Reports

The Strategic Rocket Forces branch of Russia’s military is getting upgrades for its missiles and improved methods for delivering them. Moscow’s key goal is to maintain the ability to “escalate to deescalate” – likely with nuclear weapons – in case of any confrontation with NATO. With Cold War arms control ...

Thailand has a wealth of geographic, historical and economic advantages, and yet it lags in terms of political liberalization. It is more monarchy than democracy, an arrangement that worked to its advantage during the Cold War but is now holding it back. At issue is whether the country can find ...

NATO and the EU are the leading actors shaping European security, but there are also smaller players performing important roles. The Visegrad Group is one of them. Its member governments, though, are increasingly perceived in some European capitals as euroskeptic. Under adverse scenarios, this could lead to political and security ...

NATO’s expansion into Central and Eastern Europe following its Cold War victory touched a raw nerve in Moscow, as, historically, the vast Russian empire protected itself by maintaining a buffer zone of dependent or client states along its perimeter. Russia appeared to have swallowed the “loss” of the Baltic states ...

British Prime Minister Theresa May pointedly accused the Kremlin of attempting to assassinate a former Russian intelligence operative and his daughter in the United Kingdom. Ms. May also managed to persuade the United States and key EU countries to join in a huge retaliatory expulsion of Russian diplomats. Yet, will ...

The Indo-Russian alliance was once one of Asia’s defining geopolitical relationships. While both sides are keeping up appearances, less and less is holding them together. The most important divergence is in geopolitical outlook: Moscow wants to contain the West, while New Delhi is most concerned about a rising China.

Nobody – not NATO, not Europe, not even Russian President Vladimir Putin – wants another Cold War. But we have one anyway: a new, 21st century hybrid that has been creeping into our security establishment for almost a decade. NATO is still in the early stages of a necessary strategic ...

For all the confusion about Syria’s civil war, there’s no doubt about the big loser – the Syrian people. But nearly every regional power that has intervened to advance its own interests has also paid a heavy price, as has the European Union, a not-so-innocent bystander. For now, the most ...

The European Union plans to adopt a “Global Strategy” for its foreign and security policies (EGS) at its June 22 summit. The document is the result of years of reflection on the increasing complexity of Europe’s external relations and interconnections. A fundamental problem for the EU is that neither its ...

El Salvador is Central America’s most densely populated country. With six million people and a gross domestic product of $25 billion, its per capita GDP is $4,100 – not bad for a country generally considered poor by international standards. In the region, only Costa Rica does much better. El Salvador’s ...

For the rest of this election year, the United States military will endure a funding squeeze as politicians try to hold down federal spending. But rising demand for forces to operate against Daesh, (also known as Islamic State or ISIS) in the Middle East and South Asia is putting pressure ...

Middle Eastern disputes have again become flash points for global rivalries – a trend that will accelerate and intensify this year. Shia-Sunni tensions remain central, but they are no longer the sole driver of regional conflict. An evolving face-off between Russia and Europe over the eastern Mediterranean, along with competition ...

For several months, the European Union has been at work overhauling its defense and security strategy. During their June 2015 summit in Brussels, EU leaders assigned this task to the community’s chief of diplomacy. The European Global Strategy on Foreign and Security Policy (EGS) is due to be presented at ...

Mongolia is a large, sparsely populated, landlocked country sandwiched between two much stronger neighbours: Russia and China. For much of the past 300 years, the country has been dominated by one or the other of these two powers. Since its transition to democracy and a market economy in the early ...

The Asia Pacific region can be geopolitically conceived as three intersecting circles of national interests. Circle one comprises the United States and its treaty allies – Japan, the Republic of Korea, Australia, the Philippines, Thailand and Singapore. Circle two contains the countries in the region most closely aligned with the ...

It is a contrast of striking dimensions. August 1, 2015 marked the 40th anniversary of the signing of the Helsinki Accords, arguably one of the most important steps towards the creation of a new security order in Europe. Instead of celebration, however, the eve of that anniversary marked the conclusion ...

Russia made a strategic about turn in the international arena, through its annexation of Crimea and asymmetric aggression in eastern Ukraine. The post-Cold War setup in international relations, based on the idea of building a cooperative system of security in Europe, thus ended in 2014 – writes GIS guest expert ...

The United States, suffering from global overstretch, continues to reduce its military forces in Europe. It can be argued that American troops on the continent are as important for transatlantic security today as they were during the Cold War (1947-1991), albeit for different reasons. What has not changed is Europe’s ...

India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi could add the missing link to bilateral relations with Israel with a high-level visit in 2015. Israel already plays a key role as a supplier of high-tech defence equipment to India. Now that relationship is set to flourish along broader economic lines. NARENDRA Modi will ...

Europe seems to be returning to the days of the Cold War between the West and the Soviet Union as Russia flexes its muscles and exerts its strengths in diplomacy and the military. It is a major geopolitical player with influence. Its annexation of Crimea has been virtually accepted. Its ...

Serbia officially took over as chairman of the OSCE on January 15, 2015. It is the first Balkans country to chair the organisation, 15 years after joining. The OSCE’s predecessor - the CSCE, was created in 1975 during the Cold War tensions between East and West. The OSCE’s role in ...

Fears are growing that a new Cold War could affect the Balkans following the escalating crisis in Ukraine. An East- West divide has returned to the region harking back 25 years to the end of the Cold War between the West and the Soviet Union. Russia is developing its interests ...

The global security order is under severe stress - and severe threat. And much of the current trouble has been caused by a shift in how Western academic and political circles approach problems of international security. A move towards ‘universal values’, of orchestrated regime change, and the West’s promotion of ...

Islamabad’s relationship with America and the issue of political Islam could be expected to make Pakistan and China wary of establishing close links with each other. But the two nations have a mutual rival, India, with whom they share a history of regional conflict and continuing territorial disputes. And China ...