James Holmes Methinks the U.S. Navy has contracted some weird allergy to fleet experimentation. Why else would service potentates retire a promising experimental aircraft like the X-47B unmanned combat air system demonstrator, or UCAS-D, in its infancy? Experimentation, of course, is the process of testing some tactic, concept, …

By Khalid AL Jaber The GCC summit to be held in Riyadh this week comes at a critical time for our region. The Yemen crisis is still going on, airstrikes have not stopped even after the end of Decisive Storm Operation, and the news of an Iran nuclear …

By Ishaan Tharoor West African nation would be sending a detachment of 2,100 troops to Saudi Arabia as part of an international coalition cobbled together by the kingdom in its war effort in neighboring Yemen. In late March, Saudi Arabia commenced airstrikes on Yemen’s Houthi rebels, who had …

By James R. Holmes As weaponeers, budgeteers, and lawmakers wage their annual death match over the defense budget, here’s some input from the margins of Fight Club. And yes, I know the first and second rules of Fight Club. But no one obeys them inside the Beltway, and …

By BRIAN CLOUGHLEY Boris Nemtsov was a Russian politician who was shot dead in Moscow on January 27, 2015.  He was opposed to Russia’s government and its leader and therefore, according to Western dogma of these times, his murder must have been ordered by President Putin. Police began …

“Innumerable analysts have predicted that the twenty-first century will belong to China, yet it seems worth considering whether the current millennium will not belong at least equally to India.” Christopher Whalen Back in August of last year, TNI described why India’s economic prospects are brighter than those of …

Yuri Poluneev Ukraine’s economy is in crisis. Experts warn that the country’s gross domestic product could shrink by 6 to 12 percent and inflation could exceed 40 percent in 2015, although one prominent economist put that figure in triple digits already. The war in eastern Ukraine has throttled the country’s …

Russian defense officials’ plans to build a supercarrier have been scrutinized at home and abroad. However, the idea could have a surprisingly practical side. A new article in Newsweek rekindled rumors from March that Russia could be building a new supercarrier. The article notes that Russia has no strategic need …

Saudi Arabia’s King Salman’s bold steps to consolidate power might trigger backlash from his rivals.  New steps taken by King Salman bin Abdel Aziz al-Saud might lead to a possible political storm in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, Intelligence Review IHS Jane’s 360 reported. The reason to expect political disorder within Saudi governing circles …