Displaying posts filed under

Russia

Jan
4
2010

Ilan Berman on U.S. Nuclear Superiority

Ilan Berman, a noted expert on Iran and Vice President for Policy at the American Foreign Policy Council, has a great piece in today’s Defense News on the Obama administration’s (mis)handling of U.S. nuclear policy.  Berman reminds us that both Russia and China are modernizing their strategic forces while the U.S. weapons complex is eroding:
Indeed, practically every [...]

Mar
20
2009

Where’s Vladimir?

Mar
11
2009

The Russian “Reset”

Brad Thayer and I were quoted recently in a piece on U.S.-Russian relations published by the Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU).  The EIU piece provides a solid overview of the arms control negotiations that will occur throughout this year between Washington and Moscow regarding the expiration of the Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (START) this December.  It certainly looks as though missile defense will be the [...]

Sep
2
2008

“Russia Goes Ballistic”

Bradley Thayer and I co-authored an article in the September/October issue of the The National Interest entitled, “Russia Goes Ballistic.” Here’s a brief excerpt:
OVER THE next ten to twenty years, the erosion of American nuclear superiority will have major ramifications for the global balance of power. It will place new constraints on our freedom of [...]

Aug
30
2008

Georgia Severs Diplomatic Ties with Moscow

Yesterday, the government in Tbilisi announced that it cut diplomatic ties with Russia to protest the continued presence of Russian troops in Georgian territory. The situation in Eurasia is not improving. Russia’s decision to recognize the “independence” of South Ossetia and Abkhazia was particularly problematic since these two regions are part of Georgia.

This [...]

Aug
28
2008

Russia Seeks Counterbalance to West from SCO

Russian President Dmitry Medvedev appealed to China and other Central Asian nations to show its support for Russia’s actions in Georgia at a Shangai Cooperation Organization (SCO) summit in Tajikistan today.  International press offered conflicting analysis, which of course, is no surprise. What is striking, however, is that the break was not along traditional media [...]

Aug
25
2008

Legendary Campaign Ads: “The Bear”

Aug
22
2008

Assessing the Russia – Georgia Conflict

Initial assessments of the military effectiveness of the Russian and Georgian forces are being written. Over to the blogosphere!
Robert Farley:
The Georgians did have some technical advantages, such as nightfighting gear on their tanks and attack aircraft. While this article indicates that the Georgian T-72s (with the nightfighting gear and some other technical upgrades) were superior [...]

Aug
21
2008

Russia as a Strategic Partner?

The other day Thomas P.M. Barnett asked whether or not Russia could eventually be a strategic partner for United States.  He argued that Washington’s reaction to Russia’s invasion of Georgia has been overly emotional:
Frankly, putting the political and strategic implications aside for a minute, Russia’s intervention in Georgia should strike us as more of a turn-on than turn-off. [...]

Aug
20
2008

Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn

Here’s a great article on the late Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn by Ilan Berman of the American Foreign Policy Council.