Defense & Security Archive

Last week India and Russia finalized plans to deliver 250 to 300 jointly developed fifth-generation fighter aircraft (FGFA) and 45 multirole transport aircraft (MTA) to India over the next decade. The Indian defense minister underlined that these would be the flagship Indo-Russian joint development projects, building on the success of the Brahmos cruise missile program as a model. Some wrinkles remain in the two countries’ defense partnership. India raised the issue of inordinate delays in the delivery of Russian defense systems, which result in considerable cost escalation. For instance, India will end up paying Russia $2.34 billion for the delivery […]

In advance of President Barack Obama’s visit to India next month, the administration is sending signals about great and wondrous changes ahead in the Indo-American relationship. But in reading Lalit K. Jha’s dispatch from Washington, a term I have come to dread in foreign policy rhetoric made its predictable appearance: Obama’s visit is supposed to herald the establishment of a “true strategic partnership.” “Strategic partnership” entered the U.S. diplomatic lexicon as a way to find a halfway house between those countries that are formal American allies — especially those for whom this status is a matter of treaty and Congressional […]

While Western diplomats and sanctions-enforcers ply their trade to pressure Iran into stopping its uranium enrichment, much of the Middle East is already preparing for war. Headlines might focus on United Nations resolutions initiated by Western powers, or on fiery speeches delivered by Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. But just a few hundred miles from Tehran, the Arab countries of the Persian Gulf have launched a race to arm themselves with an urgency and intensity reminiscent of America’s defense build-up prior to its entry into World War II. The magnitude of the weapons purchases is nothing short of astounding and the […]

Deputy Secretary of Defense William Lynn recently caused a stir in official Washington by publicly confirming that the Pentagon had suffered a massive computer breach in 2008. A foreign intelligence service successfully slipped an infected flash drive into a Central Command computer. The drive contained software that surreptitiously spread through both classified and unclassified government networks, establishing a “digital beachhead, from which data could be transferred to servers under foreign control.” According to Lynn, “it was a network administrator’s worst fear.” In addition to confirming the breach, Lynn previewed the Defense Department’s cyber strategy, expected to be finalized by the […]

A multinational flotilla of warships has been assembled off the coast of Somalia to do what warships have done for as long as navies have existed: fight pirates. However, the combined efforts of France, Britain, Russia, China, India, the United States, and others have not sufficed to prevent the pirates from targeting ships across the breadth of the Indian Ocean. In much the same way that poorly equipped insurgents are resisting U.S. military efforts in Afghanistan, impoverished Somalis continue to frustrate the great naval powers. Indeed, counterpiracy and counterinsurgency share a common frailty: Both lack good metrics for evaluating success, […]

At 11:30 on the evening of Jan. 31, 2010, Jesús Enríquez and a group of close friends, all stand-out student-athletes at both the high-school and college level, were celebrating Jesús’ 17th birthday when four trucks packed with two-dozen heavily armed gunmen roared onto their block in Ciudad Juarez, closing off the street and blocking escape. The assassins descended from their vehicles and opened fire on the house, slaughtering 15 people and leaving another 14 injured in a matter of seconds. The majority of those killed were under the age of 20. The presence at the time of more than 10,000 […]

Few would have expected it to be possible a few months ago, but Kyrgyzstan managed to hold a free, fair, and surprisingly non-violent and trouble-free parliamentary election this weekend. In an assessment widely shared by regional experts, David Trilling, writing at EurasiaNet, concluded, “Kyrgyzstan’s parliamentary elections couldn’t have gone better.” Turnout exceeded 50 percent of the country’s 2.8 million eligible voters and produced sharply divided results that will force political leaders to compromise to form a coalition government. Five political parties, out of the 29 that participated, overcame the 5 percent threshold required to receive seats in the 120-member parliament. […]

The United States and Europe are pressuring oil-rich members of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GGC) to forge closer ties with Yemen in a bid to link the fight against al-Qaida to tangible economic benefits for the Arab world’s poorest nation. U.S. officials say the Obama administration recently conveyed to GCC leaders Yemen’s reiteration of its 10-year-old request for GCC membership. The officials believe that U.S. and European endorsement of the request will prompt GCC leaders to respond more favorably when they meet in Abu Dhabi in December. The U.S. and Europe are exerting pressure against the backdrop of an increasing […]

The recent rocket attack on a convoy carrying British embassy staff in the Yemeni capital of San’a raises important questions about security and terrorism in that Gulf country. The United States is currently proposing to allocate $1.2 billion of military equipment and training over the next six years to combat al-Qaida in Yemen. In response, critics both within and beyond government circles are calling for a more holistic approach that focuses on long-term economic development and stability there and in the wider Middle East region. Presently lacking in this debate is the understanding that security and development are not mutually […]

MEXICO CITY — Top diplomats from 14 Latin American countries and the United States will gather in Mexico City today for a conference on transnational crime and migration issues. The conference’s host will be the Mexican secretary of internal affairs, José Blake Mora, whose Interior Ministry coordinates the Mexican National Institute of Migration (INM). The problem of organized crime and migration has become increasingly urgent this year after a series of incidents in which undocumented migrants fell victim to violence in Mexico. The incidents have become a source of international embarrassment for Mexico. While loudly protesting Arizona’s immigration law SB […]

Reports surfaced this week that the Quetta Shura of the Afghan Taliban has agreed to commence negotiations with the government of Afghan President Hamid Karzai in an effort to reach a political settlement to the conflict in Afghanistan. The development, reportedly the result of intensive lobbying by Saudi Arabia, raises the question of whether any sort of workable Afghan power-sharing deal is possible. Some opinion polling data from Pashtun-dominated provinces in Afghanistan suggest that there is popular support for reaching such an arrangement. But could the United States accept a negotiated end to the fighting that includes some degree of […]

SARAJEVO, Bosnia and Herzegovina — Bosnia’s elections on Sunday offered little reason to expect any normalization for the divided country in the near future. The country’s ethnic Serb entity re-elected leaders who have called for independence and denied genocide, while many Croats backed parties supporting further division along national lines. Despite a rise in support for moderate parties, these recalcitrant nationalists may impede the reforms envisaged by the international community to reverse several years of backsliding. The electoral arrangements themselves offer insight into Bosnia’s complex political arrangements, established by the 1995 Dayton Accords that ended the country’s civil war. The […]

When Ecuador’s police seized their station houses, shut down airports and took to the streets last week in protest against austerity measures that would eliminate their Christmas bonuses and restructure their promotion policies, it looked as though the administration of Rafael Correa might come to an untimely end. South American leaders quickly responded by sending their representatives to the Union of South American Nations (UNASUR) to Buenos Aires, where they “energetically condemned the coup attempt” against Correa. The UNASUR representatives also promised to introduce a new “Democratic Clause” at the group’s next meeting in Guyana on Nov. 26, specifying measures […]

BOGOTÁ — Colombia hailed the death last month of a top rebel commander as the most significant blow against the guerilla insurgency in its 46-year history. Jorge Briceno Suarez, known as Mono Jojoy, was the No. 2 leader of Colombia’s largest guerrilla group, the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC). “The symbol of terrorism in Colombia has fallen,” said Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos, who ordered the air strike on the jungle guerrilla camp. Mono Jojoy was a veteran leader who was considered invincible. He masterminded a series of fatal attacks on southern towns and military bases during the 1990s […]

Some of the most distressing aspects of human behavior have endured stubbornly throughout history. To name just one example, human beings continue to inflict unspeakable horrors on other human beings in the course of combat. It is, indeed, a well-established fact that war is hell. But there is one feature of warfare, well-documented and generally accepted as unavoidable since biblical times, that is now coming under increasing scrutiny and facing a well-organized pushback: the use of rape as a weapon of war. As David Axe just reported for WPR from Congo, a growing number of organizations are now focusing their […]

To kick off this weekly column, which will focus on national security, I thought I’d begin by introducing myself. My name is Robert Farley, and I work as an assistant professor at the Patterson School of Diplomacy and International Commerce at the University of Kentucky. I write at Information Dissemination and Lawyers, Guns and Money, and have published defense-related work in several magazines. My focus is on military doctrine, maritime affairs, airpower, and anti-submarine warfare. In particular, I am most interested in defense policymaking in the United States and the United Kingdom, which makes today a great day to start […]

Editor’s note: This article is the second in a two-part series. Part one focused on assistance to rape victims and educational efforts for everyday Congolese. Part two looks at efforts to reform the groups responsible for rape in Congo. KINSHASA, Democratic Republic of Congo — A team of U.S. Army medical personnel arrived in this crowded capital city the first week of September. For two weeks, the Americans trained alongside 300 members of the Congolese army. The goal of the exercise? “To increase interoperability with Congolese forces . . . and give them the opportunity to learn from us,” Lt. […]