2012-11-14 by Richard Weitz The PRC-DPRK relationship is no longer based primarily on ideology but relies more on overlapping national interests and mutual economic ties. Chinese policy makers continue to take steps to avert state failure in North Korea and counter other possible sources of chaos on the Korean peninsula.…
2012-11-13 by Richard Weitz Russian President Vladimir Putin’s decision last week to remove Defense Minister Anatoly Serdyukov, Chief of Staff Army-General Nikolai Makarov, and other senior Russian defense officials and officers is an important development. And it could have a major impact on Russia’s military reform program as well as…
2012-11-11 by Richard Weitz The close alignment between Seoul and Washington in recent years has reinforced Beijing’s caution about breaking with the DPRK. The PRC and South Korea established formal diplomatic relations in 1992. Since then, their economic exchanges have soared, with China overtaking the United States as the ROK’s main…
2012-11-10 by Richard Weitz In spite of a common threat, South Korea and Japan have struggled to present a united front against that threat. South Korea and Japan both face a common military threat from North Korea, made evident most recently by the DPRK artillery strike against Yeonpyeong Island in…
2012-11-09 by Richard Weitz The PRC has pursed both condemnations of North Korean policies with concerted support for North Korea that effectively undercuts the ability of outside powers to make that condemnation real. And the PRC as a major developer and exporter of missiles for the global market, de facto,…
2012-11-07 By Richard Weitz The U.S-ROK military alliance has been the foundation of both countries’ strategic policies for over fifty years. The United States and South Korea signed a Mutual Defense Treaty in October 1953 following the 1950-53 Korean War, in which 33,600 American troops were killed and more than 100,000…
2012-11-06 by Richard Weitz Ukraine is not currently a full member of any of Eurasia’s strongest military blocs. It remains outside NATO, the Moscow-dominated Collective Security Treaty, and the European Union. Ukraine has joined several weak security institutions, such as the co-founded the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS), the GUUAM (Georgia-Ukraine-Uzbekistan-Azerbaijan-Moldova),…
2012-11-06 by Richard Weitz The Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK) is the only state to have withdrawn from the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT), unilaterally disabled IAEA containment and surveillance systems, and expelled IAEA inspectors from its territory in 1993. The United States then intervened and negotiated the 1994 Agreed Framework.…
