2012-08-28 by Richard Weitz Iraq’s relations with other Arab countries are complex and often troubled. Arabs and others consider Iraq a core Arab state despite its peripheral location on the eastern flank of the Arab world, where it borders two large non-Arab countries, Iran and Turkey. Yet, Iraq’s diverse population…
2012-08-28 By Richard Weitz In explaining their government’s December 2003 decision to support Operation Iraqi Freedom, Japanese officials cited the imperative of supporting their country’s bilateral military alliance with the United States. They considered the deployment of ground troops to the Iraqi theater as especially important in demonstrating Japan’s reliability to…
2012-08-28 Second Line of Defense has been shaping a broader understanding of the challenges and opportunities in shaping a new Pacific strategy for the 21s Century. A key part of such a strategy is focusing on the way ahead within South Korea to broaden the ability of U.S. forces in the…
2012-08-27 By Richard Weitz Despite their deep historical, cultural, and economic ties, relations between Iraq and Syria have been characterized by mutual suspicion and hostility during much of the last half century. The two countries have distinctly different religious compositions. Most Syrians are Sunnis, while most Iraqis are Shiites. In practice,…
2012-08-26 by Robbin Laird The Pacific is a big place. It often either not understood and not reflected upon the scope and nature of the Pacific region. This is not the Mediterranean; this is not the Indian Ocean; this is not even the Atlantic. As Ed Timperlake put it clearly: The…
2012-08-26 By Richard Weitz Iraq and the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan, which is not a GCC member, are destined to have intense ties due to the deep ethnic, geographic and religious connections between their citizens. Recent Jordanian-Iraqi relations are driven by issues regarding safe havens for terrorists, Iranian involvement in Iraqi…
2012-08-26 By Richard Weitz The 9/11 terrorist attacks in the United States provided the Japanese government with an opportunity to reaffirm fidelity to the Japanese-U.S. alliance and Japan’s emerging role as an important international security actor. Immediately following the September 11, 2011 al-Qaeda suicide strikes, Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi’s administration initiated…
by Robbin Laird I have completed nearly 5 years of interviews of the Marines who have flown and maintained the Ospreys. My discussions with these Marines have shown how you start with a platform and expand its envelope over time. Your testing boils down to real warriors carrying the development…
