The Afghan War Military Documents 2004-2009 by WikiLeaks.org
Jul 26, 2010

WikiLeaks today released over 75,000 secret US military reports covering the war in Afghanistan.

The Afghan War Diary an extraordinary secret compendium of over 91,000 reports covering the war in Afghanistan from 2004 to 2010. The reports ...more

Japan Facing a New Latin America
written by: Keiichi Tsunekawa
Jul 27, 2010

Japan today faces a Latin America completely different from the one it knew ten or fifteen years ago. The old Latin America was a continent of hyper inflation and turbulent economics. It was rife with political instability, fluctuating between military/autocratic regimes and moderately authoritarian ...more

China and USA - a future "cold war" ?
written by: Balaji Chandramohan
Jul 26, 2010

The 9th IISS Asia Security Summit, the Shangri-La Dialogue held in Singapore from June 4-6 2010, clearly emphasizes that in years to come the United States and China could fight a "cold war" for the better part of the 21st century. The U.S. Quadrennial Defense Review 2010 (QDR) released ...more

Interview with Zeyno Baran on Moderate Muslims
written by: Barry Rubin
Jul 26, 2010

PajamasMedia published my interview with Zeyno Baran on her book. It is available here. ...more

Baltic MEPs: The US non-recognition policy was our only source of hope
Jul 23, 2010

At the intiative of the Estonian, Latvian and Lithanian delegations in the EPP group, 20 Baltic MEPs from five political groups signed a letter to Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, expressing their appreciation for US policies that never recognized the 1940 annexation of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania ...more

Top Secret America - Methodology and credits
Jul 22, 2010

The Top Secret America database was put together by compiling hundreds of thousands of public records of government organizations and private-sector companies.

From these records, The Washington Post identified 45 government organizations (for example, the FBI) engaged in top-secret work ...more

US Mediation Key to Solving Macedonia Name Dispute
written by: Darko Duridanski
Jul 21, 2010

Kosovo's dispute with Serbia and Macedonia's with Greece need to be solved in tandem - and both require international mediation, says Aleksandar Matovski, former adviser to Macedonia's former prime minister, now at Cornell University.

Q: As the International Court of Justice prepares ...more

Reflections on Vostok 2010: Selling an Image
written by: Roger McDermott
Jul 20, 2010

Jacob Kipp recently analyzed the political-military context of Vostok 2010 and drew attention to an increased threat perception in the Russian Far East relating to China. Kipp also referred to the taboo within Russian security circles about openly referring to China in discussion of threat perception, ...more

Global terrorism trends and challenges
written by: Ioannis Michaletos
Jul 19, 2010

- Interview with Frederik P. Hitz conducted by Ioannis Michaletos,WSN Executive South East Europe, Coordinator South Eastern Office -

Considerations about the Chinese Intelligence Services (II)
written by: Octavian Dumitrescu
Jul 16, 2010

The Ministry of Public Security (MPS) is the second Chinese intelligence service. It is considered to be a national security organization that supervises all provincial and local police departments. Since it ...more

Iran admits sanctions might slow nuclear program
Jul 15, 2010

Sanctions against Iran could slow down its nuclear progress, a senior government official said on Wednesday, the first time Tehran has acknowledged the measures might have some bite.

"We cannot say the sanctions have no effect," the head of Iran's atomic energy agency, Ali Akbar Salehi, ...more

"Virtual" Defense of the Russian Far East: Vostok 2010
written by: Roger McDermott
Jul 14, 2010

The biennial Vostok (East) 2010 operational-strategic exercise in the Siberian and Far East Russian military districts (MD's), June 28 to July 8, was hailed by the top brass as the largest of its kind since the collapse of the Soviet Union. Defense ministry sources indicated the exercise would involve ...more

Interview with Nouri al-Maliki, Prime Minister of Iraq
written by: Corneliu Pivariu
Jul 13, 2010

Question (Q): How do you evaluate the meeting you had with Ph.D. Iyyad Allawi? Are there any common standpoints which would allow further consultations between your State of Law Coalition and Allawi’s Iraqi ...more

India, Bangladesh and Energy Security
written by: Sowmya Suryanarayanan
Jul 12, 2010

In January 2010, India and Bangladesh agreed to cooperate in the energy sector to tackle the looming energy crisis. This development is significant as co-operation in the past has been constrained by political mistrust and public misconceptions. Cooperation in the energy sector is crucial for Bangladesh ...more

Hubertus Hoffmann Cambridge Union Address about Rules of Soft Power
written by: Dr. Hubertus Hoffmann
Jul 01, 2010

Which priorities, double-strategies and actions do we need in our globalized world to promote peace and stability?

Let us start with a simple metaphor.

Think of yourself as a plumber, with a tool-box full of hammers, screwdrivers and twenty other tools.

As a good ...more

Containing Iran Requires Getting Smart, Tough, and Serious
written by: Barry Rubin
Jul 12, 2010

Note: This is an updated and revised version of my article in the July-August issue of Foreign Affairs.

It should be too obvious to have to say so but unfortunately some people don't get it: dealing with a nuclear-armed Iran is an extraordinarily important task in which the lives ...more

Replacing the Current AfPak Strategy with a New One
written by: Ehsan Ahrari
Jul 08, 2010

With the firing of General Stanley McChrystal, President Barack Obama appears to be writing his own edition of "lessons in disaster," a book of the same title that he so publicly read and supposedly drew lessons from before committing 30,000 additional troops to Afghanistan. One wonders whether he ...more

Iran moves radar to Syria: US official
Jul 07, 2010

Iran has moved radar to Syria that could provide early-warning against a possible surprise Israeli air attack against Tehran's nuclear sites, a US defense official said on Friday.

The radar transfer was first reported in the Wall Street Journal on Thursday and prompted the State Department ...more

A new military alliance at the Black Sea?
written by: Corneliu Pivariu
Jul 07, 2010

At the end of June this year, numerous media presented information on the likelihood that a new military alliance appears at the Black Sea, by means of a military treaty between Russia, Turkey and Ukraine, under the name of Black Sea Defense Treaty. This treaty is expected ...more

Mineral Riches of Afghanistan: Need for Thinking Out of the Box
written by: Ijaz Khan
Jul 06, 2010

In the life of individuals as well as States there are moments when they must take crucial decisions which determine their future. Opportunities knock at every door; only few are awake and thus respond when there door is knocked. Pakistan has missed many opportunities, yet another one is ...more

Sadrists: Unstable opportunists or pragmatic power brokers?
written by: Daniel Graeber
Jul 05, 2010

Iraq is still without a government more than three months after Iraqi voters gave the secular Iraqiya slate of Iyad Allawi a narrow victory over the State of Law coalition of Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki.

Many observers -- and several of the Iraqi leaders themselves -- believe there ...more

Italy's capabilities to fight oil desasters
written by: Piero Laporta
Jul 02, 2010

A senator from the Italian parliamentary opposition, Paolo Giaretta, really surprised Stefania Prestigiacomo, Italian Minister for the Environment and Protection of Land and Sea, with a question relative to the environmental disaster in the Gulf of Mexico. Giarretta surprised Defense Minister Ignazio ...more

European security strategy
Interview with Alvaro de Vasconcelos, Director- European Union Institute for Strategic Studies (EUISS)
written by: Corneliu Pivariu
Jul 02, 2010

Geostrategic Pulse (GP): In the context of the new security challenges the contemporary world is facing at the beginning of the second decade of the third millennium - the global campaign against terrorism, the shock of globalization, active or frozen conflicts in the closer or farther ...more

Top NATO General Egon Ramms: "Neither Success nor Failure can be taken as granted".
written by: Dieter Farwick
Jun 28, 2010

Since January 2007, the four-star German General Egon Ramms has been Commander-in-Chief of the Allied Joint Force Command in Brunssum, The Netherlands. As such, he commands ISAF military operations in Afghanistan and ranks above ISAF's commander on the ground General David H. Petraeus.

Gaza Flotilla: What Message Does the West Send to the Arab and Muslim World?
written by: Ruba Zinati
Jun 30, 2010

Looking at the political scene for both the Palestinians and the Israelis, one would find it very much similar and at the same time very much different. The similarity between them lies in the fact that both, the government of Hamas and that of the coalition government of ...more

Mutahida Qabail Party (MQP)
Voice of Tribal People
written by: Habib Malik Orakzai
Jun 29, 2010

Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA) has always been a mysterious region to understand. The FATA is located along Pakistan's north-western Himalayan zone and south western Suleman Mountains. It consists of seven semi autonomous agencies and administrative units - Khyber, Mohmand,Bajur, Kurram, ...more

National security agencies failing to protect U.S.
written by: Jim Kouri
Jun 28, 2010

Recent terrorist events such as the attempted bomb attacks in New York's Times Square and aboard an airliner on Christmas Day 2009 are reminders that national security challenges have expanded beyond the traditional threats of the Cold War Era to include unconventional threats from nonstate actors.

Today's ...more