West Hemisphere Defense: Where is the Beef?

10/13/2012
2012-10-13 recently, the Pentagon released its guidance with regard to building Western Hemisphere defense in the period ahead.The document highlights the strategic need to evolve partnerships in more effective directions and across the board in delivering security in challenging times. The document highlights the need for evolving the collaborative approach,…

CTBT Holdouts: The Asian Triangle

10/13/2012
2012-10-13 by Richard Weitz There are three key Asian states who have not jointed the CTBT regime. Each of these states in turn, China, India and Pakistan, are discussed in this article. And the prospects are not promising that they will join any time soon. China Until the end of the…

The Afghan Transition: The View From Tashkent

10/12/2012
2012-10-12 By Richard Weitz Last month, I had the opportunity to spend a week in Uzbekistan meeting with government officials, think tank researchers, university faculty and students, and other members of the country’s national security community. Much of our discussion focused on Afghanistan, which I would like to summarize for the…

Transitioning in Afghanistan: The Role of Airpower and Special Forces

10/12/2012
2012-10-12 by Robbin Laird Airpower is crucial to every aspect of operations in the Afghan Area of Operations, and crucial to hot pursuit of the Taliban who do not respect lines on a geographical map. Interviews we have conducted with American and French military operators in Afghanistan have hit hard…

Time for US Move in South Caucasus

10/11/2012
2012-10-11 by Richard Weitz Although Americans and Azeris have a long history of friendship, this year marks the 20th anniversary of diplomatic relations between the United States and the post-Soviet state of Azerbaijan. The U.S. government and U.S. companies were eager to develop newly independent Azerbaijan’s oil and gas fields through…

Russia and the CTBT: And the Future of Russian Nuclear Weapons

10/11/2012
2012-10-11 by Richard Weitz The Russian speakers at the 2012 Moscow Nonproliferation Conference strongly backed universal ratification of the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty (CTBT), and chastised the U.S. Senate for failing to ratify it. But Russia’s position regarding the CTBT is more complex than commonly presumed. The Russian Federation signed the…