Defense & Security Archive

NAIROBI, Kenya — “Hope” is not a word used often among political and security analysts. In the face of past violence and potential genocide, it is even more rare. Yet analysts have used the term in recent forecasts of what lay ahead for the Democratic Republic of Congo, a country that held its first democratic elections in four decades a month ago. Still, serious challenges remain. The open availability of small arms, unequal distribution of local resources, the political influence of foreign contractors and combatants, and, not least, the behavior of local armed factions, will also shape the future of […]

This week, an officer responsible for investigating the killing of several Iraqi civilians by four U.S. soldiers from the 101st Airborne Division in Iraq recommended that they be charged with premeditated murder and face the death penalty. If the Commanding General of the Division accepts this recommendation — which is the common practice — he will send these charges to a General Court-Martial that will ultimately decide their fate, possibly sentencing them to death. If these cases reach a military court room, they will no doubt trigger debate on the “justice” of trying American soldiers for their conduct in battle. […]

Sinn Fein leader Gerry Adams is to travel to Israel on a self-styled “peace mission” on Tuesday at the invitation of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and Hamas leader Ismail Haniyam. Adams’ itinerary includes meetings with the Palestinian Legislative Council and its ruling group Hamas — a move that has angered a White House determined to isolate a group it designates as terrorists. However, it is not yet clear whether Adams will even be allowed through security at Tel Aviv airport. President Bush’s special envoy to Northern Ireland is reported to be “livid” about the proposed visit. It may also threaten […]

An article that was published in this space on Sept. 1, 2006, analyzing the late-August attacks in Istanbul, Marmaris and Antalya, Turkey, did not correctly report the likely origin of those attacks. Rather than “Islamic extremists,” as the piece had stated, the Kurdistan Liberation Hawks, reportedly an offshoot of the Kurdistan Workers Party, claimed responsibility for the attacks. The Kurdistan Workers Party is a Kurdish nationalist and Marxist-Leninist group and has little in common with Islamist groups such as al-Qaeda. Because information about the origin of the attacks was reported prior to the publication of the story, World Politics Review […]

DAGESTAN, Russia — The newlyweds sat at the front of the dim banquet hall here looking out at their guests. Three hundred people intermittently gathered around the long food-filled tables or hopped around the dance floor, sweating through their fancy clothes as they swished their arms back and forth doing the region’s traditional dance, the lezginka. After three hours of reveling in the southern Russian heat, the flawlessly coiffed bride descended to the floor in her corseted white dress while her groom danced around her holding a fluffy taffeta baton. As he passed it off to various male relatives and […]