Security & Defense

The Balkan Piece of the Putin Puzzle

By Stephen Blank

While the Russian threat to Poland and the Baltic States has sparked justified anxiety, Russian President Vladimir Putin’s imperial adventure is just as much of a threat to the Balkans.  Moscow is putting on a full-court press—using energy exports, information warfare, trade, arms sales, and efforts to obtain military bases in Cyprus, Montenegro and Serbia—to […]

تمهيد المسار للسلام في سوريا: مقترح لإنشاء قوة وطنية سورية من أجل الاستقرار

إعداد: فريديرك هوف، بسمة قضماني، جيفري وايت انطلاقاً من برنامج الرئيس باراك أوباما للتدريب-والتجهيز لتحويل المتمردين السوريين الوطنيين إلى قوات برية لمقاومة الدولة الإسلامية في العراق والشام، يوصي التقرير بالتطلع إلى ما هو أبعد: تجنيد، وتدريب، وتجهيز، ونشر قوة وطنية سورية من أجل الاستقرار تكون مؤلفة من سوريين فقط. تلك القوة، التي بإمكانها أن تشكل أساساً […]

Hungary Increasing Its Defense Budget

By Hungary Today and Debating Europe

From Hungary Today:  [Defense Minister Csaba] Hende said the outstanding performance of the Hungarian armed forces in international missions must continue.

Cracking down on militancy in Pakistan

By Refayat Haque

On April 13, IHS’s Asia Pacific Country Risk Lead Omar Hamid and South Asia Center Distinguished Fellow Shuja Nawaz discussed the evolving militancy climate in Pakistan. Hamid cited the December 2014 attack on a government school in Peshawar as a “Pearl Harbor” moment for Pakistan, and suggested it enabled the nation to act swiftly and […]

Russia Concerned Finland and Sweden Moving Closer To NATO

By YLE and Helsinki Times

From YLE:  The Russian Foreign Ministry has written an article on its website condemning a Nordic minister declaration that appeared in the Norwegian paper Aftenposten last Thursday.

NATO Reduces Size of Russian Delegation After Internal Reports of Espionage

By Michael R. Gordon, New York Times

For a year after the North Atlantic Treaty Organization cut back its cooperation with Russia as punishment for the country’s incursions into Ukraine, Russia’s NATO mission has seemed curiously impervious to the deteriorating ties.

Benitez: Russia’s Military Exercises are Very Dangerous

By Jela de Franceschi and Isabela Cocoli, Voice of America

NATOSource Director and Brent Scowcroft Center Senior Fellow at the Atlantic Council Jorge Benitez said that Russian military activities along the Finnish border, the deployment of strategic weapons systems to Kaliningrad and Crimea, and positions across the Baltic Fleet, Black Sea Fleet, and in the western and southern military districts, mimicked a full-scale attack against […]

The Bear is Inside the Wire

By Frank J. Cilluffo and Sharon L. Cardash

Russian hackers, fresh from breaching the State Department’s unclassified networks in recent months, have managed to sneak into “sensitive but unclassified” White House networks, CNN reported on April 7. The perpetrators gained access to real-time non-public details of the President’s schedule, precisely the type of information foreign intelligence services prioritize for collection. The White House […]