Global Insider: Russia’s Ballistic Missile Modernization Program

Last month, Russia announced that it had successfully tested its Bulava submarine-launched ballistic missile. In an email interview, Dmitri Titoff, a Washington, D.C.-based foreign policy analyst, and Richard Weitz, senior fellow at the Hudson Institute and a World Politics Review senior editor, discussed Russia’s ballistic missile modernization program. WPR: What is the current state of Russia’s ballistic missile arsenal? Dmitri Titoff and Richard Weitz: Like their Soviet predecessors, Russian government leaders consider having a powerful arsenal of long-range ballistic missiles capable of delivering nuclear warheads their highest priority. Not only do they represent the core of Russia’s nuclear deterrent against […]

The Realist Prism: Countdown Begins on NATO-Russia BMD Deal

Russia’s envoy to NATO, Dmitry Rogozin, has set a timer in motion for resolving the outstanding differences between the North Atlantic alliance and Russia over a proposed ballistic missile defense system in Europe. Since the architecture for this shield is expected to be finalized at the May 2012 NATO summit in Chicago, Rogozin said that time is running out to determine what role, if any, Russia will play in the system. “Our current dialogue on missile defense is very difficult,” Rogozin said, “but we must finally either agree or disagree by the end of this year.” If not, Rogozin warns […]

Despite an agreement among the U.S., Russian and French presidents at the G-8 summit in Deauville, France, that it is time for a peaceful settlement to the conflict over Nagorno-Karabakh, Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan and Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev failed to make much progress when they met in Kazan, Russia, last week. U.S. State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland called the meeting “disappointing,” though she added, the parties “had improved their understanding on a number of issues.” The dispute over Nagorno-Karabakh has its roots in Soviet-era boundaries that located the Armenian-populated enclave as an autonomous region within Soviet Azerbaijan in 1921. […]

Global Insider: U.K.-Brazil Relations

In June, U.K. Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg traveled to Brazil to promote economic ties between the two countries. In an email interview, Marieke Riethof, a lecturer in Latin American politics at the University of Liverpool, discussed U.K.-Brazil relations. WPR: What is the current state of U.K.-Brazil political and economic relations? Marieke Riethof: Although the U.K. is a relatively small trading partner for Brazil, bilateral trade and investment between the two countries have increased over the past 10 years. During the first half of 2011, total trade between the U.K. and Brazil increased by 8 percent compared to the same […]

Global Insider: European Drone Programs

France and Britain recently announced they would be postponing a decision on a joint development project for next-generation unmanned aerial vehicles for 12-18 months to consider their options. In an email interview, Douglas Barrie, senior fellow for military aerospace at the International Institute for Strategic Studies, discussed European drone programs. WPR: What is the current state of unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) drone programs in Europe, in terms of deployed models and production capacity? Douglas Barrie: Recent military conflicts have underscored the utility of unmanned aerial vehicles across a whole range of classes and roles for European militaries. The U.K., for […]

Among the mutual recriminations ringing out between the U.S. and Europe regarding NATO’s already stressed-out intervention in Libya, we have seen the usual raft of analyses regarding that military alliance’s utility — or lack thereof. As someone who has argued for close to a decade now that America will inevitably find that China, India and other rising powers make better and more appropriate allies for managing this world, I don’t find such arguments surprising. You don’t have to be a genius to do the math: Our primary allies aren’t having enough babies and have chosen to shrink their defense budgets, […]

For the past 20 years, American and Russian policymakers have been searching for “the big thing” that would serve as the foundation for an effective and durable partnership between the two countries. In the months following Sept. 11, for instance, there was a sense that the “war on terror” might recreate a “grand alliance” between Moscow and Washington akin to the World War II partnership against the Nazis. But grandiose schemes for a revamped European security architecture and even a U.S.-Russia strategic alliance have foundered because realities could never match the rhetoric. Learning from these missteps, the Obama and Medvedev […]

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