Articles written by Richard Weitz
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.
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."
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.
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.
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.
By Richard Weitz
29 Sep 2009 |
World Politics Review
In addition to potential effects on Germany's
economic and foreign policies, the results of Sunday's
national elections raise questions about the future of Germany's
longstanding practice of military conscription. Although Chancellor Angela Merkel's CDU
continues to support compulsory military service, her preferred new coalition partner, the FDP, opposes it.
By Richard Weitz
22 Sep 2009 |
World Politics Review
In his first major speech
as the alliance's new civilian head, NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh
Rasmussen told an audience in Brussels that the time had come to
revitalize security ties between Moscow and the Western alliance.
Rasmussen identified several possible areas for deeper
collaboration. But the most newsworthy of them, missile defense, might be the least realistic.
By Richard Weitz
15 Sep 2009 |
World Politics Review
Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez's latest visit to Moscow resulted in a
package of arms and energy deals that highlight the mutually beneficial
nature of the current Russian-Venezuelan relationship: for Moscow, to offset declining purchases from traditional arms clients; for Caracas, to fill the gap left by the U.S. arms embargo. The deals also complicate U.S. efforts to improve relations with Venezuela.
By Richard Weitz
08 Sep 2009 |
World Politics Review
A study by the Congressional Research Service found that U.S. arms sales surged last year, despite the worst global economic downturn in decades. The U.S. also fortified its position as the leading arms-exporting country, including in sales to developing countries. Indeed, in the past year, global defense contracts involving the United States exceeded those of all other countries combined.
By Richard Weitz
01 Sep 2009 |
World Politics Review
Although the latest IAEA report on Iran's nuclear program
notes some new developments, its basic message is that Tehran has not
appreciably changed its main nuclear policies despite years of
negotiations and U.N. sanctions. As
a result, as in the past, both advocates and opponents of harsher
sanctions on Tehran can cite some of the agency's findings to support
their positions.
By Richard Weitz
25 Aug 2009 |
World Politics Review
From Aug. 7 to Aug. 16, 2008, Russian citizens and their sympathizers launched a coordinated offensive that disabled dozens of important Georgian Web sites, including those of the country's president, the National Bank of Georgia, as well as major news outlets. This attack demonstrates the urgency required in establishing an international organization to monitor the risks of cyber wars as well as a global cyber response force.
By Richard Weitz
18 Aug 2009 |
World Politics Review
In his address last month in Washington, President Barack Obama personally appealed to the visiting senior Chinese officials for help with his nonproliferation agenda. China did concur with the Obama administration in depicting nuclear disarmament "as a long-term goal," but Chinese Foreign Minister Yang's Jiechi's recent presentation at Geneva suggests that Beijing and Washington still disagree on the road map for getting there.
By Richard Weitz
11 Aug 2009 |
World Politics Review
The American defense community has properly reacted with nonchalance
to the appearance of two Russian submarines off the
U.S. East Coast. Neither the submarines nor the rest of the Russian
Navy presently represent a major threat to the United States. The fact that Russia's newest 4,250-ton frigate took 19 years to complete is just one of many signs that the fleet is in decline.
By Richard Weitz
04 Aug 2009 |
World Politics Review
Since taking office, President Barack Obama has made the pursuit of Russian-American strategic arms control negotiations a priority. But challenges to concluding a START follow-on treaty by year's end remain, as does the question of whether both sides' desire to stabilize their nuclear relationship will outweigh their concerns over their regional security goals.
By Richard Weitz
04 Aug 2009 |
World Politics Review
President Barack Obama's effort to establish a bipartisan national security team continued with his decision to appoint Kenneth A. Myers III as the new director of the Defense Threat Reduction Agency. Myers will now oversee the DTR's Cooperative Threat Reduction program, which seeks to secure and eliminate excess nuclear, chemical and biological weapons, their materials and technologies.
By Richard Weitz
28 Jul 2009 |
World Politics Review
Thanks to the assets and strategy developed during the past decade, the United States has thus far effectively managed the swine flu (H1N1) threat. But the current epidemic has exposed weaknesses that, if left unattended, could present major problems when dealing with more dangerous public health challenges -- whether naturally occurring or engineered.
By Richard Weitz
21 Jul 2009 |
World Politics Review
Since taking office, Russian President Dmitry Medvedev has made improving ties among the former Soviet republics a foreign policy priority. Nonetheless, recent weeks have yielded further signs of Moscow's flailing leadership and called into question Moscow's ability to effectively shape certain policy issues within the group.
By Richard Weitz
14 Jul 2009 |
World Politics Review
Critics of the G-8 tend to focus on economic issues in
challenging the format's continued relevance. Citing the decreasing
share of the economic resources and clout at the group's disposal, they advocate for some other, more inclusive body. Such
a focus, however, neglects the important security initiatives the group's annual meetings have
given rise to since the 1980s.
By Richard Weitz
07 Jul 2009 |
World Politics Review
After a protracted campaign, the IAEA's Board of Governors selected Yukiya Amano of Japan as its next director general earlier this month. Amano will certainly face no shortage of challenges when he begins his four-year term. The IAEA's funding has not kept pace with its monitoring activities, which are only expected to increase in coming years.
By Richard Weitz
30 Jun 2009 |
World Politics Review
Cuba recently became the 54th country to accede to the U.N.'s Nuclear Terrorism Convention, in a move meant to burnish its counterterrorist credentials. The publicity surrounding the official announcement, which contested the legality of the U.S. base at Guantanamo Bay, had the benefit of
highlighting the steady progress the convention has achieved in gaining
wider acceptance.
