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…
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…
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…
10/13/2011 By Richard Weitz The political turmoil in Syria is depriving Turkey’s ruling Adalet ve Kalkinma Partisi (AKP, or Justice and Development Party) of one of its most significant foreign policy achievements. Since the AKP came to power in 2002, Turkey and Syria have seen a major improvement in their…
10/12/11 by Richard Weitz Second Line of Defense was invited to send a representative on a study trip to Turkey for U.S. foreign policy specialists. The trip, which is occuring from October 7-14, included visits to Ankara, Hatay, and Istanbul and meetings with a range of government officials, academic and…
10/4/2011 by Carlo Munoz A number of sophisticated shoulder-fired missiles looted from Libyan armories have already been smuggled out of the North African country and we don't know where they've gone, a top U.S. general said today. Africa Command chief Gen. Carter Ham said his organization picked up…
By Dr. Richard Weitz 10/09/2011 - Using public data, the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), a Washington DC think tank, analyzed Department of Homeland Security (DHS) federal prime contracts from 2004 to 2010. The analysts note that the quality of this data has improved consistently over time, especially…
10/04/2011 - by Robbin Laird In the rush towards an election, a withdrawal from Afghanistan and budget cuts, which would undercut the ability of the US to replace its “geriatric forces, ” a key consideration is to ensure that the US can defend its economic interest in the period ahead. …
