If Russia continues to support Syrian leader Bashar al-Assad, it does not bode well for cooperation between Russia and the West on missile defense or any other security matter of a strategic nature.
Recent protests have undermined the legitimacy of Russian authorities and significantly weakened Putin's hold on power. Even if the protests were to unexpectedly stop, the process of chipping away at Putin's regime has been set in motion.
Moscow’s position on Syria is primarily shaped by the recent experience of Libya, strong doubts concerning the Syrian opposition, and suspicions about U.S. motives.
Russia's position on Syria is often described as a result of Damascus being Moscow's political ally, a major arms client, and a fellow authoritarian regime, but the reality is more complex.
No issue is more urgent or central to achieving progress toward the goal of creating an inclusive Euro-Atlantic Security Community than making European missile defense a joint project of the United States, the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, and Russia.
Enhanced energy security is particularly important for a more cohesive security collaboration among the states of the Euro-Atlantic region.
Today, unprecedented challenges from without and within threaten to reverse the progress toward the safe, secure, undivided Euro-Atlantic world hoped for in the wake of the Cold War. To overcome that future, a twenty-first-century problem demands a twenty-first-century solution.
Turkey is a particularly critical key actor for building a Euro-Atlantic Security Community, with a growing influence within the Euro-Atlantic region.
No issue in the area of European military security is more important or more vexed than that of nonstrategic nuclear weapons.
One of the fundamental impediments to molding the Euro-Atlantic nations into a more unified and workable security community is the lingering distrust that poisons too many of the region’s key relationships.
Syria has entered a “hurting stalemate” that may last months rather than years. The regime is unable to suppress the revolt, but the opposition seems equally unable to demonstrate effective operational control over an increasingly messy situation on the ground.
The Euro-Atlantic Security Initiative set out to identify the practical steps needed to secure the region’s future and to create new pathways to a more inclusive and effective Euro-Atlantic community, focusing on the military, human, and economic dimensions of security.
China’s impact on the U.S. economy and its rising global power gives China a significant role in the Republican primaries for the 2012 U.S. presidential elections.
While the project of “grand Eurasian alliance” between Russia and China currently appears unworkable, the Sino-Russian strategic partnership is a major boon for both countries and acts as one of the pillars of peace and stability in Asia.
Recent violence in Zhanaozen in December has forced Kazakhstan's authorities to rethink political, economic, and social policies. Only time will tell if the changes will have their desired effect, but it is the country's population that will make the ultimate judgment.
If Georgian President Saakashvili can leave the scene gracefully when his term ends and allow a more pluralistic politics to emerge in Georgia after him, he will set a good example to the rest of the former Soviet Union, Russia included.
Vladimir Putin and the Kremlin seem to have staked their futures on Putin’s victory in the first round of the presidential elections and are working to remove any possible opponents who might be able to appeal to Putin’s electoral base.
Uzbekistan, like other Central Asian states, shifts its foreign policy efforts between Moscow and Washington depending on circumstances. It seems that now Uzbekistan is pressing for an increased American military presence in the country.
The Arab League's observer missions in Syria are unlikely to succeed, but they will continue for the rest of the year as external military intervention is highly unlikely
The European Union’s embargo on Iranian oil supplies is unlikely to be effective in forcing Iran to restart negotiations on its on-going nuclear program.
Absent a good education environment, there is little room for the Arab world’s youth to turn into responsible citizens who can consolidate and stimulate social transformation to bring about more prosperous and free societies.
An increasing trade deficit with China, coupled with Chinese purchases of large tracts of Latin American farmland, could cause strain between China and Latin American nations.
The obvious and often painful mismatch between aspiration and reality in European foreign policy has plagued discourse on European integration during the last decade.
As speculation increases that Iran is inching closer to acquiring nuclear weapons, rhetoric regarding war may just be an effort to strengthen diplomacy.
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