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February 09, 2010
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Richard Weitz

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Richard Weitz is a senior fellow and director of the Center for Political-Military Affairs at Hudson Institute. He analyzes mid- and long-term national and international political-military issues, including by employing scenario-based planning. His current areas of research include defense reform, counterterrorism, homeland security, and U.S. policies towards Europe, the former Soviet Union, Asia, and the Middle East.

Articles written by Richard Weitz

Global Insights: Russia's New Military Doctrine Reaffirms Old Values

By Richard Weitz 09 Feb 2010 | World Politics Review At a Feb. 5 session of the Russian Security Council, President Dmitry Medvedev finally approved Russia's updated comprehensive military doctrine. But notwithstanding a lengthy period of discussion and consideration, and despite all the developments of the past decade, the latest version generally supports the same policies as the previous military doctrine adopted in 2000.

Global Insights: Does Russia Have a Fifth-Generation Fighter?

By Richard Weitz 02 Feb 2010 | World Politics Review On Jan. 29, a Russian pilot conducted a test flight of the first warplane entirely designed and built by Russian companies since the Soviet Union collapsed in 1991. Russian sources describe the PAK FA as the first fifth-generation multi-role fighter/attack warplane built outside the United States, but some analysts doubt it meets that category's criteria.

Global Insights: Where Is the Post-START Treaty?

By Richard Weitz 26 Jan 2010 | World Politics Review For weeks, U.S. and Russian government representatives have stated that they expect a new nuclear arms control treaty to be signed imminently. Nevertheless, the negotiations continue to drag on. The Obama administration wants to have a treaty in hand, if not formally ratified, by the opening of the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty (NPT) Review Conference this May, but a few remaining issues are holding up the process.

Global Insights: Solving the Google Cyber Mystery

By Richard Weitz 19 Jan 2010 | World Politics Review New evidence has arisen suggesting that Google's decision to no longer self-censor its search engine results for Chinese users was triggered by a cyber attack made possible by "inside" help. But in the diffuse and opaque cyber environment, determining whether seemingly independent actors are acting with the encouragement or even at the behest of government agencies is difficult.

Strategic Posture Review: China

By Richard Weitz 19 Jan 2010 | World Politics Review China is replete with contradictions that make the country simultaneously a strong and weak state.

Global Insights: Challenging Beijing on Taiwan Weapons Sales

By Richard Weitz 12 Jan 2010 | World Politics Review Just 12 days into 2010, the Chinese government has already made more than a half-dozen official statements warning the Obama administration against selling additional weapons to Taiwan. Chinese policymakers are responding to recently awarded contracts announced by the Pentagon, while also seeking to lay down a marker against further sales during the Obama administration.

Global Insights: China Tests Waters on First Overseas Naval Base

By Richard Weitz 05 Jan 2010 | World Politics Review The Chinese government recently launched yet another trial balloon to test international reaction to its expanding military reach. The move came in the form of an interview reproduced by the Defense Ministry's Web site, in which a retired admiral called for China to acquire its first permanent overseas naval base. We can expect to see similar expressions of such interest in coming years.

Global Insights: Rasmussen's Vision of NATO-Russian Partnership

By Richard Weitz 22 Dec 2009 | World Politics Review During his first visit to Moscow as NATO's secretary-general, Anders Fogh Rasmussen outlined his vision of "a true strategic partnership" between Russia and NATO by 2020. Unfortunately, the trip also highlighted persistent divisions between Russia and the West regarding NATO enlargement, Afghanistan, and other areas that present serious obstacles to Rasmussen's roadmap.

Global Insights: U.S. and Iran Continue Diplomatic Dance

By Richard Weitz 15 Dec 2009 | World Politics Review At a regional security conference in Bahrain, a U.S. official deflected charges that Iran was supporting rebels operating along the Yemeni-Saudi border, while Iran's foreign minister provided a detailed counteroffer to the West's uranium-swap proposal. Both men's remarks reflect the shared interests and mutual suspicions that continue to characterize U.S.-Iranian relations.

Global Insights: Russian-Indian Strategic Partnership Faces New Challenges

By Richard Weitz 08 Dec 2009 | World Politics Review Russian and Indian policymakers still pursue many common objectives while having few divergent ones. Yet, ongoing improvements in India's relations with Western countries, especially the United States, present challenges to Russian policymakers as they strive to maintain Russia's position as India's most important strategic partner.

Obama's Afghanistan Plan: The Partner Problem

By Richard Weitz 02 Dec 2009 | World Politics Review President Barack Obama offered a vision last night of his plans to stabilize the deteriorating security situation in Afghanistan. The core idea is to increase foreign support for the Afghan government and security forces. But the plan depends on partners with a varying degree of commitment.

Global Insights: Mistral Talks Reveal Russian Shipbuilding Maladies

By Richard Weitz 01 Dec 2009 | World Politics Review During his sojourn in Paris last week, Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin and his entourage of government ministers and business executives signed a number of important commercial agreements with their French counterparts. Yet, the most important possible outcome of Putin's jaunt -- the Russian purchase of the French-built Mistral warship -- has yet to be announced.

Global Insights: New EU Leaders Satisfy Washington

By Richard Weitz 24 Nov 2009 | World Politics Review The European Union has filled the two new positions established by the Lisbon Treaty with relatively unknown politicians. Most of the press coverage following the appointments has focused on the personalities of the individuals selected for the jobs. But this preoccupation with personalities risks obscuring the more profound implications of the EU's first steps toward implementing the treaty's provisions.

Global Insights: The Great Nuclear Wall of China

By Richard Weitz 17 Nov 2009 | World Politics Review BEIJING -- Although nuclear arms control is not likely to be a major agenda item during President Barack Obama's visit to China, it should be. One of the obstacles facing the president as he seeks to realize his ambitious arms control goals is the need to transform the primarily bilateral strategic arms control relationship inherited from the Cold War into a multilateral framework.

Global Insights: Parsing China's North Korea Policy

By Richard Weitz 10 Nov 2009 | World Politics Review BEIJING -- One of the issues President Barack Obama will discuss when he visits China next week is the deadlocked Six-Party Talks to resolve the North Korean nuclear crisis. Over time, the Chinese government has developed a stake in the talks' successful outcome as well as in maintaining a smooth negotiating process. But significant differences remain in the two parties' approach to the talks.

Global Insights: Germany Relaunches NATO Nuclear Debate

By Richard Weitz 03 Nov 2009 | World Politics Review One issue German Chancellor Angela Merkel may avoid raising in her speech to a joint session of Congress today is her new coalition government's commitment to remove all U.S. nuclear weapons from Germany within the next few years. The pledge has focused attention on what has until now been a low-key debate within NATO over whether to retain nuclear weapons as a core element of the alliance's strategy.

Global Insights: Sounding the Toxin Tocsin

By Richard Weitz 27 Oct 2009 | World Politics Review A bipartisan commission last week reiterated its warning that the U.S. government is responding inadequately to the threat of bioterrorism. The latest report by the U.S. Commission on the Prevention of Weapons of Mass Destruction Proliferation and Terrorism affirms that progress has been made. But according to the commission, "the clock is still ticking."

Global Insights: Obama Prepares to Re-engage on CTBT

By Richard Weitz 20 Oct 2009 | World Politics Review A decade after the U.S. Senate declined to ratify the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty, President Barack Obama is preparing an effort to reverse that decision. But to secure Senate backing this time around, the Obama administration must first overcome residual concerns among some senators that the treaty will harm U.S. national security.

Global Insights: Korean Nuclear Diplomacy Resumes

By Richard Weitz 13 Oct 2009 | World Politics Review Last week was a busy one for efforts to negotiate a settlement to North Korea's nuclear weapons program. Meetings between various groupings of regional leaders, including a visit to North Korea by Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao, resulted in some progress. But longstanding obstacles persist, and new impediments have arisen.

Global Insights: Parsing Moscow's Iran Policy

By Richard Weitz 06 Oct 2009 | World Politics Review Russia's role in the Oct. 1 meeting between Iran and the P5+1, which appeared to make considerable progress, remains unclear. Russian leaders clearly do not want Iran to obtain nuclear weapons. At the same time, Russian observers openly acknowledge that the tensions between Iran and the West benefits Russia in several ways -- providing it does not escalate into war.