Section: The National Interest (USA)
Ted Cruz’s Case for a Reagan-Style Military Buildup
Robert C. O’Brien Politics, United States The Texas senator has a proposal for the U.S. military modeled on the 40th president’s increase. The next commander in chief will face a stark reality: for eight years, President Obama systematically drained resources from our armed services. It will no longer matter why or how he did it. All...
10 Lessons from the Battle of 73 Easting
H.R. McMaster Security, “The division will succeed only as the platoon succeeds.” “Other battles would be more destructive than 73 Easting. Other units would fight with the same proficiency demonstrated by Holder’s dragoons. Yet in this first major engagement against the Republican Guard, the U.S. Army demonstrated in a few hours the...
How Putin Made Russia’s Military Into a Modern, Lethal Fighting Force
Mitchell Yates Security, Eurasia It’s more capable of conducting combat operations than at any point since the end of the Cold War. The 2014 annexation of the Crimea and subsequent “stealth invasion” of eastern Ukraine by the Russian Federation, as well as Moscow’s commitment to Basher al-Assad’s regime in Syria, are indicative...
Ending a 60-Year Stalemate: Japan’s Push to Get a Peace Treaty with Russia
Tom Holcombe Security, Asia Putin and Abe have revived relations between their two countries. It’s been more than seventy years since World War II ended but there is still no peace treaty between Japan and Russia. Is this about to change? This year marks the sixtieth anniversary of the 1956 Joint Declaration by Japan and the then Soviet...
The Haphazard Invention of Romania
Aram Bakshian Jr. Politics, Europe Robert Kaplan describes a country uniquely defined by its troubles. Robert D. Kaplan, In Europe’s Shadow: Two Cold Wars and a Thirty Year Journey Through Romania and Beyond (New York: Random House, 2016), 336 pp., $28.00. PRINCE METTERNICH once remarked, “the Balkans start at the Rennweg.” The Hapsburg...
Obama in Havana: Turn Back to Human Rights
Ana Quintana Diplomacy, The Castro regime has a long history of using violence and poverty as tools of repression. Earlier this week, President Obama announced plans to visit Cuba in March. Logically—and more importantly—strategically, the visit makes no sense. Mr. Obama and General Raul Castro have already met. Their famous handshake occurred...
The Russian Connection Between Syria and Ukraine
Joseph S. Nye Jr Security, Eurasia Moscow may try to link cooperation in the Syrian crisis to relief from sanctions. For the last fifty-two years, leaders from around the world have gathered in Munich for an annual review of world security problems. This year’s discussion focused on the civil war in Syria. Not only is Syria a political and...
What Russian Orthodoxy Wants From Pope Francis
Nicolai N. Petro Society, Europe This week’s Havana Summit is a historic opportunity. Although the Patriarchate of Constantinople holds a place of honor among the fourteen canonical Orthodox Churches, it is the Russian Orthodox Church (ROC), the world’s largest, that has emerged as the leading spokesman for Orthodox Christians. Its...
Why Is America Restarting the Cold War With Russia?
Dana Rohrabacher Security, Washington’s strategy toward Moscow is outmoded and misdirected. The president’s new budget proposal for 2017 calls for a 200 percent increase for our military spending in Europe aimed at Russia—perhaps the most provocative step yet in our apparent efforts to encircle and antagonize that country. Meanwhile,...
Poland Wants More Than NATO Can Give
John R. Deni Security, Europe Basing allied troops in NATO’s east remains improbable. The NATO alliance is treating Poland and other allies in the region like a buffer zone, refusing to permanently station troops there and hence provide the same level of security that has long been accorded other allies to the west, according to a Polish...
