Carnegie Moscow Center
A slimmed down NATO could do a better job of harmonizing transatlantic positions in crisis situations, be the hub of multinational, high-end military operations, and develop expertise and capabilities to deal with new threats such as cyber attacks.
Independent Kyrgyzstan is unique in its recent political history. Over the last two years this country has functioned under a non-authoritarian system and has started moving in a different direction from its Central Asian neighbors.
Public sentiment in many states has turned against nuclear energy following the March 2011 accident at Japan's Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Station. The Fukushima accident was, however, preventable.
Despite the overlapping interests of Russia and China, the two countries are not allies. Moscow will not accept a junior position vis-à-vis Beijing, while the Chinese regard Russia as a fading power.
Russia and China are suspicious of multilateral institutions created by the West and hostile to anything that could justify external intervention in a sovereign state’s affairs, but both are learning to use international forums to their advantage.
The turbulent events of 2011 in Kazakhstan have forced the country's ruling elite to consider economic and even political change in order to enable their continued rule.
As a permanent member of the UN Security Council and a nuclear power, Russia has substantial leverage in the post-Soviet space and is the EU's most important neighbor. However, in the coming decades Russia will face serious internal and international challenges.
Turkey is a particularly critical key actor for building a Euro-Atlantic Security Community, with a growing influence within the Euro-Atlantic region.
Russia is the world’s biggest hydrocarbon producer, and China is one of the world’s largest and fastest-growing energy markets. The two are neighbors, yet their energy relationship is very thin. Instead, they compete for vast and largely unexplored Central Asian resources.
It is unlikely that nuclear weapons proliferation in South Asia will lead to a deliberate outbreak of large-scale war, but a catastrophic conflict could occur even though neither the Indians nor the Pakistanis intend to start a nuclear war.