A Look Back at the Remarkable US-Brazilian Military Relationship

05/19/2019
By Kenneth Maxell Frank D. McCann, professor of history emeritus at the University of New Hampshire, has long been an observer of US-Brazilian military relationships. He knows both sides very intimately. He taught at West Point in the 1960s during the Vietnam War. He met privately with the Vice-President of…

Moscow Conference on International Security, 2019

05/16/2019
By Richard Weitz Last month, Second Line of Defense attended the eighht annual Moscow Conference on International Security (MCIS-2019), which met from April 24-26. The Russian capital was surprisingly warm, with the temperature higher than in Washington, but the frigidity of the Russian-U.S. relationship was pervasive at the conference. The…

The Decade Ahead for Europe: An EU Perspective

05/15/2019
By Robbin Laird Clearly, Europe is in crisis. In my own view, it faces a double constitutional crisis. Brexit is an internal constitutional crisis in the "United" Kingdom and poses a constitutional crisis within the European "Union" which is itself undergoing significant regional devolution. The continental European economies are facing…

The Venezuelan Crisis: The Humanitarian Engagement

05/10/2019
By Ed Timperlake As the Guaidó forces on the streets of Venezuela were losing the tactical battle, a strategic defeat was rapidly approaching, that is until the president made an historic phone call to President Putin.  That call accomplished a most important objective: President Trump personally built new strategic maneuvering space,…

The Australian Elections and Australian Shipbuilding

05/02/2019
By Marcus Hellyer Yesterday (April 29, 2019) from the election campaign trail in Western Australia, Prime Minister Scott Morrison made some naval shipbuilding announcements relating to the Royal Australian Navy’s mine-clearing and hydrographic capabilities. Speaking from the Henderson shipyard south of Perth, he announced that more ships would be built in ……

French Navy Traverses Taiwan Straits

04/30/2019
"China’s defence ministry said on Thursday that France ‘illegally enter[ed] Chinese waters’ after the Chinese navy warned a French warship to leave the Taiwan Strait earlier this month. "China has lodged an official protest at the ‘rare move’ by the French Navy, which has reaffirmed its commitment to ‘freedom of navigation under maritime law’.…

The Ruler of the East: Kim and Vladimir Meet and Maneuver

04/25/2019
By Lucas Bertolo Kim Jong-un arrived this Wednesday in Vladivostok on his armored train. It is his first time in his northern neighbor since he took power eight years ago. It is going to be also his first meeting with Vladimir Putin. The summit will take place at the Far…