Military & Security

PAMELA ENGEL Business Insider The head of the Islamic State is still incapacitated from a spinal injury, and the new leader of the terrorist group is intent on “fighting back” against Europe, according to a new report by Martin Chulov in The Guardian. Kareem Shaheen at The Guardian …

By: Mary Habeck In my first post on the quarrel between al-Qaeda and ISIS (the Islamic State of Iraq and Sham), I laid out the depth of the problem facing al-Qaeda. In this post, I’ll take a brief look back at the origins and root causes of the …

Alexander Korolkov After the collapse of the Soviet Union, the Russian Navy was degraded and to all intents and purposes became nothing more than a coastal fleet. Today, due to limited economic resources, Russia has to focus on protecting its longest coastline – the Arctic. With this in …

BY NABEEL KHOURY President Barack Obama, in his interview with Tom Friedman on April 5, was at his intellectual best. He convincingly explained the framework agreement with Iran while stressing serious strategic disagreement with Iran’s Supreme Leader Ali Khamene’i. Tom Friedman, in turn, was at his diplomatic best, …

Fenella McGerty, Senior Defence Budgets Analyst, IHS Aerospace, Defence & Security – IHS Jane’s Defence Weekly Key points: France’s announcement goes even further than Germany’s plan to increase spending by EUR1.9 billion over 2015-2016. While many countries in Eastern Europe have already increased spending, we may finally be …

Zachary Keck The Buzz China has conducted the first test flight of a new, upgraded version of its J-11 fighter jet. According to Russian media outlets, which cited unnamed Chinese reports, on Wednesday the People’s Liberation Army Air Force conducted the first flight tests of its J-11D fighter …

Kyle Mizokami The Russian Army is back. Like a bear awakening from hibernation, the Russian Ground Forces are shrugging off decades of neglect with a rearmament program designed to make it once again the most powerful army in Eurasia. Russia’s ten-year armament program, scheduled to run through 2020 …

Peter Harris China has been “weaponized” in U.S. domestic politics. This is evident in the current debate over the proposed Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP).  For even though China is not a prospective member of the TPP, an incipient trade agreement among twelve Asia-Pacific nations, this has not stopped proponents …

By Gilad Shiloach The Vocativ ISIS is urging its fighters in Syria to move to the front-lines of its battle in Iraq, where the extremist organization has been losing intense battles against Iraqi security forces, according to documents obtained by Syrian groups fighting the terrorists. “The crusader, the …