One year after the utter failure of the U.S.-Russia “Reset,” the relationship between the two countries is gradually nearing its nadir. Beginning with Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s message of encouragement to Russia’s opposition movement and democracy scholar Michael McFaul’s nomination as U.S. Ambassador to Moscow…

Cyprus: A Geostrategic Conudrum Vassilios Damiras, Ph.D. (ABD) GEOSTRATEGIC FORECASTING CORPORATION - GSFC CEOby   The history of the island of Cyprus is marked by ethnic disputes and missed political opportunities. Cyprus achieved its independence from Britain in 1960. The Kingdom of Greece, the Turkish Republic, and Great Britain negotiated the…

In the minds of many the sports diplomacy and sports marketing that support competitive athletic tournaments like the FIFA World Cup and the Olympic Games deserve a Nobel peace prize. But recent events in Brazil indicate that the model could use a “reset” to remain relevant to future generations. RT, Pravda, and Facebook (which is…

I was watching Lord Adair Turner, the Former Head of Financial Services Authority of the UK, on Al Jazeera today discussing the topic “Has Capitalism Failed The World”. The discussion of course circumambulated the customary, should we have more or less regulations, more public banks and less private banks, why haven’t we seen…

As I have mentioned in the previous blog entry, US agricultural policy has impact on problem of creating narcotrafico in Latin America or in Afghanistan therefore dear readers should understand how this issue is built to understand ambivalent policy shaped around the world. American agricultural policy linked with the Farm Bill from many years was…

Academic community increasingly uses Internet and particularly blogging platforms to share information, engage in discussions and test ideas. In an interview with the Russian International Affairs Council, Daniel Nexon, Associate Professor in the Department of Government and the School of Foreign Service at Georgetown University and founder of the…

"Quand la Chine s'éveillera, le monde tremblera"
Napoleon Bonaparte
 
The awakening of this old sleeping giant, or more accurately its re-awakening, has led much ink to be spilled and many keys to be worn-down. For many, this phenomenon was of great interest naturally due to China’s huge size and its equally…

Drugs as global problemUsing of illegal and abusing substances belongs to the charter of global challenges of international security and peace keeping efforts. Drug threat is a part of background of asymmetric conflicts and threats linked with terrorism, organized crime and financial system therefore it cannot be ignored or forgotten which was proved…

RIAC Program Director Ivan Timofeev delivered a report at a workshop on Russia's role in the Euro-Atlantic security held by the City Council of Turku, Finland, and sponsored by the Alexander Institute of the University of Helsinki and the Atlantic Council of Finland.  The main points of Dr. Timofeev's presentation are as follows.   The issue…

In this blog entry you can find a compilation of some sources pertaining to conflict analysis and the measurement of peace that could be used for quantitative research. Some data in these sources overlaps but all these sources are free and easily accessible.
 
 

Data on Armed Conflict. The University of Uppsala in Sweden provides one…

The trend of outsourcing government functions to private contractors contributed to the creation and impressive growth of private military and security companies. Operating in hot spots across the world and providing a broad list of services to corporate and state clients alike, these firms are not simply compensating the occasional shortage in state…

The ultimate goal of science is and ought to be, to offer the method of improving control over the external world, to pave the way from the present state of affairs to the most preferred one. The field of international relations must not be an exception, as time, effort, and money invested in the research are useful as long as its intellectual product…