E-Notes

Distinguishing trend lines from temporary phenomena in Chinese policies has never been easy, but recent events have made it even harder to connect the dots. Simply put, the public face that the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) leadership has heretofore...

The interval between the election and inauguration of Taiwan’s new president has yielded both worrying developments and encouraging signs. Ambiguous signals, competing agendas, mixed messages and complex incentives make it hard to interpret these events, and the high stakes/low...

March 2, 2016 is the day that (finally !) heralded official recognition of Hezbollah as a terrorist organization by an important bloc of countries in the Arab World. The Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) announced their decision to designate the...

Air Force Staff and civilian personnel concentrate on exercise scenarios during “Cyber Guard 2015” in Suffolk, VA. (DoD pchoto by Marvin Lynchard.) The hunt for mobile missiles is getting faster, cheaper, and better.  Long recognized problems with mobile systems...

The Obama administration’s current Russia policy needs a stronger dose of realpolitik. In particular Washington and its G-7 partners should re-evaluate the impact of economic sanctions, imposed on Russia in the wake of its 2014 invasion of Ukraine. Plainly,...

  History indelibly influences foreign policy.  Consciously or unconsciously, government officials rely on their understanding of the past in seeking to address what is happening today; they seek to render new and complex issues more legible by drawing insights...

It might be said that among foreign policy and national security watchers, Donald Trump is a gift that keeps giving....

The March 9-11 state visit to Washington by Canadian PM Justin Trudeau was the first such by a Canadian prime minister in 19 years. Reflecting Trudeau’s rock star persona in Canada, the visit was high on glitz and ceremony,...

The ancient Greeks maintained that divination — how mortals learn the will of the gods — requires inspiration in the form of phrensy or madness. It was thought especially useful when some calamity shows the gods to be displeased....

In September 2015, as part of the festivities marking the 70th anniversary of victory in World War II, Chinese President Xi Jinping announced that the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) would cut 300,000 troops. ...