I do admire Madeleine Albright. I think she and I are the only Czech-born members of the Council on Foreign Relations. Having been mentored by her father, Josef Korbel, I was proud that she brought down the genocidal, Serbian dictator Milosevic. However, calling Vladimir Putin   an “irritant” to NATO in 2008 was not just…

I. Egypt deserves Russian attention because of its long-lasting political relevance During the last three years the Egyptian state has lived through a revolution and a military coup, and has shifted from military dictatorship to Islamic democracy and then again to military dictatorship. At least 840 protesters were killed during 2011…

Dear friend!  If you’re a young, aspiring international relations scholar, you’ve come to the right place. Are you interested in publishing your research or commentary online, but are unsure whether Foreign Affairs will accept it?  The Russian International Affairs Council (RIAC) offers you an opportunity to show the world…

“Even the leaders were unsure about what they would do next or how to avoid fatal missteps. Each side called on its intelligence services to supply that knowledge.”
 
The quote is from an article by Markus Wolf and Tennent Bagley, two icons of the Cold War intelligence community with opposing ideologies writing in 1997 in the Los…

The debate over the applicability or non-applicability of international law to cyber war and the need for a cyber-specific international treaty might be irrelevant. Both camps, pro and con, argue about the need for cyber war to have the Law of Armed Conflict or some new international legal project properly cover the cyber domain. Both camps, however…

As the United States seeks to adapt to the ever-changing face of Islamic radicalism and growing anti-American sentiment in the Middle East, Washington is banking on its military to assert control, starting with Yemen.
 
Ever since Afghanistan President Hamid Karzai categorically refused to sign Washington’s Bilateral Security Agreement…

In the German political environment there is no common view towards Russian performance in Ukraine. Nonetheless the idea that “the fire made by locals, the matches are from Russia” is clear for all parties. There are a few “Putin-Versteher”, Admirer of Putins among German politicians. The former chancellor Helmut Schmidt…

Russia, China, the five members of European Union (France, Germany, the UK, Spain, and Italy) take the 66 percent of international arms transfer in the period of 2009~2013 (Siemon T. Wezeman, 2014). Compared with the 2004~2008, the percentage of arms importers of major weapon regional, Africa increase from 7% to 9% in the same period (see the below)…

One of the most important leverages that Russia has on the american foreign policy is the main branch of the Northern Distribution Network (NDN), a supply line that reaches Afghanistan from Europe after crossing Russia, Khazakhstan and Uzbekistan. The route was built up in 2008 as alternative to the distribution line through Pakistan, which is…

 
 
In Eastern Ukraine, we are seeing an ingenious Russian plot unfold — for the second time. Russian servicemen, wearing no insignia, infiltrate into the area and, capitalising on marginal grassroots separatism, spark unrest. They establish control in a professional manner, quickly, and largely without blood. 
 
The…

Come May, Vladimir Putin is to pay a visit to China, where a number of consequential agreements will be signed. To be sure, this visit will have a profound impact on Russia's development in the years to come. If Putin decides to reorient its policy towards the East, there is little hope that Russian economy will modernize. Whereas the European…

The Arctic Council diplomats gathered in Yellowknife, Canada, from the 25th to the 27th of March to discuss high-level political issues concerning the Arctic. The work of the Arctic Council continues, but the echo of the events that occurred in Crimea cannot be ignored. How is Arctic cooperation responding to this unprecedented crisis in…