2013-08-26 by Richard Weitz Russian President Vladimir Putin’s recent visit to Baku is but the latest sign of Moscow’s sustained effort to secure greater influence in the vital South Caucasus region. Putin traveled to Azerbaijan for a “working visit” on August 13 that marked his first trip the country in 2006.…
2013-08-21 A former force commander of the joint African Union/United Nations mission in Darfur has warned that a rethink is needed on peacekeeping in Africa if it is to remain a workable objective. Nigerian General Martin Luther Agwai told a Washington workshop on enhancing peacekeeping operations in Africa the complex…
By Richard Weitz The recent NATO-Russian spat over military exercises shows the imperative of upgrading European security mechanisms. At a July 24 NATO-Russia Council meeting, Rose Gottemoeller, the U.S. Acting Under Secretary for Arms Control and International Security, complained about Moscow’s failure to provide advance notice of its recent large-scale military…
2013-08-04 by Robbin Laird In a follow up interview with Gordon Stephenson, the brother of the co-pilot of the B-17 remembered in the French ceremony at the end of June, I had a chance to talk about his brother, growing up to become a pilot and what it felt like…
2013-07-31 by Richard Weitz The PRC-Russian relationship is the process of further development. Three recent measures of that development are the following: Their growing energy trade, Their collusion in helping NSA leaker Edward Snowden gain asylum, and their renewed arms sales. In another sign of a deepening relationship, they recently…
2013-07-29 By Kenneth Maxwell It is curious how bad news multiples while good news diminishes. I suppose the international press had a new royal baby in Britain to swoon over this past week, and London is closer to home for most of them than Rio de Janeiro. But good news…
2013-07-28 By Robbin Laird As an American defense analyst and journalist, I recently had a chance to review the challenges facing Canadian defense during a visit to Ottawa. During this interview with Editor-in-Chief, Chris Maclean, and Richard Bray, long time reporter and senior writer from FrontLine Defence magazine, we discussed…
2013-07-26 By Donald Marvin Bohler In the summer of 2012, the head of the Noirmoutier Sister Cities International committee asked me if I could find the family members of the American B-17 crew who had crash-landed their 8th Air Force B-17, the “Battling Bastards”, on the beach at La Guériniere on…
