Russian airborne soldiers march in Moscow in 2013. photo by Vitaly V. Kuzmin
Rebuilding the United States’ relationship Russia begins with Moscow’s “good behavior” in resolving conflicts with its neighbors and international disputes from the Arctic to Syria, the former commander of NATO forces in Europe said Thursday at a Washington, D.C., think-tank. Read More
Wreckage of the Flight MH-17. Dutch Openbaar Ministerie Photo
The carefully prepared and detailed analysis released this week by Dutch authorities showing that a 9M38 anti-aircraft launched from a Buk-Telar 17 shot down the MH17 flight on July 17, 2014 is probably not a surprise to anyone. What is noteworthy is the extraordinary level of detail – even by Dutch standards – of the investigation, and the strategic choices it foists upon Vladimir Putin and his boyars in the Kremlin. Read More
An undated picture of a Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps Navy patrol craft.
Some critics attribute the increased number of aggressive air-to-air intercepts and incidents at sea to what they argue is the current administration’s weak foreign policy. That claim raises some interesting points when analyzed. There is a strong counter-argument to such claims. Read More
Russian President Vladimir Putin. Kremlin Photo
Two forms of nationalism — one seeing Moscow as the centerpiece of a Eurasian civilization, different from the West and the other defining itself as ethnically Russian — are shaping political discussion inside and outside the Kremlin and influencing actions far away from its borders, two experts on Russia said Wednesday. Read More
US Marines with the Black Sea Rotational Force, fires TOW anti-tank missile on July 8 in Bulgaria. US Marine Corps Photo
By quadrupling spending to counter a mounting threat from Moscow, the United States’ military emphasis in Europe has shifted from reassuring allies and partners to deterring Russia from “exercising malign influence [and using] coercion” to bully countries on its western and southern borders, witnesses told a key House panel Wednesday. Read More
Military parade in Red Square in Moscow on May 9, 2016. Kremlin Photo
The Soviet Union’s old doctrine was: You deter World War III with nuclear weapons. Now Russia’s new doctrine: Threaten to use nuclear weapons against any major power that may try to block Moscow from having its way in a regional conflict, a specialist in Russian nuclear strategy said on Monday. Read More
Russian President Vladimir Putin
To understand what President Vladimir Putin may do in the future, the author of a new book on today’s Russia said Americans need to understand why and how he became a national hero by brutally suppressing separatists in Moscow’s second war in Chechnya. Read More
Romanian Aegis Ashore site. U.S. Missile Defense Agency Photo
The Navy and U.S. Missile Defense Agency declared a ballistic missile defense site in Romania operational this week. Read More
Russian T-72B Main Battle Tank in 2013. Russian Ministry of Defence Photo
In late April Russia shipped the first 20 of 50 T-72B tanks ordered by Nicaragua—causing a Cold War Back to the Future moment for Latin America watchers. Read More
Chinese president Xi Jinping and Russian president Vladimir Putin greet participants of Joint Sea-2014 exercise at Wusong naval port in Shanghai, east China, May 20, 2014. Xinhua Photo
Although China and Russia have certainly grown closer in the last several years, their relationship is a marriage of convenience since for both their most important international relationship is not with each other but in dealing with the United States. Read More
