Energy security and NATO: a view from Washington
What you see depends on where you are standing…and the view of energy security from here on the banks of the Potomac River, is surely quite different from that on the banks of the Seine, the Thames, the Vistula, or of Faxafloi Bay. READ MORE
Terrorism and the Taliban
The cold-blooded shooting of Malala Yousufzai, the girls’ rights activist, by a Taliban hit man has led to an unusual outcry in Pakistan against this “bestial”, “obscene” and “horrendous” act of terrorism. This commendable popular revulsion, emanating from religious and political parties, as well as the military leadership, can crystallise effective action against the perpetrators of terrorist violence in Pakistan. READ MORE
NATO Defence Ministers make progress on capabilities, planning for new Afghan mission
NATO Defence Ministers took stock of progress in improving Allied defence capabilities and endorsed the first stage of planning for the post-2014 training and assistance mission in Afghanistan, in a two-day meeting in Brussels. READ MORE
Why NATO matters for you
Speech by NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen at the City College of New York. READ MORE
One of the most serious and large-scale problems of the XXI century
This year marks 67 years since the end of World War II. Each year the quantity of witnesses of this horror is becoming less and less, and for most of our contemporaries the events of the past years are forgotten at all and only one day in a year recalls so terrible period of history. But we should not forget about that, because the difference between history and modernity, as it was said by former U.S. Vice President Walter Mondale, is that "we will have no veterans of World War III". READ MORE
Gabala radar station is not worth a brass farthing?
In late 2012, the lease term of Gabala radar station expires. Azerbaijan insists on inherently disadvantageous for Russia conditions of the contract extension. Previously Moscow paid Baku $ 7.5 million per year, but now Baku demands $ 300 million. At the same time, the lease term reduces from 49 to 7 years. Russian Defense Ministry, in order to optimize costs, has decided to close the Russian sector of the school and hospital, sending families of the officers away from Azerbaijan. The officers' wives took it as a disaster and began to appeal to all authorities. One of the recipients was the military commentator of "Nezavisimaya Gazeta" Viktor Litovkin. GTimes reporter spoke with him on the problems of the Gabala radar station. READ MORE
Crisis Threats Defense Capacity of NATO States
Global economic recession strikes recently “healthy” spheres – defense, security and MIC. Moreover, reduction of expenses on army and defense becomes a more “popular” anti-crisis decision in political circles of the countries of the both sides of the Atlantic Ocean. READ MORE
Terror, coercion and foreign policy
More than ten years after the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, counterterrorism practitioners, academics and policymakers are still struggling to understand what motivates men who have spent their formative and early adult years in Western urban settings – like London, Toronto, Copenhagen, New York or Madrid – to turn against the countries of their citizenship or residence and attack them. READ MORE
NATO in South Caucasus: Pragmatism or Farewell to Illusions?
A few years ago the subject of NATO’s role in regional policy in South Caucasus was one of the key within estimations and declarations of many politician, experts and reporters involved into the region. The August Russian-Georgian war of 2008, world financial-economic crisis, “Arab spring” and return of “classic” geopolitics into the region have changed the priority of perception of the North Atlantic Alliance in South Caucasus. NATO is already perceived by South Caucasian countries not the way as it was in the first part of 2000. In its turn Brussels also already not that ambitiously targets at South Caucasus. READ MORE
New Lithuanian National Security Strategy
On 26 June the Lithuanian Seimas approved draft National Security Strategy. “This is a much more realistic Strategy: the evaluation of Lithuania’s security environment in the current Strategy is rather “euphoric”, whereas in the new draft this evaluation is more careful", said Rasa Juknevičienė, the minister of national defense while presenting a draft Strategy to the Seimas. READ MORE
