Perspectives on China’s Evolving Military

02/18/2012
SLD Coverage of Jamestown’s PLA Conference (Part 1) By Richard Weitz The Jamestown Foundation held its Second Annual China Defense and Security Conference on February 16. In his opening remarks, Glen E. Howard, President of The Jamestown Foundation, rightly noted the importance of China defense developments for the United States…

Promoting Economic Integration within the former Soviet Union

02/14/2012
[caption id="attachment_12920" align="alignleft" width="150" caption=" "][/caption] By Dr. Richard Weitz 02/14/2012 - In support of greater integration within the former Soviet Union, Kazakhstan has supported several initiatives: the Eurasian Economic Community, the Russia-Belarus-Kazakhstan Customs Union, and most recently a Eurasian Union, which would expand the Customs Union geographically and functionally,…

Transatlantic Defense and the New US-UK Partnership

02/13/2012
[caption id="attachment_12920" align="alignleft" width="150" caption=" "][/caption] By Dr. Richard Weitz 02/13/2012 - One of the results of the Pentagon’s recent global posture review has been to authorize further reductions in the number of U.S. troops based in Europe. NATO and European officials profess unconcern about the decision, but the reduction…

Kazakhstan and the Commonwealth of Independent States

02/13/2012
[caption id="attachment_12920" align="alignleft" width="150" caption=" "][/caption] By Dr. Richard Weitz 02/13/2012 - The Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS), consisting of all the former Soviet republics except for the Baltic countries, initially represented Kazakhstan’s most important regional institution after the USSR’s disintegration. On December 16, 1991, Kazakhstan became the last of…

The Next AT-6 “Hail Mary”: The Saga Continues

02/09/2012
02/09/2012 by Ed Timperlake In an excellent piece of reporting Joseph C. Anselmo in Aviation Daily, on Wednesday February 8th 2012 reported an important breaking news story about another huge management shake-up at Hawker Beechcraft. “Robert S. “Steve” Miller was appointed CEO on Feb. 7, replacing longtime chief executive Bill Boisture,…

Obama’s Defense Budget Priorities and Choices Partially Revealed

02/08/2012
By Dr. Richard Weitz 2/01/2012 - On January 26, the Pentagon released its “Defense Budget Priorities and Choices” document. This 15-page brochure, along with the budget briefings provided by Senior DoD officials that day and subsequently, provided some information on how the new Defense Strategic Guidance will affect the Department’s…

Kazakhstan’s Nuclear Bank: Achieving Benefits at Acceptable Risk

02/01/2012
[caption id="attachment_12920" align="alignleft" width="150" caption=" "][/caption] By Dr. Richard Weitz 01/25/2012 - The world needs a multinational nuclear fuel bank and Kazakhstan is eager to host it. Kazakhstan has certain attributes that make it a welcome candidate to house one of perhaps several nuclear fuel banks. But Kazakhstan needs to…

New Defense Guidance: Needs Resources To Travel

01/31/2012
[caption id="attachment_12920" align="alignleft" width="150" caption=" "][/caption] By Dr. Richard Weitz 01/31/2012 - The authors of the Pentagon’s new Strategic Guidance must have been reading Second Line of Defense since they affirm many of the arguments made by SLD team. The only problem with the Guidance, which may prove fatal, is…