By Richard Weitz With the death of terrorist leader Abu Bakr Al-Baghdadi at the hands of U.S. Special Forces, the so-called Islamic State has lost critical finances, territory, and now leadership. These blows have removed several sources of the Islamic State’s attractiveness, both regionally and globally. Al-Baghdadi had uniquely sinister…
By Robbin Laird In the shifting narrative of Vladimir Putin as the leader of Russia, over time he has downplayed Russia’s modernization engaged with the West to shaping a Euro-Asian perspective and promoting the concept of Russia as a unique Eur-Asian power. Although the Obama Administration referred to Russia as…
By Michael Shoebridge The post mortems on Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison’s US visit and speech in Chicago on Chinese state trade distortions didn’t wait for the trip to finish. We’ve had the line from opposition leader Anthony Albanese that the big issue was that the speech was delivered in the US. And another…
By Pierre Tran Paris - Dassault Aviation played the host for an Oct. 8 ceremony for hand over of the first Rafale fighter jet to India, signaling a close military and industrial tie France seeks to deepen amidst stiff competition from Israel, Russia and the U.S. The presence of Indian…
Second Line of Defense is attending the Chief of Navy's Seapower Conference 2019 being held in Sydney, Australia from October 8-10 2019, We will have a number of stories generated from our participation. A key aspect being highlighted by both the new Australian government and the Royal Australian Navy is…
By Pierre Tran BOURGES/AVORD AIRBASE, France France and Germany need to resolve political, industrial and operational differences hanging over projects for a new fighter jet and a new tank, a French senator said Sept. 13. A New Generation Fighter is key to the planned Future Combat Air System, backed by…
The Brazilian foreign minister recently was in Washington DC and was very visible in providing an update on what the new Brazil was seeking in its relationships with the United States, notably with the Trump impact on U.S. policies. As Lauren Meir of The Washington Times wrote in an article…
By Robbin Laird When one talks about globalization, its benefits and its challenges, the discussion usually is upon the global economy. But with globalization has come the opening of borders, legally and not, to the migration of peoples. In fact, we are experiencing one of the most significant periods of…
