Category: Blogs

Aegis System Destroys Missile in Successful BMD Test

By Missile Defense Agency

From Missile Defense Agency:  The Missile Defense Agency (MDA) and U.S. Navy sailors aboard the USS LAKE ERIE (CG-70) successfully conducted a flight test today of the Aegis Ballistic Missile Defense (BMD) system, resulting in the intercept of a separating ballistic missile target over the Pacific Ocean

Kenneth Waltz’ Legacy

By James Joyner

Kenneth Waltz, the most important Realist theorist of the last half-century, died Monday, a few weeks before his 89th birthday.

How Turkey and Israel Could Force US Action in Syria

By Sarah Grebowski and Maksymilian Czuperski

Early this week, the world looked to Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan for a response to the bombings in Reyhanli that killed 47 people and left more than 100 wounded. It was the deadliest terrorist attack in Turkey since the 2003 Istanbul bombings, shocking the nation and fueling anxiety over the war in neighboring […]

Egypt’s Growing Judicial Activism Stymies Democratic Consolidation

On May 13, the Atlantic Council’s Rafik Hariri Center for the Middle East held an event to release a new issue brief, Egypt’s Litigious Transition: Judicial Intervention and the Muddied Road to Democracy. Director of the Rafik Hariri Center Michele Dunne moderated a discussion with the author Mahmoud Hamad, who is assistant professor at Drake University and Cairo […]

NATO’s Plan for Afghanistan Post-2014: A ‘Stable Instability’

By Michael Hirsh, Atlantic

From Michael Hirsh, Atlantic:  Senior commanders with the American-led International Security Assistance Force, which consists of 28 NATO countries and 22 other participating nations, say that substantial aid and military support is going to be necessary well after the scheduled withdrawal at the end of 2014.

What Kaliningrad Means for Europe’s Values and Interests

By Judy Dempsey, Strategic Europe

From Judy Dempsey, Strategic Europe:  The Russian exclave of Kaliningrad plays a special role between Moscow, Warsaw, and Berlin.

Top News: Seven Security Officers Kidnapped in Egypt’s Sinai

By Egypt Source

Islamist gunmen abducted seven members of the Egyptian security forces in the Sinai Peninsula on Thursday and want jailed militants released in exchange for the men, security sources said. The gunmen kidnapped the men as they travelled between the towns of al-Arish and Rafah in the early hours of the morning.  GOVERNMENT & OPPOSITION Court […]

What’s Next, Malaysia?

By HuiHui Ooi

As expected, the National Front (BN) coalition won Malaysia’s May 5 election, but not without widespread allegations of electoral fraud, including the use of Bangladeshi migrants as illegal voters and other gerrymandering tactics. The opposition People’s Pact (PR) coalition leader Anwar Ibrahim refused to concede defeat and held a protest rally on May 8, attended by […]

More Swedes in Favor of Joining NATO: Poll

By Local (Sweden)

From Local (Sweden):  The Svenska Dagbladet (SvD) newspaper reported on Thursday that support for potential membership of the military alliance has increased.

Libya in Turmoil: From Isolation to Reconciliation

By Karim Mezran

It is difficult to understand, at least from the outside, what is happening in Libya right now. The past several weeks have highlighted the danger and difficulties the country’s feeble political institutions face to manage day-to-day affairs, let alone resolve the most pressing political issues. It now appears that the revolutionary groups that recently besieged ministries […]