France’s vital interests now have a European dimension
At the end of the third year of his presidency, Emmanuel Macron delivered his long-awaited policy speech on the country’s defence and deterrence strategy. The long-awaited indeed: many have been expecting France to step up its nuclear role in recent years, including heading up the establishment of the EU Nuclear Forcete. Did the President deliver on these expectations? Yes and no.
From the get-go, Macron has been keen to play up the historical...
What Did Washington Hope to Achieve? And What Are the Possible Implications of Its Decision?
The Treaty Between the United States of America and the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics on the Elimination of Their Intermediate-Range and Shorter-Range Missiles (INF Treaty) was a cornerstone of the system of bilateral arms control agreements and a key factor in maintaining the fragile balance in the nuclear forces of the two countries. The withdrawal of the United States from the INF Treaty will...
New weapons can have both stabilizing and destabilizing effects
Development of new technologies and weaponization of those is a feature of human history. Today we face new threats, but new weapons can have both stabilizing and destabilizing effects. Hypersonic missiles is one of the most popular topics, but the quality of the debate can and must be improved.
Why all the ‘hyperhype’?
Over the last few years, there has been quite an effort to educate the public about the hypersonic weapons. Some...
Nations who value democracy should stand up and support the people of Crimea.
The partnership between the United States and the Russian Federation is fairly balanced. There is a competitive mixture of agreements and disagreements. In today’s geopolitical climate, tensions can escalate quickly. All it takes is disinformation or a lack of context to irritate international relations. There is more than enough blame to go around for the state of current affairs. That being said, the media is particularly...
US-China rivalry might lead to infrastructure development and be beneficial for the global economy
Since the beginning of 2020, humanity has been shadowed by the fear and panic of COVID-19, which might cause one to neglect some subtle but significant changes in the world. In November 2019, Washing, a non-member of the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), the China-led infrastructure project, launched its “Blue Dot Network” (
BDN
) with Australia and Japan. This project is “a multi-stakeholder initiative...
As the OPEC+ deal has expired, Russia and Saudi Arabia remain at odds, though the United States offered encouraging words that production cuts might be negotiated
The Russian-Saudi feud over oil production has destabilized the market even as the industry faces anemic demand and the potential for a
legion of layoffs
because of the coronavirus pandemic.
On the heels of plummeting prices, the market
rallied April 2
after US President Donald Trump, perhaps prematurely, announced via Twitter that...
Arms Control Today conducted a written interview in early March with Anatoly Antonov, Russian ambassador to the United States on issues including the current status of U.S.-Russian strategic security talks, the future of New START, talks on intermediate-range missile systems, engaging China in arms control, and President Vladimir Putin’s proposal for a summit of the leaders of the five permanent members of the UN Security Council.
Arms Control Today conducted a written interview in early March...
Everyone knew that at the beginning of the epidemic, China tried to keep everything confidential and not tell anyone what was happening. Now, after realizing the actual scale, they changed their behaviour. Today, Russia, America and the rest of the world do not reduce the severity of the virus. Authorities restrict communication between countries and quarantine those who have been in contact with infected people. Companies have reduced or stopped travel, people have postponed their holidays, and...
... to tackle the pandemic is intriguing. Having left the European Union and fully restored British sovereignty, London has set about pursuing its own "national" strategy here too—an approach that included minimal social distancing and a refusal to close restaurants, bars and night clubs. This was done in the hope that elderly people would stay at home, while the rest of the country would catch the virus and thus develop an immunity to it. In the end, President of France Emmanuel Macron ...
... hydrocarbon resources and the Northern Sea Route became the top priority, while in the mid-2010s, those issues were partially eclipsed by Moscow’s new confrontation with Washington and a sharp decline in relations with its NATO allies.
China is thousands of miles away from the Arctic, so its interests in the region differ widely from those of Russia. They primarily stem from China’s position as one of the two leading global powers of the twenty-first century, and, on a more formal level, as a ...
