2017-01-05 By Richard Weitz Until recently, except in the case of Iran, the Obama administration did not address Russia as a major factor in its Middle East strategy. The administration withdrew the U.S. military from Iraq and promoted Israel-Palestinian reconciliation without thinking of Moscow’s potential contribution or opposition. Then external…
2016-12-18 By Ed Timperlake and Robbin Laird The Chinese Navy has come out into the big world as a counter-piracy force. For example, the PLAN has been part of the anti-piracy operations off of the waters of Somalia. And in 2014, the PLAN did an exercise with the US Navy with…
2016-12-11 By Richard Weitz President-elect Donald Trump’s decision to appoint South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley as his future UN Ambassador underscores that the incoming administration, which begins on January 20, understands the importance of developing stronger Indian-U.S. ties. The bilateral national security relationship is critical for realizing both countries’ core…
2016-12-15 By Ed Timperlake When reading a recent article on the Chinese illegal build out on islands in the Pacific, I was struck with what the images reminded me of from history. In an article on "China's New Spratly Island Defenses," published by the Asia Maritime Transparency Initiative, several digital…
2016-11-28 By Robbin Laird We are in the midst of significant global change. The strategic dislocation of the Middle East, the Putin Russian revival, the Brexit dynamic, the Euro crisis, the German migrant opening at the middle of Europe, the Chinese power grab, the Chinese economic malaise, the Japanese power…
2016-11-27 By Danny Lam During President Obama’s meeting with President Elect Donald Trump, a “big problem for the country” was discussed. North Korea and its nuclear ballistic missile program was identified in September as the first problem for the Trump Administration. President Elect Trump will be briefed by the priesthood…
2016-11-24 By Richard Weitz During the election campaign, some of Donald Trump’s advisers criticized the Obama administration and its predecessors for adopting policies that alienated Russia and helped drive Moscow toward Beijing, to China’s benefit. They indicated that one reason they wanted to reconcile with Russia was to break this…
2016-11-23 By Danny Lam The South China Sea “Sea Grab” is no less an egregious violation of international law than a “Land Grab” by Russia in the Ukraine. Both cases are virtually identical in that a treaty defined international boundary or limitation was violated. Though in the SCS case, it…
