Recent moves by Russia, Norway and even China have put a spotlight on the High North, where warming temperatures have led to greater seasonal ice melt and access. With increased future activity in the Arctic inevitable, the United States must begin to address some of the potential security challenges that could result. As part of this effort, the European Command (EUCOM) — the U.S. military command responsible for the Arctic — must leverage the progress made by the Arctic Council in nonsecurity matters to facilitate expanded security cooperation efforts in the region. The Arctic Council has successfully raised awareness of […]

Last week’s historic visit to Myanmar by U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton represents the culmination of the Obama administration’s policy shift toward the pariah state. Launched in September 2009 to establish a new starting point in the relationship between the two countries, the engagement with Myanmar is part of the broader U.S. effort to play a primary role in the fast-evolving Asia-Pacific region. By contrast, the European Union seems unable to keep up with the economic and political changes taking place in Asia, and instead appears simply to follow Washington’s lead without needed policy debates within the union. EU […]

There is no question that Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin will easily return to the Kremlin as president next year and that he will be fully in charge of Russia when he does. But the steady erosion of his regime’s grip over the Russian public was on full display Sunday, when Russian voters elected a new Duma. In the previous legislative elections in 2007, Putin’s United Russia party polled almost two-thirds of the vote and gained enough seats to change the constitution as well. This time around, even with the help of widespread electoral fraud, the party failed to reach […]

Times are changing in the Eastern Mediterranean, defined for the purposes of this article as the area bounded to the north by Greece and Turkey, to the south by Egypt and to the east by the Levantine coast. The area has recently been the scene of several naval incidents sparked by the Arab-Israeli and related conflicts as well as by equally well-established tensions between Greece and Turkey, largely — but not wholly — over the divided island of Cyprus and related issues. As U.S. naval priorities shift and those of Europe decline, major offshore energy discoveries have raised tensions and […]

Fraud Claims Overshadow Russian Election

The Russian election has been marked by protests in Moscow and St Petersburg, with activists claiming the outcome was rigged by the Kremlin. The protestors also denounced the banning of certain parties. Police have arrested roughly 170 people.

WPR on France 24: The World Last Week

I had the pleasure of participating in France 24’s panel discussion program, The World This Week, last Friday. The other panelists were Time magazine’s Vivienne Walt, Newsweek and the Daily Beast’s Christopher Dickey and France 24’s Melissa Bell. Topics included Islamist electoral victories in Tunisia and Egypt, and the European debt crisis. Part one can be found here. Part two can be found here.

If national security flows from economic strength, then the ongoing global economic crisis is poised to strike at one of the more underappreciated tools in the security kit — the checkbook. We’re all familiar with the term “checkbook diplomacy.” But “checkbook security” has played a largely unsung role in America’s approach to national security over the past decade — from “buying off” Sunni insurgents in Iraq as part of the Surge to funding development projects in Afghanistan as part of the war effort to helping countries in Latin America and Africa improve their capabilities to fight drug traffickers and organized […]

Over the past decade, Russia’s resurgence has led to conflict and reset with the U.S. and a muscular, energy-based reassertion of influence in Eurasia and beyond. But Moscow’s efforts to regain its tarnished superpower status are threatened by fundamental weaknesses that could undermine its ambitions. This WPR report examines Russia, between ambition and reality. Below are links to each article in this special report, which subscribers can read in full. Not a subscriber? Purchase this document for Kindle or as a PDF from Scribd. Or subscribe now. Strategic Vision Strategic Posture Review: RussiaRichard Weitz November 30, 2011 Re-Examining Russia’s Putin-Medvedev […]

Editor’s note: This is an updated version of Richard Weitz’s “Strategic Posture Review: Russia,” published in February 2009. In light of the imminent return of Prime Minister Vladimir Putin to the Russian presidency, it is worth revisiting the mixed legacy of his previous eight years in that office and highlighting the significant changes in the regional and global environment that have impacted Russia’s foreign and defense policies in the four years since he left it. Upon assuming office on May 7, 2000, Putin began a major campaign to restore the authority of the Russian presidency, which had waned under the […]

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