Colombian commando in 2014.
Colombia’s ongoing push to curb violence and diminish the influence of drug cartels within its borders is the region’s “bright shining example,” the commander of Southern Command told attendees at a Washington think-tank forum Friday. Read More
One lesson Saudi Arabia took from its 2009 encounter with Houthis in Yemen, raiding its border posts and harassing tribes in that region, was the value of Saudi special forces in those conflicts. Since then it has built up those capabilities as part of its evolving military doctrine, Prince Sultan bin Khaled al Faisal said Thursday. Read More
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un in an undated photo.
North Korea sees cyber operations as integrated with its irregular peacetime operations and valuable in disrupting the operations of its enemies, like command and control, the co-author of an upcoming report on the country’s cyber activities said Monday. Read More
Russian President Vladimir Putin in 2013.
“Thanks to Vladimir Putin, it looks like the strategic holiday is over” for the United States and NATO when it comes to examining the role that non-strategic nuclear weapons in Europe will play in the alliance, a leading expert on Russia’s foreign and military policy said Friday. Read More
Type 022 Fast Attack Missile Craft Houbei Class of the People’s Liberation Army Navy (PLA Navy) test fires C-803 antiship missile. PLAN Photo via Global Military Review
“Improved maritime strike capability has given Chinese warships a much greater chance of competing against their U.S. counterparts” and improved naval air defenses allow its warships “the ability to operate at increasingly great distances from shore”—major advances in large part speeded by arms, vessels and technology sales from Russia since the end of the Cold War. Read More
Fast attack submarine USS Seawolf (SSN-21) surfaces through Arctic ice at the North Pole on July 30, 2015. US Navy Photo
The Center for Strategic and International Studies has proposed creating a military code of conduct in a new multinational forum to discuss security concerns in the Arctic among Russia, the United States and other nations in the region. Read More
Russian President Vladimir Putin
Russia’s President Vladimir Putin has been surprised by the continuing unity between the European Union and the United States in keeping economic and diplomatic pressure on Russia for its seizure of Crimea and continued meddling in Ukraine, three experts on Eastern Europe said Wednesday. Read More
Under Secretary of Defense for Policy Christine Wormuth on July 13, 2015 at the Center for Strategic and International Studies. CSIS Screengrab
While the American public’s attention—when it focuses on Afghanistan—is centered on the withdrawal of U.S. forces and the uptick of terrorist attacks in Kabul and Khost, the Pentagon’s top policy chief says the Taliban are “definitely taking more hits than they did in 2014.” Read More
South Korean President Park Geun-hye, U.S. President Barack Obama and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe hold a trilateral summit in March 2015. Japan Prime Minister’s Office Photo
Lingering antagonism between Japan and Korea are part of a host of reasons relations between the two key U.S. allies in Asia have yet to improve, according to a Tuesday panel at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington, D.C. Read More
Undated photo of ISIS fighters.
Since the fall of Mosul—Iraq’s second largest city—a year ago, the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS or ISIL) has proven to be a “stronger, tougher and smarter” adversary than the United States expected, displaying the ability to recover quickly even after suffering the deaths of key leaders and sustaining heavy casualties. Read More
