Turkish Divisions over Central Asia

10/26/2011
10/26/2011 By Richard Weitz One of the few points of division we encountered among Turkish government officials and analysts was their competing views regarding future political developments in Central Asia. One group believes that Central Asia was ripe for deep political change through its own version of the Arab Spring.…

Turkey and Tehran: Cooperation and Conflict

10/25/2011
10/25/2011 - By Dr. Richard Weitz During our time in Turkey, a key issue of interest was getting an update on their relationship with Iran. Although we were in Turkey for only one week, it was evident that Turkey’s relationship with Iran is complex. The two countries cooperate in some…

Turkey-Iraqi Kurdistan Reconciliation Pays Dividends

10/25/2011
10/25/2011  By Richard Weitz During a week-long study trip to Turkey earlier this month, I was in Ankara at the same time as a senior Iraqi government delegation. We had simultaneous meetings at the Foreign Ministry. The Turkish Deputy Foreign Minister had to send a replacement to our session since…

The Turkish Re-Set: A Cause for Concern in the West?

10/23/2011
10/22/2011 - By Franck Znaty The current US administration sees Turkey as a model to be replicated for Arab and Muslim countries.  It is viewed as a Muslim majority country within secular institutions, western ally and NATO member, with a strong economy and pro-market policies, a newly-found tight control of…

Turkey Positions for US Military Withdrawal from Iraq

10/23/2011
10/23/2011 by Richard Weitz Now that all U.S. combat troops are scheduled to withdraw from Iraq by the end of this year, Iraq’s neighbors are positioning themselves.  These neighbors are maneuvering to manage the resulting transformation in their regional security environment. [caption id="attachment_25373" align="alignleft" width="300" caption="The latest Weitz Report on…

Putin’s Return: Tactical Nuclear Weapons Remain Bedrock of Defense Policy?

10/17/2011
By Dr. Richard Weitz 10/17/2011 - One problem created by Vladimir Putin’s return to the Russian presidency is that it might make it harder to negotiate an agreement to reduce Russia’s large stockpile of tactical nuclear weapons (TNWs). No bilateral treaty limits the number of non-strategic nuclear weapons in the…

The Libyan Operation: Rethinking the Space Contribution in Rapid Response Operations

10/15/2011
10/15/2011 - By Dr. Robbin Laird and Dr. Alain Dupas The Libyan military operation in Libya is not yet over. It is too early for scholarly and learned lessons. But it is not too early to look at the tactical experiences and how those experiences presage changes to come. We…

The Russia-Turkey Partnership

10/14/2011
10/14/2011 By Richard Weitz Many of my questions in Turkey concerned that country’s ties with Russia. The Turkish officials we met considered their country’s relations with Russia to be their best ever. They pointed to their extensive bilateral trade, the millions of Russian tourists who visit Turkey each year, and the…