Section: The National Interest (USA)
Resetting the Reset
Nikolas K. Gvosdev Security, Eurasia America’s next president will have to start all over with Russia. In recent weeks, I have had the honor to attend different daylong seminars convened to ponder Russia’s future under Vladimir Putin and the future of U.S.-Russia relations: a “Russia Experts Meeting” hosted by the Carnegie...
How Poland Saved the World from Russia
Michael Peck History, Poland, Russia The world expected a rapid Communist victory. The Poles had other ideas. In the summer of 1920, Russia seemed poised to take over Europe. Newly victorious in the Russian Civil War, but convinced that the capitalists were bent on strangling the cradle of Communism, the Bolsheviks looked for salvation. Their...
How Russia Undermines Nuclear Security
William Courtney, John Herbst Security, Eurasia Moscow’s saber rattling challenges Washington’s security guarantees. Russian aggression in Ukraine and nuclear saber rattling are jeopardizing the very global nonproliferation efforts that this week’s Nuclear Security Summit in Washington seeks to further. Moscow’s actions...
Next Stop Berlin? Moscow’s Nazi-Killing Tank Unit is Back
Michael Peck Security, Eurasia The Kremlin invokes its glory days of European conquest. More than seventy years after it helped to destroy Nazi Germany, Russia’s most famous tank unit is back. Moscow has reactivated the First Guards Tank Army, one of six tank armies formed by the Soviet Union during World War II as the mobile, hard-hitting...
NATO and Russia Return to the Nuclear Precipice
Nick Ritchie, Peter Rutland Security, Eurasia The stakes of escalation are the highest they’ve been since the Cold War. In one year’s time, it is possible that Donald Trump will be sitting in the White House. Across Europe, too, nationalist leaders are on the rise. What are the security implications of these developments? One of the...
Saving the South China Sea Without Starting World War III
Van Jackson Security, Asia Washington must boost Asian nations’ reconnaissance. Greater operational transparency in the South China Sea has become a strategic imperative, and the United States needs to treat it as such by investing greater resources and political capital toward increasing the shared maritime awareness of Southeast Asian...
Russia’s Artful Exit from Syria
Alexander Kirss Security, Middle East Moscow entered and exited the conflict all within five months. Vladimir Putin’s surprise announcement that he is withdrawing the majority of Russian troops stationed in Syria will lead to much speculation over his true motives for doing so. Has the Russian military, as his announcement claimed, actually...
The Party’s Over: Prohibitionary Politics in Ukraine
Matthew Pennekamp, Rachel Bauman Security, Europe The outright banning of a political party is a curiously illiberal move. In a news story that skirted the dragnet of public attention, the Kiev District’s administration court on December 16 announced that it was placing a ban on the Communist Party of Ukraine (KPU). The goal of both...
Why Russia Is Claiming Victory In Syria
Ilan Berman Security, Call it Vladimir Putin’s “mission accomplished” speech. The Russian president recently caused an international furor when he abruptly announced that his government was commencing a military withdrawal from Syria. Russia had “radically changed the situation” on the ground through its involvement, and its strategic...
The Obama Doctrine: Made for the ’90s, Disastrous Today
James F. Jeffrey Security, Americas The president is yielding to the dangerous currents that oppose the global status quo. Among the copious commentary on President Obama’s extraordinary foreign policy interview with the Atlantic’s Jeffrey Goldberg (“The Obama Doctrine”), Paul Pillar’s approving piece in the National Interest...
