Just hours before Queen Elizabeth II is set for an historic state visit to Ireland, a homemade bomb was discovered on a bus in a town outside Dublin. The device was safely detonated by the army.
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On Jan. 31, 2011, the U.S. assistant secretary of state for South and Central Asian affairs, Robert O. Blake Jr., told the Indian press that the United States is hoping to become India’s “close partner” in space exploration. Blake’s comments reflected a major tenet of the Obama administration’s 2010 National Space Policy (NSP): partnerships in space exploration with more nations. Although the global future in space may well be characterized by countries both cooperating in some areas and competing in others –what some have called “coopetition” — U.S. National Security Adviser Tom Donilon has been clear that Washington wants a […]
Space activity has increased tremendously over the past decade thanks to both the growth of space applications and the entry of many new national and regional players. Space is now understood as a fully dual-use domain, with space systems not only part of the digital and cyberspace domains and as such powerful socio-economic enablers, but also at the core of all global defense policies and operations. Indeed, space is the smart-power tool par excellence, effective for applying both soft and hard power or, as is more often the case, a little bit of both. Space power is the modern-day equivalent […]
The crackdown in Syria appears to have taken a chilling turn after amateur video revealed what was reported to be a mass grave. Residents recovered 13 bodies from a pit near the southern city of Deraa — four of them children.
The 21st century’s great shift of power from West to East is not limited to China alone. The Asian century also belongs to India. Already the world’s fourth-largest economy, India has continued to grow swiftly even after the financial crisis, expanding at 8-9 percent annually. With more than 60 percent of its population younger than 35, it possesses the world’s most potent demographic dividend. Its recent affluence has also increased India’s appetite for military power. India’s annual defense expenditure stands at $30 billion today, or 2 percent of global defense spending, making it the world’s biggest importer of arms. From […]
This video shows graphic footage of the violence that erupted on Israel’s borders with Syria over the weekend, leaving at least four people dead and many wounded. Reports on Monday had put the number of people killed at 12. The violence erupted on “Nakba Day,” which commemorates the displacement of hundreds of thousands of Palestinians during fighting after the founding of Israel in 1948.
There is a profound sense of completion to be found in America’s elimination of Osama bin Laden, and the circumstances surrounding his death certainly fit this frontier nation’s historical habit of mounting major military operations to capture or kill super-empowered bad actors. Operation Geronimo, like most notable U.S. overseas interventions of the past quarter-century, boiled down to eliminating the one man we absolutely felt we needed to get to declare victory. Now we have the opportunity to redefine this “long war” to America’s most immediate advantage. I spot four basic options, each with their own attractions and distractions. Declare victory […]
My first thought upon hearing the news of Dominique Strauss-Kahn’s arrest was that, if there is even a kernel of truth to the allegations, it is highly unlikely that this is the first time he has been guilty of this kind of behavior. And indeed, the stories have begun, not to surface, but to resurface, with one former Sarkozy adviser quoted a few years ago as saying, “Everyone in Paris has known for years he had something of a problem. Not many female journalists are prepared to interview him alone these days.” If this is actually the case, then it […]
Despite having enormous natural and human resource endowments, Ukraine has experienced severe difficulties during the past two decades transitioning from a Soviet republic subordinate to Moscow to an independent country with a democratic political system, effective liberal market economy and foreign and defense policies that meet the country’s unique national security requirements. Many of Kiev’s particular foreign policy concerns result from Ukraine’s status as both a bridge and a front-line state situated between the former Soviet empire and Western and Central Europe. Ukraine has increasingly tried to turn that status to its advantage. For now, though, it has yet to […]
Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh landed in Kabul last week amid renewed interest in India’s trajectory in Afghanistan following the death of Osama bin Laden. Singh, in Afghanistan after a six-year absence, announced a fresh commitment of $500 million for Afghanistan’s development, over and above the $1.5 billion in aid India has already allocated. New Delhi and Kabul agreed that the two neighbors’ “strategic partnership” will be implemented under the framework of a partnership council to be headed by the countries’ foreign ministers. It will entail cooperation in security, law enforcement and justice, including an enhanced focus on cooperation in […]
Indonesia and Saudi Arabia recently agreed to increase their cooperation on defense matters. In an email interview, Ann Marie Murphy, an associate professor at the Whitehead School of Diplomacy at Seton Hall University, discussed Indonesian-Saudi relations. WPR: What is the current state of Saudi-Indonesian relations? Ann Marie Murphy: Indonesian-Saudi relations are currently strained over a string of cases of abuse of Indonesian migrant workers by their Saudi employers. With more than 3 million Indonesians working abroad, protection of migrant workers is a politically charged issue in Indonesia, and graphic pictures of young maids tortured in Saudi Arabia triggered an uproar […]
Much has been written about the potential impact that the demise of Osama bin Laden and the possible disintegration of al-Qaida will have on U.S. foreign policy, beginning with the question of whether this will trigger a more rapid disengagement from Afghanistan. But bin Laden’s death could also change the foreign policy calculus of other states, notably Russia, which for the past 10 years has promulgated its own version of the global war on terror as a central organizing principle for international affairs. Even before the Sept. 11 attacks, Moscow had already seen bin Laden as a threat to the […]
Driven in part by a recent article in Proceedings, the magazine of the United States Naval Institute, the debate over the nature and utility of aircraft carriers has once again erupted between naval analysts. In “Twilight of the $uperflous Carrier,” Capt. Henry J. Hendrix of the U.S. Navy and retired Lt. Col. J. Noel Williams of the U.S. Marine Corps argue that modern supercarriers are simply too expensive and too vulnerable to be usable weapons of war. They contend that the era of the supercarrier has come to an end, and that the future of naval power resides in warships […]
In what was described as a major milestone in the six-nation Multirole Medium Combat Aircraft (MMRCA) tender, the Indian Ministry of Defense announced the final contenders for the $10 billion, 126-plane purchase in April. Only the Dassault Rafale and the Eurofighter Typhoon were left in the fray, while Boeing’s F-18 E/F Superhornet, Lockheed Martin’s F-16, Saab’s Gripen and UAC’s MiG-35 were all eliminated. The selection of aircraft offered only by European manufacturers has been seen by many U.S. commentators as a political snub to the Indo-U.S. strategic partnership, despite the Indian government’s great efforts to frame the decision as a […]
The U.S.-China relationship may have reached its strongest footing of the Obama presidency, judging from high-level talks that came to a close in Washington yesterday. But some observers noted a palpable gap in focus between the two powers, with the U.S. addressing a broad agenda — ranging from concerns over the value of the yuan to human rights — and China more narrowly concentrated on issues pertaining to its sovereignty. The core of China’s agenda going into the Strategic and Economic Dialogue was a strategy of maintaining control “over their territory and their waters, and frankly their cyberspace,” says Patrick […]
India’s policy of continued engagement with Pakistan took a blow in the wake of Osama bin Laden’s killing in Abbottabad, barely 100 yards from the gates of a Pakistani military academy. Islamabad’s alleged role in shielding bin Laden — and perhaps other terrorist organizations that pose a direct threat to India — has driven calls to modify New Delhi’s outreach initiative toward its South Asian neighbor. It has also resurrected the question dogging Indian policymakers since the 2008 Mumbai massacre: Should India continue to engage with Pakistan even though Islamabad cultivates terrorist groups as a strategic option and harbors some […]
Mass graves attest to the brutality of a 5-month-long power struggle for Ivory Coast’s presidency that ended last month. In a muddy slum at the edge of Abidjan, palm leaves stuck in rusty piles of earth mark the graves of 68 villagers. They were killed by rampaging militias over the last month.