Anthony Cordesman, CSIS
The Burke Chair at CSIS has released a new analysis on U.S. strategy with Iran, which shows that the U.S. must consider a range of critical issues that will not be solved by simply renewing the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA). This assessment provides figures on Iran's current conventional strike capabilities, Iran's older unguided delivery systems, a comparison between Iran's aging Air Force and the Arab gulf countries' air modernization, as well an annex... Читать дальше...
Chongyi Feng, The Conversation
The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) is in full swing to prepare for the 100th anniversary of its founding this week, with an intense publicity push to crow about its achievements.
Orville Schell, Foreign Affairs
July 23 marks the 100th anniversary of the Chinese Communist Party, which was founded in Shanghai in 1921. The first party congress was attended by, among others, a 27-year-old Mao Zedong, who had made an arduous journey from his inland Hunan Province. This summer, China will hold an epic celebration to honor the occasion. Although the party will forgo a military parade in Tiananmen Square (lest it appear too militaristic), the jingoistic Global Times explained... Читать дальше...
Jana Puglierin, Internationale Politik Quarterly
Angela Merkel had the advantage that during her 16 years at the helm, Germany was spared the economic and political upheaval many of its neighbors experienced, making her brokering EU leadership possible. Her successors may not be so lucky.
Pavel Slunkin, ECFR
The arrest of Raman Pratasevich changed the calculus for EU capitals, which agreed new sanctions with real bite. The EU could finally be succeeding in its search for strategic sovereignty.
Rasha Al Aqeedi, New York Times
In the early hours of April 10, 2003, I had taken refuge in what was — for me — the safest place in the world: the floor of my parents' bedroom in our home in Mosul, Iraq.
James Jay Carafano, 1945
Historic figures never outlive those who write their obituaries. A long career in public service—one filled with momentous decisions—guarantees one thing: there will be wildly divergent assessments of that career, each reflecting the beliefs and biases of the person rendering judgment.
Matt Latimer, Politico
Donald Rumsfeld fired me once.
I had been his chief speechwriter for two years when he was George W. Bush's secretary of defense and in his retirement we were working together on his memoir. Now that collaboration was ending abruptly. He didn't enjoy firing me—"stepping back" from each other as he put it—but he delivered the decision in his usual no BS, cards-on-the-table manner.
George Packer, The Atlantic
America's worst secretary of defense never expressed a quiver of regret.
Rush Doshi, Foreign Policy
China's quest for rejuvenation dates back more than a century.
Daniel Flitton, Lowy Interpreter
The countless observations about the quips of Donald Rumsfeld, who has died aged 88, should not obscure his central role in the catastrophe of the 2003 Iraq invasion. "Known unknowns" became the most famous, even serving as the title for an Errol Morris documentary. But Rumsfeld's pugnacious gift for a pithy quote also delivered "
A. Lowenthal & J. Jaquette, GA
How did this agonizing choice come about? And what is Castillo's extremely narrow apparent victory—by a mere 0.42 percent of total votes cast—likely to mean for Peru?
Dmitry Gorenburg, Russia Matters
On June 23, the HMS Defender—a British Type 45 destroyer—was involved in a confrontation with the Russian military while sailing near the Crimean Peninsula. The ship was in the Black Sea to participate in NATO's Sea Breeze exercise. Prior to the start of the exercise, it had completed a port visit to the Ukrainian port of Odesa and was on its way to make a similar port visit to Batumi, Georgia. As...
Bolor Lkhaajav, WPR
In a presidential election on June 9, voters in Mongolia handed a landslide victory to former Prime Minister Ukhnaagiin Khurelsukh of the ruling Mongolian People's Party, or MPP. Buoyed by a strong campaign in which he promised to firmly address the country's endemic corruption, empower its youth and equitably allocate its rich natural resources, Khurelsukh took 67 percent of the vote—the largest winning share since Mongolia's democratic transition in 1990. He was sworn... Читать дальше...
Kaush Arha, Atlantic Council
US President Joe Biden's first overseas tour, comprising the Group of Seven (G7), NATO, and United States-European Union (EU) summits, was a laudable lap of shoring up US allies in the defense of democracy, as they confront the resurgent autocracy of China and its friends Russia, Iran, North Korea, and Venezuela. The transatlantic alliance, along with the Quad (the United States, India, Japan, and Australia) nations committed to a free and open Indo-Pacific, find... Читать дальше...
Christian Whiton, National Interest
Plenty will rush to blame Rumsfeld for the shortcomings of the U.S. invasions of Afghanistan and Iraq, conducted respectively in 2001 and 2003 on his watch. But there is an alternate view: that those extremely complex military missions were conducted magnificently and only later turned to disaster at the hands of establishment mediocrities other than Rumsfeld.
Richard Aboulafia, Foreign Policy
Snazzy weapons mean a lot less if you don't have friends.
