2014-04-16 Clearly, the Arctic is a major area of interest for the major Arctic powers as well as global economic powers like Japan and China, who are not one of the five powers with direct claims. The gradual melting of Arctic ice is creating the beginnings of a very different strategic…
2014-04-16 by Ed Timperlake In the United States, the Korean War is sometimes referred to as “The Forgotten War,” sandwiched as it was between World War II and the Vietnam War. In South Korea, however, that conflict remains top-of-mind, as evidenced by the City of Osan’s announcement on Wednesday that…
2014-04-14 by Robbin Laird The Russians are sorting out their way forward into the 21st century. The collapse of the Soviet Union, the reunification of Germany, and the inclusion of much of the former Warsaw Pact into the European Union and NATO defined the end of the 20th century. Re-setting…
2014-03-26 By Robbin Laird Soon the USMC Darwin Rotational Force will come to Australia to train with the Australians. What might not be as obvious as the images of the cross-training is the cross modernization of the two forces. The Aussies are re-shaping their forces under the influence of new…
The USMC and the Distributed Laydown from Second Line of Defense 2014-04-08 By Robbin Laird I had a chance to talk with the US Marine Corps, Pacific (MARFORPAC) in late February 2014 about their major project of reshaping and repositioning their forces in the Pacific over the next decade. It is…
2014-04-07 Clearly, Putin made his move in Crimea due to circumstances in Ukraine as a whole. The upheaval in Ukraine provided an opportunity to ensure that the Russian base in Ukraine could be secured within Russian national territory. And with a play in Cyprus and Syria consolidating their position in the…
2014-03-30 By Robbin Laird In the mid-1980s when I worked at the Institute for Defense Analyses, I established a working group on Germany and we looked long and hard at the potential for German reunification to emerge from the dynamics of the 1980s. When the opportunity emerged in the late…
2014-03-29 By Robbin Laird Following my visit to Australia, I had a chance to talk with Lt. General. Robling, the Commanding Officer for the USMC in the Pacific. Soon the Marines are coming for their first rotational force training with the Aussies for the next six months. Undoubtedly, there will be…
