Publications

Beginning about three years ago in Tunisia, and spreading to a number of other Arab countries thereafter, what has become known (unfortunately) as the “Arab Spring” took experts, locals and media observers of all stripes by surprise. The reason...

It’s 3 a.m. Most people are sleeping or at least are trying to. Perhaps a few are having one last drink. But few ever hear the following words and fewer hear them at 3 a.m.: “We need to talk....

Introduction “The Far East and Baikal are a strategic bridgehead of Russia, ensuring her military-political and economic influence in the Asia-Pacific region. The federal government and regions of the Russian Federation should jointly make huge efforts to give this...

After two-and-a-half years of steadily metastasizing violence in Syria, the harsh reality is that the country isn’t going to become a stable, unified state again in the foreseeable future, let alone a remotely democratic one. It may be time...

Professional Military Education (PME), the Department of Defense (DOD) funded system through which most military officers receive their mandated post-commission education, has recently been the focus of considerable scrutiny, including assertions that PME is broken. Journalist Tom Ricks suggested...

Egypt’s new de facto pharaoh, General Abdel-Fattah al-Sisi, is a man of mystery.  Is he an Islamist, or a nationalist?  Is he a person of high principle, or a lowly opportunist? And in a land which has known five thousand years...

When I was commissioned a Marine Corps officer in 1998, I was told to believe non-state entities were dangerous to U.S. national security.  Whether forecasting the end of history or the clash of civilizations, the foreign policy scholars my...

The American Interest The vote by the 5,000-member American Studies Association to support the academic boycott of Israel, reportedly by a 2-1 margin, has evoked many responses, but none so far has identified the irony at the core of...

“This is not primarily a military relationship” answered the U.S. ambassador in Manila when asked about the relations between the Philippines and the United States.  Perhaps not, but its military aspects have certainly gained greater prominence in recent years. ...

INTRODUCTION  Mexico’s President Enrique Peña Nieto got off to a promising start after his December 1, 2012, inauguration.  In a deft stroke, he created a “Pact for Mexico.” This accord provides a framework for the chief executive’s once-hegemonic Institutional...