Section: The National Interest (USA)
This Is the Scandalous Love Affair That Started World War I
Franz-Stefan Gady Security, General Franz Conrad von Hoetzendorf’s romantic obsessions may have fueled the flames of war. After the first five months of World War I, the Austro-Hungarian forces, under the leadership, if that is the right word, of General Conrad von Hoetzendorf, suffered stupefying losses–189,000 dead, 490,000 wounded,...
Collective Security Is America’s Only Hope
David Santoro Security, Europe Given that U.S. primacy cannot endure, and that accommodating Russia and China is unwise, Washington should work with Moscow, Beijing and others to promote the establishment of functioning collective-security regimes in Europe and Asia. MAJOR-POWER competition is back. Russia’s annexation of Crimea, its...
This One Russian Jet Made NATO Go Crazy (But Might Just Be a Paper Tiger)
Sebastien Roblin Security, The MiG-29. MiG-29s are being actively used in combat in Ukraine—there were eighty before hostilities in 2014, but two have been shot down by rebel surface-to-air missiles—and Syria. Syria is believed to have fifteen to twenty operational MiG-29SMs upgraded by Russia with launch rails for deadly R-77 air-to-air...
This Is the U.S. Military’s Tank-Killer Missile That Russia Fears Most
Sebastien Roblin Security, And China, too. When Russia provided military support to separatists in Ukraine, columns of Russian tanks were instrumental in turning back Ukrainian Army offensives and seizing government strongpoints, notably the Donetsk International Airport in January 2015. For hawks like Senator John McCain pushing for the United...
Can Trump Achieve His Energy Goals?
Tim Boersma, Henry Bartelet Global Governance, Americas An energy dominant America and an EU yearning for an Energy Union can find each other, but that will require less ideology and more pragmatism. President Donald Trump announced his energy strategy for the United States on June 30, breaking from previous administrations’ calls for...
Everything We Learned From Russia’s Massive Zapad Military Exercise
Nicholas J. Myers Security, Eurasia Is Russia’s military as good, or as bad, as they say? The conclusion of the large-scale Russian-Belarusian Zapad-2017 military exercise allows some initial reflections. Though the Zapad exercise series is a regular feature of the Russian strategic-operational exercise family, this is its first installment...
This is the U.S. Army’s Handbook for Defeating Russia in a War
Michael Peck Security, The handbook recommends that U.S. forces train to fight in an environment where electronic warfare jams GPS and radios. The U.S. Army has published a handbook on how to defeat Russia’s hybrid-warfare strategy. The Russian New Generation Warfare Handbook, published in December 2016 and recently released over the...
The Simple Reason why Russia’s Military Is Back
Dave Majumdar Security, North America And ready for anything. Overall, the DIA analysis—like its Cold War-era predecessor Soviet Military Power that was first published in 1981—is hawkish in its outlook. Only time will tell if the DIA’s analysis proves to be accurate, but as we learned after the collapse of the Soviet Union and the end of...
The Simple Reason why Russia’s Military Is Back
Dave Majumdar Security, North America And ready for anything. Overall, the DIA analysis—like its Cold War-era predecessor Soviet Military Power that was first published in 1981—is hawkish in its outlook. Only time will tell if the DIA’s analysis proves to be accurate, but as we learned after the collapse of the Soviet Union and the end of...
Why Lethal Aid Can’t Help Ukraine
Julie Thompson Security, Europe Arming Ukraine could put the United States in an awkward position vis-à-vis its NATO allies. On Thursday, weeks after rumors swirled around Washington that the State Department and Pentagon want the president to arm Ukraine, Secretary of Defense James Mattis confirmed that the White House is considering sending...
