Defense & Security Archive

In a sudden move on Aug. 5, India’s government announced it was eliminating the special, semiautonomous status of the state of Jammu and Kashmir by revoking Article 370 of the Indian Constitution. The decision is a watershed moment in the 72-year-long standoff between India and Pakistan over control of the Kashmir region, as well as for the Kashmiri peoples’ long struggle for political autonomy. It opens an uncertain new chapter in Indian-administered Kashmir, with reverberations far beyond its contested borders. The historic arrangement under which Jammu and Kashmir was to have a greater degree of political autonomy than other Indian […]

Editor’s Note: Every Friday, Andrew Green curates the top news and analysis from and about the African continent. With the signing of a peace agreement this week, Mozambique’s decades-long internal struggle might finally be nearing its end. The agreement between the country’s two rival political parties—Frelimo, which has controlled the government since independence in 1975, and the former guerilla movement Renamo—comes just two months before national elections. The anti-communist Renamo rebels launched a 15-year war against Frelimo’s Marxist government shortly after Mozambique achieved its independence from Portugal in 1975. The conflict was notoriously brutal and also spurred a famine, killing […]

In this week’s editors’ discussion on Trend Lines, WPR’s managing editor, Frederick Deknatel, and associate editor, Elliot Waldman, talk about North Korea’s recent string of short-range ballistic missile tests, the Trump administration’s less-than-forceful response, and what that says about the broader dysfunction plaguing the U.S. intelligence and foreign policy communities. They also discuss the ongoing pro-democracy protests in Algeria, which are now in their 25th week. As Francisco Serrano notes in his in-depth report for WPR this week, the outlook for the country’s protest movement remains unclear, given the risks that Algeria’s military leaders could still revert to form and […]

Even longtime observers of Sudan didn’t predict the collapse of President Omar al-Bashir’s government when protests against his economic policies began late last year. Widespread discontent and a crumbling economy, though, eventually proved to be too much for his entrenched but beleaguered regime. Since Bashir was forced out of power in April, the Transitional Military Council running the country has presided over a massacre of civilian protesters in Khartoum. Despite some recent progress in negotiations between the generals and protest leaders who are eager to begin a democratic transition, the situation remains fraught and exposed to the meddling of outside […]

When the history of Myanmar’s genocide against the Rohingya people is finally written, it may read a lot like the cases of Rwanda and Yugoslavia. The International Criminal Court could eventually prosecute a few of the military officers responsible for killing and torturing thousands of Rohingya, a predominantly Muslim ethnic minority long persecuted in Myanmar. Chances are, though, that justice will be lumbering and uneven. Like others before them, most of the perpetrators will likely evade prosecution altogether. History could turn out differently, however, if calls are heeded from the United Nations independent fact-finding mission in Myanmar to sanction the […]

Editor’s Note: This article is part of an ongoing series about national drug policies in various countries around the world. Last month, the Constitutional Court of Colombia upheld restrictions that it imposed in 2017 on the aerial spraying of the herbicide glyphosate to eradicate coca, the base ingredient in cocaine. But the court said aerial spraying could resume if the government meets certain conditions. The decision was a setback for President Ivan Duque’s efforts to restart the program, which was suspended by his predecessor, Juan Manuel Santos, in 2015, due to a finding by the World Health Organization that glyphosate […]

Editor’s Note: Every Wednesday, WPR Newsletter and Engagement Editor Benjamin Wilhelm curates the week’s top news and expert analysis on China. Hong Kong experienced its most widespread antigovernment demonstrations yet Monday, as protests and a citywide strike led to road closures, disruptions to public transit systems and hundreds of flight cancellations. Riot police responded by volleying tear gas at demonstrators and arresting at least 82 people. Amid the chaos, the Chinese government warned “all the criminals to not wrongly judge the situation and take restraint for weakness.” That statement, Beijing’s sharpest denunciation of the protests yet, added to fears that […]

At his inauguration ceremony a year ago, Colombian President Ivan Duque promised a forceful crackdown on drug trafficking, especially cocaine, through “the eradication and substitution of illegal crops.” Under pressure from U.S. President Donald Trump, he is now pushing to restart aerial spraying of coca plantations using the herbicide glyphosate, which is “probably carcinogenic to humans,” according to the World Health Organization. Meanwhile, in nearby Bolivia, President Evo Morales has taken a different route, expanding legal coca cultivation while relying only on domestic law enforcement agencies to tackle drug trafficking. This coca policy will be one of many issues on […]

ALGIERS—The chanting groups of protesters quickly swelled into a massive stream, moving downwards along Rue Didouche Mourad, one of the city’s main boulevards. In the summer heat, they wore Algerian flags as cloaks and carried hats and water bottles. Some walked with children on their shoulders, their young faces painted the green, white and red of the national flag. Homemade protest signs written in Arabic and French appeared to float above the slow-moving crowd. The signs and rallying cries called for a civilian state instead of a military one, and for the liberation of political prisoners. They praised the country’s […]

Former South African President Jacob Zuma seems to have decided that given his dire circumstances, with his reputation in freefall and a corruption trial pending, attack is his best form of defense. Over two days in mid-July in Johannesburg, he appeared before the Zondo Commission, which was launched by Zuma’s successor, President Cyril Ramaphosa, last year to investigate the rampant corruption—what is known in South Africa as “state capture”—during Zuma’s troubled presidency. State capture is shorthand for how Zuma allegedly allowed close private business interests to exercise undue influence at the highest levels of government, including over appointments and dismissals […]

Editor’s Note: This article is part of an ongoing series on gun policy and the debate over gun control around the world. Though the changes to Swiss gun laws passed easily, implementation is likely to prove a bit more difficult. Switzerland has historically been known as a gun-friendly country due to a tradition of military conscription and the popularity of hunting and other shooting sports. But in May, voters agreed to tighten Swiss gun laws to bring them in line with new European Union antiterrorism legislation that was passed in 2017. Switzerland is not part of the 28-nation bloc, but […]

Late last month, The Wall Street Journal reported that China and Cambodia had signed a secret agreement allowing the Chinese navy to use a military facility near Ream, along Cambodia’s southern coast. According to a draft of the deal obtained by the Journal, it would reportedly grant China a 30-year lease on the port and permit the stationing of troops and storing of weaponry in an installation that covers 192 acres and includes one pier and other facilities. Images have also shown the construction of a military-grade airport and a development project of dubious commercial viability. The facilities, if managed […]

Depending on which headlines you scanned over your morning coffee last week, World War III seemed to be on the verge of breaking out, either in the skies over the Sea of Japan or on the water in the Strait of Hormuz. Luckily, neither the South Korean air force’s muscular interception of a joint Russian-Chinese air patrol—including the firing of flares and warning shots—nor Iran’s seizure of a British oil tanker triggered the next conflagration. Still, all the sensational spin about end-time tripwires is a clear indicator of how a doomsday mindset is clouding our thinking about today’s multipolar world. […]

Editor’s Note: This article is part of a new series on prison conditions and criminal justice policy around the world. Sixty-two people are dead following a riot at a prison in northern Brazil earlier this week. Fifty-eight inmates were killed when a fight broke out between rival gangs at a prison in Altamira, in Para state, including 16 who were beheaded. Four more inmates were murdered while being transferred to a different facility. In an email interview with WPR, Robert Muggah, co-founder and research director at the Igarape Institute in Rio de Janeiro, explains why deadly prison riots are so […]

This week, diplomats from 27 countries around the Asia-Pacific gathered in Bangkok for the ASEAN Regional Forum, where they discussed the many geopolitical flashpoints in the region, from North Korea to the South China Sea. Meanwhile, Venezuela is coming under mounting criticism in the wake of a recent United Nations report on its human rights abuses, and a cease-fire agreement in Mozambique ended a return to violence 27 years after the end of that country’s devastating civil war. WPR’s editor-in-chief, Judah Grunstein, and associate editors Elliot Waldman and Laura Weiss talk about all of this and more on the editors’ […]