Review of: Stephen F. Cohen. “War with Russia? From Putin & Ukraine to Trump & Russiagate.”
Review of: Stephen F. Cohen. “War with Russia? From Putin & Ukraine to Trump & Russiagate.” (Hot Books and Skyhorse Publishing, New York, 2019) 236 pp. ISBN: 9781510745810
“We are probably closer to actual war with Russia today than ever before in history” (p. 109).
So wrote the American expert on Russia Stephen F. Cohen—who passed away on 18 September 2020 in New York—in his last published book [
1
]. For...
With the Chinese engagement and great power competition on the rise, Russia keeps a vigilant eye on the -Stans
The latest months have been chaotic in Kyrgyzstan, where the fraudulent parliamentary elections held in October resulted in a popular uprising, as President Sooronbay Jeenbekov lost his grip on the population. A few hours following the elections, the Russian Defense Ministry declared to have put its Kant airbase in the Chuy Oblast’ on high alert [
i
].
Civil unrest at its periphery has...
What kind of Syria would we like to see and might we see by March 2031?
On 6 March 2011, the local security services in the small town of Daraa, southern Syria, detained fifteen teenagers painting anti-government graffiti on fences and buildings. During the subsequent interrogations, the teens were allegedly subjected to unjustifiably cruel treatment and even torture. Since all the detainees were born to prominent local families, their relatives and friends soon came to the police station to demand...
The exercise was held with focused objectives in mind, including enhancing interoperability with regional and extra-regional navies
The AMAN series of multinational exercises was launched in 2007 to promote regional cooperation and stability, greater interoperability, and display a united resolve against terrorism and crimes in the maritime domain, including Piracy. AMAN-21 is the 7th such exercise and washeld on 11–16 February 2021 at Karachi, Pakistan. The 8
th
exercise will be held in 2023....
The renewed rivalry between the world powers is fuelling the development of new weapons and military equipment
The renewed rivalry between the world powers, almost formally dubbed the second Cold War now, could not but fuel the development of new weapons and military equipment. Naval forces chose not to stand on the side-lines of this new race, despite a certain conservatism of the hardware they employ, which is predicated on the life cycle these products. Incidentally, many questions that the...
All the large military powers will grant their military space agencies a higher and more autonomous status
In recent years, we have seen a spike in interest in space exploration: revolutionary developments in the space launch services market; new satellite services for various purposes; the introduction the first new manned spacecraft in some time; and the ambitious U.S. crewed moon programme. However, militaries all over the world are also suddenly becoming very interested in outer space.
Alexander...
RIAC and the Middle East Directions Programme of the EUI Robert Schuman Centre for Advanced Studies Report
RIAC and the Middle East Directions Programme of the EUI Robert Schuman Centre for Advanced Studies Report
2020 witnessed the peak of military tensions between the US and Iran since the conclusion of the tanker-war in 1987. The Trump administration’s maximum pressure campaign and Iran’s resistance/retaliation policy have worked to generate collision points one after another. Despite both sides’...
UAE officials have viewed Iran as a danger for many years, which is why Abu Dhabi lobbied the Trump administration to pursue “maximum pressure” against Tehran
Iran condemned the United Arab Emirates for signing the Abraham Accords with Israel last August, with Kayhan Daily, the mouthpiece ultraconservatives in Iran, publicly warning the UAE that it is now “a legitimate and easy target.” Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei even Tweeted #UAEStabsMuslims on Sept. 1, in response to the deal. Subsequently...
... arms control. Extending the New START Treaty without any additional conditions meets the security interests of both sides. All that is needed for this is the political will of Moscow and Washington. Extending the Treaty would not mean that much for international security in and of itself, but it could signal both parties’ readiness to engage in a broad dialogue on key issues of strategic stability. We have no reason to expect any other agreements on arms control in the foreseeable future—only ...
An alliance is a possible option, but the last resort
In Chinese and Russian academic circles, views advocating such an alliance have existed for a long time, but they are not mainstream. The governments of both countries have always adhered to the policy of strategic partnership rather than alliance, and the issue of the alliance is not on the agenda of China-Russia dialogue.
However, at the plenary meeting of the Valdai Club, which was held in October 2020, President Putin said that theoretically...
