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…
2014-03-28 by Kenneth Maxwell The international consequences of Russia's reincorporation of the Crimean peninsula are still unfolding. The leaders of the G-7 industrialized nations, meeting at the Hague, Netherlands, abandoned their participation in the G-8 summit, scheduled to take place in June, in the Russian Black Sea resort of Sochi, where Russia hosted the Winter Olympic and Paralympic Games.…
2014-03-28 By Guy Martin The visit to South Africa last week by Brazilian defense minister Celso Amorim has resulted in defense ties between the two countries being strengthened, with cooperation in the fields of training and technology, particularly regarding air-to-air missiles. During his four-day visit to Africa between March 19…
2014-03-25 The global interdependence of the 21st century poses significant challenges when states are forced to handle disruptions, and when competitors to shape outcomes to their advantage use disruptions. Energy security is clearly a key part of global interdependence, and managing energy security is a key challenge facing 21st century…
2014-03-19 By Robbin Laird Harald Malmgren has recently underscored that any focus on the Crimea without looking at the global context makes no strategic sense. And indeed, the day to day focus on events the days before is exactly what leads to missing the context of what the Crimean dynamic…
2014-03-18 By Harald Malmgren In March, world attention turned to fast moving events in Ukraine which set in motion a direct clash between Russia, on one side, and the EU and US, on the other. Viewed as an unexpected, but isolated event in the Ukraine, press and media focused primarily…
