2013-03-24 We have argued that with the benign neglect of nuclear warfighting by the United States, the American allies in the Pacific will rethink their posture on relying solely on the US nuclear deterrent. And given the modest sized response by the US with its South Korean allies in the current…
2013-03-19 By Ed Timperlake and Robbin Laird When the Senate Armed Services Committee was grilling the new nominee for Secretary of Defense, more time was spent on his views on the surge in Iraq than the focal point of his first test: North Korea. In fact, the subject did not…
2013-03-18 by Robbin Laird The Western powers are facing the end game in Afghanistan. Whether what they do in the next few months is a transition or an exit remains up in the air. I mean this quite literally. If the Afghans as a nation are going to work together…
2013-03-15 By Harald Malmgren ECB President Mario Draghi dramatically declared last year “the ECB would do whatever it takes” to stabilize Eurozone bond markets. It would purchase sovereign debt of troubled Euro member governments on condition that such governments would permit a European Union or Eurozone body to oversee and…
2013-03-10 by Robbin Laird I was spending my Sunday working on the last chapter of our book on shaping a 21st century Pacific strategy. The F-35 among other systems figures prominently in how to build a 21st strategy, not simply funding a 20th century residue. We have interviewed many of…
2013-03-08 By Richard Weitz In the past decade, Sino-African relations have increased in importance. Recent trends point to Chinese involvement in three areas of interest: economic policy, diplomacy, and military cooperation. Beijing’s policies with reference to sub-Saharan Africa reflect clear goals: 1) expanding export markets (to Africa’s growing middle class) 2) …
2013-03-07 by Richard Weitz In the past decade, the PLA has increasingly participated in multilateral peacekeeping operations in Africa. Since 2000—when China deployed fewer than 100 peacekeepers—there has been nearly a twenty-fold increase in troops-on-the-ground. In recent years, China has provided more troops, police, and observer teams to UN peacekeeping…
2013-02-26 By Richard Weitz According to newly released data by Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI), the weapons and military service sales of the largest companies (the SIPRI Top 100) amounted to $410 billion in 2011, a 5 percent fall in constant dollars from the previous year. SIPRI calculates that…
