Security & Defense

State of the Order: Assessing October 2021

The State of the Order breaks down the month's most important events impacting the democratic world order.

Why wartime Ukraine’s defense minister must be a civilian

By Andriy Zagorodnyuk

The recent appointment of Oleksiy Reznikov as Ukraine’s new defense minister is a step in the right direction away from the Soviet model towards NATO standards of civilian control over the Ukrainian armed forces.

Belarus border crisis: Putin acts as Lukashenka’s willing enabler

By Brian Whitmore

Belarus dictator Alyaksandr Lukashenka's manufactured migrant crisis on the EU border is entirely in step with the hybrid war against the Western world being waged by his sole international patron, Vladimir Putin.

Why Turkey’s transatlantic identity could change forever

By Can Kasapoglu and Sine Ozkarasahin

Tensions in the Eastern Mediterranean and disagreements over defense policy with the United States are pushing transatlantic ties with Turkey to the brink with potentially seismic changes to Turkey's strategic orientation and identity and major implications for the NATO alliance.

New book recounts prisoner torture in Russian-occupied eastern Ukraine

By Andrew D’Anieri

A new book by Ukrainian journalist Stanislav Aseyev seeks to raise international awareness of the secret prisons in Russian-occupied eastern Ukraine where detainees are subjected to grave human rights abuses.