The Few, the Proud: The American Defenders

07/10/2012
7/10/12: by Michael W. Wynne 21st Secretary of the USAF In his new Book, The Price of Civilization, Jeffrey Sachs decries the cost of defense; assuming that it is not his role to evaluate how America achieved its freedoms; simply accepting that the world will permit its continuation. http://professional.wsj.com/article/SB10001424053111903703604576589090204327736.html?mg=reno-wsj Although…

Moscow Experts See Growing Chinese Challenge to Russian Arms Sales

07/06/2012
07/6/12: by Richard Weitz A team of Russian defense analysts at the Moscow-based Center for Analysis of Strategies and Technologies (CAST) in Moscow have produced the most comprehensive and comprehensible study of the Chinese defense industry in any language. In Shooting Star: China’s Military Machine in the 21st Century, Mikhail…

Trilateral Nuclear Complexities: Tunnels, Warheads and Other Challenges

07/05/2012
7/5/12: by Richard Weitz The Russians are increasingly concerned with Chinese nuclear forces and their growth. The recent U.S. release of a paper by Russian General Viktor Yesin, a former chief of staff of Russia’s Strategic Rocket Forces, on “China’s Nuclear Potential,” which calculates that China probably has between 1,600…

The Emergence of a New European Map: France, the U.S. and the Future of Europe

07/04/2012
7/4/12: On Tuesday, June 26, 2012, the Hudson Institute hosted a lunchtime talk of former senior military officers and civilian national security policy makers to discuss security developments in Europe and Afghanistan. Among the guests were Lieutenant General (retired) Jean-Patrick Gaviard, French civilian strategists Olivier Zajec and Murielle Delaporte, and…

Evolving UAE Perspectives on Gulf Security

06/29/2012
6/29/12: In mid- June 2012, Second Line of Defense talked with Victor Gervais, a young French researcher who recently published his dissertation on the UAE military.  Gervais had just returned from a two-week visit to the UAE when we discussed with him his perspectives on how the UAE leadership was…

Making Sense of Moscow’s Syrian Gambit

06/27/2012
6/27/12: By Dr. Stephen Blank Evidently the Administration thinks it can persuade Russia to resolve Syria’s civil war by simply abandoning its ally, Bashear Assad, and thereby facilitate a Yemeni type solution there where Assad simply leaves Syria.[i] Moscow too has sent envoys around the world telling everyone that it…

China-Iraq Ties: Oil, Arms, and Influence

06/25/2012
6/25/12: By Richard Weitz Sino-Iraq relations will likely continue to strengthen in the near future. China, which imports more than half its oil, needs Iraqi energy, while Iraq, which continues to suffer from sectarian violence and an unstable political environment, depends heavily on China’s willingness to invest in the country…

U.S. Nuclear Weapons Stockpile Management: An Update

06/24/2012
6/24/12: By Richard Weitz On November 10, 2011, the Center for Science, Technology, and Security Policy at the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS), the Hudson Institute Center for Political-Military Analysis and the Union of Concerned Scientists (UCS) hosted a workshop to discuss the future of the Department…