#military

I’m currently in Tromsø, Norway where the Arctic Frontiers conference is taking place all week at the local university. Today’s program featured several high-level politicians, including the foreign minsters of Norway and Sweden, the Canadian Minister of Health and the Canadian Northern Economic Development Agency, the Deputy Secretary of Russia’s Security Council, and the Lieutenant […]

Canada’s Arctic/Offshore Patrol Ships (AOPS) have been in the pipeline for five years. Now, Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s government has signed a CAN $9.3. million contract with the Nova Scotia-based Irving Shipbuilding to begin work on the vessels. It’s an important first step as for a while, even the number of AOPS Canada would acquire […]

North American Arctic nations are busy researching new developments in northern technology. As I mentioned recently, the U.S. is trying to develop a “Knight Rider” vehicle for Alaska. Now, Northrop Grumman, the American defense company, is trying to sell a modified version of its Block 30 RQ-4B Global Hawk, a type of surveillance drone, to […]

Boko Haram continued their killing on Sunday, 10 June 2012, when a suicide bomber blew up his car outside a church and gunmen opened fire on another service in Nigeria. At the same time, there is a fierce debate in Washington whether to designate the activities of the Islamic sect, Boko Haram as a Foreign […]

It’s been quite a week in West Africa. As mentioned earlier this month, Mali is facing its share of troubles since the fall of Muammar Gaddafi in neighboring Libya. Observers knew that the return of Tuareg fighters from Libya would likely increase tensions in northern Mali and perhaps lead to a new Tuareg rebellion. However […]

Geoff Porter’s op-ed in the International Herald Tribune provides an outstanding discussion on Libya’s new electoral law (view the law in Arabic) and its implications for the government’s ability to democratically represent citizens, encourage political unity, and further disarmament, demobilization, and reintegration (DDR) of former fighters. In sum, Porter highlights concerns that surround the law’s exclusion of […]

With sanctions against the Islamic Republic of Iran gaining greater momentum and the impact of the closure of the Strait of Hormuz by Iran looming large in the global economy, a key question remains whether or not the Islamic Republic will ink a deal to extricate itself from increasingly biting sanctions and ensure its survival, […]

The Congressional Subcommittee on Coast Guard and Maritime Transportation, part of the Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, held a hearing on Thursday, December 1 on U.S. Coast Guard operations in the Arctic. The chief topic of concern was icebreakers. As I reported back in February, the U.S. will be without heavy icebreakers for at least two […]

Chief of Staff General Işık Koşaner and all of the force commanders of the Turkish Armed Forces resigned by 18:00 EET today (July 29, 2011). This is considered as the biggest protest in Turkish republican military history and the first time that the Chief of Staff has resigned together with the commanders of the navy […]

Readers of this blog will find there is little new to be discussed in the much anticipated China Military Policy White Paper [Full English Text here.]    The paper was released 2 months late because military experts in Beijing wanted to take the time to add additional  nationalist spin to give additional consideration to specific issues […]

U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates recently traveled to China in hopes of lowering tensions and reestablishing high level bilateral military ties between China and the United States.  This comes on the heels of increasing border tension between China and its neighbors.  One of those neighbors , America’s strongest ally in the region, is Japan.   The […]

The incoming chairwoman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, Ileana Ros-Lehtinen signaled a few weeks ago that State Department and foreign aid programs will most likely be cut when she assumes the chairmanship in 2011. In a recent statement, Ros-Lehtinen laid out her agenda, “I have identified and will propose a number of cuts to […]