Section: The National Interest (USA)
Refusing a New Cold War
Olga Oliker Russia, Eurasia Russia’s narrative reflects a nostalgia for the Cold War, appropriate, perhaps in a year that marks a quarter century since the USSR’s collapse. The Russians are messing with the United States. Not only did they invade Ukraine and annex Crimea in 2014, challenging what seemed a solid European security...
Is Russia About to Make Tanks (As We Know Them) Obsolete?
Dave Majumdar Security, Europe Rise of the Terminators–literally. Could the Russian Terminator series—also know as the Boyevaya Mashina Podderzhki Tankov—be the harbinger of future armored vehicle design? Based on its experience in Ukraine, Georgia, Chechnya and Afghanistan, the Russian military certain believes so according to Ruslan...
Drone Wars: Defeating the Unmanned Threat will Require A Firestorm Of Energy
Dan Goure Drones, Global Defeating this new offset capability is going to be a challenge. The results of the next Offset Strategy are beginning to appear on the world’s battlefields. Unfortunately, it is not the U.S. military that is deploying these capabilities. Instead it is our competitors and adversaries that are exploiting the...
Russia: The Hybrid State As Adversary
Dan Goure Hybrid Warfare, Russia Today, Russia is the ultimate hybrid threat. Oceans of ink and terabytes of electronic musings have been expended on the subject of hybrid warfare. The classic formulation is a non-state actor with appurtenances of state power and, in many cases, support from traditional nation states. Of particular concern to...
Europe Can’t Save the South China Sea
Emanuele Scimia Security, Asia America is on its own. The United States and European Union reacted quite differently to the recent South China Sea arbitration ruling, with the European bloc distancing itself from the transatlantic ally’s sharpest approach to the issue. Washington bluntly called on Beijing to respect the legal decision...
If Ukraine Wants the ICC’s Help, It Must Play by the ICC’s Rules
Valentyna Polunina, Andreas Umland Politics, Eurasia Kiev can’t have its cake and eat it too. Since Russia’s seizure of Crimea and its aggression in eastern Ukraine, many in Kiev have taken to the idea of enlisting the help of the International Criminal Court in The Hague to punish those responsible and discourage further...
Putin May Be Turkey’s New Buddy after the Failed Coup
Nikolas K. Gvosdev Politics, Middle East Erdoğan is set to turn to Russia. As we continue to sort through the aftermath of the failed attempt at a military coup against the government of President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, one unexpected (and potentially unwelcome, from a U.S. standpoint) development is that this botched attempt to remove Erdoğan...
Is Russia’s Alliance with Greece a Threat to NATO?
Henry Stanek Politics, Eurasia Beware the Athens-Moscow entente. Against the backdrop of ongoing economic crisis and tensions over the troika-backed austerity program, the Greek government of Alexis Tsipras has formed remarkably close ties with the Kremlin. As an active member of NATO, the Greek embrace of Russia has been seen by many as a shot...
Russia’s PAK FA Stealth Fighter: The US Air Force’s Worst Nightmare?
Robert Farley Security, Eurasia A killer in the sky or just a paper tiger? You decide. The PAK FA has played the bugbear for Western air forces for nearly a decade, the terrifying Russian jet that will eat F-35s for breakfast. American aviation analysts in search of something, anything that might threaten U.S. air dominance settled on the PAK FA,...
Just How Dangerous is Russia’s Military?
Nikolas K. Gvosdev Security, Europe And how long can Moscow afford to modernize? When the Russian Finance Ministry recently admitted that at the current rate of withdrawals to cover the state budget deficit, the Reserve Fund, may be fully depleted by 2017, outside observers immediately seized on the announcement. It quickly became the latest...
