The Australian Prime Minister Weighs in on the Global Terrorist Threat: And the ADF Exercises Its Counter-Terrorism Capabilities

03/31/2016
03/31/2016: When visiting Australia in March 2016, the Brussels terrorism events had a major impact on the debate in Australia about how to deal with the terrorist threat closer to home. The Prime Minister of Australia gave a hard hitting speech which highlighted a tough immigration policy coupled with enhanced counter-terrorism…

Welcome to the Brazilian Games: And We Are Not Talking About the Summer Olympics

03/09/2016
2016-03-09 By Kenneth Maxwell At 6am on Friday morning, March 4, 2016,, Brazilian armed federal police officers arrived at the home in the outskirts of São Paulo, of the former president of Brazil, Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, better known to Brazilians and internationally simply as "Lula." On Tuesday of this week, the president of Oderbrecht, one of Brazil's largest…

Russian Words: Do They Matter?

02/26/2016
2016-02-22 By Richard Weitz The last few months have seen the release of several documents, interviews, and speeches that provide revealing insights into the Kremlin’s worldview. At the end of December, Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a new National Security Strategy. The Russian president is required to issue a revised…

Remembering the Real “Master and Commander”: Lord Thomas Cochrane

02/25/2016
2016-02-21 By Kenneth Maxwell Lord Thomas Cochrane after founding the Chilean navy, and guaranteeing the independence of Chile by audacious naval action along the Pacific coast, was invited in 1823 by D. Pedro, the son of the Portuguese monarch, who had declared the independence of Brazil from Portugal, to command the new Brazilian navy with the rank…