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.
At their White House summit last week, Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan and U.S. President Barack Obama jointly called for greater international efforts to end the Syrian civil war, though the two leaders reportedly differ on how directly the West should become involved. Meanwhile, the preoccupation with Syria has obscured unresolved sources of tension between the two countries on other issues. more
The victory by former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif in Pakistan’s national elections offers the U.S. an opportunity to develop and execute a strategy for improving the troubled relationship with Islamabad. Although the Obama administration has defined detailed goals for what it would like to achieve in Afghanistan, as well as strategies for attaining them, U.S. officials have yet to do the same for Pakistan.
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South Korean President Park Geun-hye is currently in the United States, where she will meet with President Barack Obama at the White House, attend a special dinner to commemorate the 60th anniversary of the U.S.-South Korean alliance and address a joint session of Congress, among other activities. She will also travel to New York and Los Angeles, but not to other countries, underscoring the trip’s significance. more
The recent review conference of the Chemical Weapons Convention addressed many important issues, but overshadowing them all are revolutionary changes in chemistry, biology and nano and information technologies. Some of the implications of these scientific and technological developments are potentially positive. Unfortunately, some of the likely results could have extremely negative repercussions for the CWC. more
The significance of the ethnicity of the two Boston Marathon bombers is still unclear, as are the reasons for their transformation into Islamist terrorists, but the latest evidence seems to suggest that the elder Tsarnaev brother’s trip last year to the North Caucasus played a key role. Many of the family’s relatives still live in the region, which has been a hotbed of militant radicalism for at least a century. more
NATO Secretary-General Anders Fogh Rasmussen recently undertook a week-long visit to Japan and South Korea, highlighting NATO's growing role in Asian security. Rasmussen is convinced that NATO needs to deepen cooperation with partner states to address global security issues. Conversely, NATO’s unique capabilities and experience can be applied to joint efforts to address security concerns in Asia and beyond. more
South Korea finds itself in a difficult situation. On one hand, it must respond to North Korea’s missile threats. On the other, it must do so without provoking Pyongyang or Beijing. Chinese officials are already concerned by South Korea’s strengthening security ties with the U.S., particularly in BMD cooperation. But the added pressure closer cooperation puts on China to rein in Pyongyang could prove helpful. more
Afghanistan’s President Hamid Karzai was in Qatar this weekend to talk with Qatari leaders about establishing an office of the Afghan Taliban insurgents in Doha. The visit underscores the degree to which, after months of stalemate, the prospects for a peace agreement between the Afghan government and the Taliban have recently risen. But a number of factors continue to make a sustainable peace deal a tall order. more
This weekend’s visit by Chinese President Xi Jinping to Moscow resulted in no major agreements. Yet expectations were low for the summit, so the lack of headline deals came as little surprise. More surprising, however, was the extent to which Xi aligned Beijing’s foreign policy views with those of Russia in his public statements while in Moscow -- a warning to Washington that should not be overlooked. more
The Obama administration’s decision to adapt U.S. BMD plans in response to the threat posed by North Korea provides an opportunity for Russian President Vladimir Putin to set aside the protracted but unnecessary dispute with the U.S. over BMD. Putin is the one person in Russia who could make the concessions needed to pursue stronger Russia-U.S. cooperation on the more important interests they share. more
In recent weeks, Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan and other Turkish officials threatened to abandon decades of effort to join the European Union and instead seek membership in the Shanghai Cooperation Organization. Their remarks should not be surprising, since Ankara has become increasingly skillful at leveraging Turkey’s new ties with its eastern partners to gain advantages in the West. more
At last month’s NATO meeting, one of the main topics of discussion concerned how many coalition forces will remain in Afghanistan beyond 2014, as well as what their mission will be. As NATO withdraws its forces and reduces its other military support to the Afghan government, it is essential that the alliance plan carefully for drawing down its operations in the country if it is to maintain recent gains. more
Newly inaugurated South Korean President Park Geun-hye will need to address the demands from a faction of her own party for either the United States to return tactical nuclear weapons to the South or for Seoul to develop its own nuclear arsenal. In light of the Feb. 12 North Korean nuclear test, this faction believes that Seoul needs a nuclear capability to deter potential North Korean military threats. But that simply isn't true. more
While China expressed its opposition to North Korea's nuclear test, Beijing also stated its desire to see an early resumption of the Six-Party Talks seeking a nuclear-free Korean Peninsula. Despite their irritation with the North Korean regime, most Chinese officials appear more concerned about the potential collapse of the North Korean state than about its pursuit of nuclear and missile programs. more
In his second annual report on NATO, released at the end of January, and in his Feb. 2 speech to the 2013 Munich Security Conference, NATO Secretary-General Anders Fogh Rasmussen laid out a very ambitious current and future security agenda for the alliance, while stressing the need for NATO governments to sustain adequate defense spending to develop the capabilities needed to achieve the alliance’s goals. more
It is no accident that European Union foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton proposed, and Iran has accepted, holding the next round of nuclear talks in Kazakhstan on Feb. 25. Kazakhstani Foreign Minister Erlan Idrissov reaffirmed his country’s readiness to host the next round of talks during a late-January visit to Moscow, highlighting a bilateral relationship that is driven by pragmatism on both sides. more
Though Russian oil production continues to rise, forecasts predict it will soon peak and then decline. Averting this decline will require a modernization that Russia’s oil companies will be unable to accomplish on their own. To do so, they will need to secure greater foreign investment and partnerships, including with U.S. firms. The benefits of such cooperation would help strengthen U.S.-Russian relations. more
President Barack Obama begins his second term with a new national security team in the making. Some have described Obama’s new “team of friends” as representing an inward-looking impulse, but events may not permit that. As in his first term, Obama will probably again face a gap between, on one hand, his preferred goals and strategies, and on the other, contingencies abroad and at home. more
Russia’s next-generation nuclear-powered Borey-class submarine, equipped with the new Bulava submarine-launched ballistic missile, officially entered service on Jan. 10. The Borey-Bulava combination, which will serve as the sea-based foundation of Russia's nuclear triad through at least the 2040s, is a central part of Russia's naval modernization and key to Moscow's renewed great power ambitions. more
Afghan President Hamid Karzai’s meetings this week in Washington should help resolve some of the issues that will determine his country’s fate and the U.S. role in it, including uncertainties concerning peace negotiations as well as how Karzai will transfer power to his successor in 2014. Above all, the meetings will highlight the limits of U.S. power in a land that has seen generations of conflict. more