In an atmosphere of reconciliation and peaceful transition, but with a backdrop of tires burning in the streets of Beirut, a new prime minister has been nominated in Lebanon. Najib Mikati was prime minister for a few months in 2005, and he is Lebanon’s richest man. Mikati’s first speech struck a conciliatory tone: “My hand […]
As the Duma, Russia’s Parliament, debates New START ratification, one thing is clear: the treaty doesn’t legally restrict U.S. missile defense options. Another thing is clear: Russia will probably withdraw from the treaty if the U.S. deploys a missile defense system that significantly reduces the effectiveness of Russia’s strategic deterrent. As Kostantin Kosachyev, head of […]
A view over Beirut After the Lebanese government collapsed last week, many feared that the conflicted society might descend once again into violence. That danger appears to have passed, and Lebanese leaders have been quick to reassure the international community that the crisis would be resolved peacefully. However, the process of forming a new government is […]
Like many Americans I watched the visit of Chinese President Hu Jintao this week with great interest. My original intent had been to focus on defense related issues like China’s rising Pacific naval presence and their relations with North Korea; but an item in the 20 January issue of the Washington Post unexpectedly caught my […]
This is Part II of a two-part post on lawfare. Click here for Part I, in which I critiqued the way in which Brooke Goldstein, director of the non-profit, The Lawfare Project, envisages lawfare. In this post, I examine the solutions she proposes. d One of Goldstein’s primary concerns is the many lawsuits against people […]
Credit Suisse today reported that a number of emerging market (EM) economies are experiencing rising inflation; and in some, central banks are countering with interest rate hikes (see excerpt below). Might seem strange to those of us who live in a country where policy interest rates are at zero and the Federal Reserve seems to be more […]
Every once in a while, FPA Afghanistan blogger Patrick Frost emails me an article with which I very much disagree and I, in turn, write a post criticizing it. (See a post of mine from last year on preventive war.) The tradition continues with an interview, published by AviationWeek, with Brooke Goldstein, director of the […]
I hope all my readers enjoyed the holidays and are enjoying the new year. Much has happened in my absence. For one, I came across two discussions/debates that are related in a way that people rarely acknowledge. The first one, from Lawfare, is about the legality of long-term detention of enemy combatants. Benjamin Wittes, in […]
Testifying before Congress last week, U.S. Secretary of Defense Robert Gates announced the Department’s intent to reduce defense spending by $78 billion in addition to the forthcoming $100 billion in spending cuts over the next five years through new efficiencies. Tamir Eschel of Defense Update provides an overview of the proposed reductions: Bowing under budget […]
There is jubilation in the streets of what might become the world’s newest capital city. The streets are humming with crowds, marching bands, and sound trucks. Some 3.9 million people, out of a total population of 8.7 million, have signed up to vote in the week-long referendum, which begins this weekend. Independence awaits! But underneath […]
To the surprise of probably no one, on Tuesday the Navy announced that Captain Owen Honors had been removed from command of the USS Enterprise in the wake of the furor caused by articles in the media over videos he apparently produced and starred in while serving as the Executive Officer in 2006 and 2007. […]
Some Russians want to rehabilitate the great novelist Leo Tolstoy. (Read a NYTimes article on the subject here.) Russia’s post-Soviet regime turned a cold shoulder to the author of Anna Karenina and War and Peace because the Russian Orthodox Church excommunicated him in 1901 and because he was later exalted by Soviet leaders. In the late 19th century, […]
A development of interest over the Holidays was the leaking of a series of photographs purportedly taken of the Chengdu J-20, China’s fifth generation fighter aircraft. A competitor to the F-22 Raptor, the J-20 is expected to attain initial operating capability by 2018 as testified by officials of the National Air and Space Intelligence Center. […]
Congratulations! Brazil inaugurated its first woman president in history on the first of the year. Read her inaugural speech below. President Rousseff, a close ally of outgoing President Lula since 2000 and his anointed successor, lacks the charisma of her benefactor, but not the resume. Fighting as a Marxist urban guerrilla against Brazil’s military regime in […]
Pretzel contortions are part of the diplomatic game. In the Rising Powers Year in Review (read here), we called North Korea’s violence against the South and advanced uranium enrichment program the biggest surprise of 2010. South Korean President Lee Myung-bak’s New Year’s message today (see BBC article) has kept up the West’s diplomatic contortions — stand […]