia Arrests Uzbek Militants in Latest Central Asian Jihadist Sting
On April 5, Densus 88, the Indonesian elite counter-terror unit, announced that four Uzbek nationals were arrested in Indonesia after traveling to that country from Turkey, passing through Abu Dhabi and Malaysia (kompas.com, April 5). They had all left Syria ahead of a media push... MORE