Category: Expert Analysis

Abkhazia held a presidential election this past Sunday. Outside of the dwindling circle of Western Caucasus observers, few noted the importance of the election or even that it occurred. Why does it matter? The Caucasus is a pivotal region and the geographic point where the geostrategic interests of several prospective hegemons, countries with long-term interests […]

Canada took the world by surprise when Prime Minister Stephen Harper announced a 4.5 million-dollar military aid package to be delivered to Ukraine around the same time Russian strongman Vladimir Putin revealed his country’s plan to send in a mysterious “humanitarian aid convoy” consisting of over 250 vehicles that suspiciously look like military trucks painted […]

Traditionally, threatening a neighbouring nation to rain down fire on them used to be the stuff of official channels and quite obvious foreign policy actions – recalling ambassadors, cutting off diplomatic ties, saber-rattling speeches in Parliament, broadcast on all major radio and TV networks. On August 7, Azerbaijan President Ilham Aliyev took the game to […]

Looking at the way the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria has now taken over roughly a third of Syrian territory, while also controlling a quarter of Iraq, I can’t help but see a strangely familiar scenario since this Islamic Caliphate has now been proclaimed. Last week, I watched VICE News’ feature documentary, “The Islamic […]

“War is politics by other means.”  This is probably the most oft-quoted of Clausewitz’s writings.  But politics can interfere with war far more than it informs it. One of the most obvious examples would be President Obama’s address concerning the authorization of airstrikes in Iraq on August 7.  “I ran for this office in part […]

Buried beneath the wall-to-wall coverage of the war in Gaza, the simmering conflict in Eastern Ukraine, the plight of Yezidis beset upon by the barbaric hordes of ISIS, the ebola outbreak in Africa, and the media’s insistence on ignoring the war in Afghanistan was an important (and yet largely unrecognized) event this past month in […]

Everyone knows that the Arctic is a big land filled with oil, natural resources and, most importantly, water.  It is also the ground of future warfare – the Russian and the Chinese both have their eyes fixed on the rich environment the Arctic’s resources could provide them, while Canada has been claiming most of it […]

Last week we wrote about whether or not the airstrikes in Iraq against ISIS had a chance to be effective and what their objectives and scope should be. As it turns out, we were pretty much spot on. ISIS has presented itself as a juicy target for airstrikes and since the air efforts began on […]

On August 16, US airstrikes in the vicinity of Mosul Dam began. Previously, airstrikes had largely been centered on protecting Erbil, where the US Consulate is located, and some in support of humanitarian relief operations on Sinjar Mt. The limited authorization for strikes “in support of humanitarian operations and to protect US personnel and facilities” […]

For the uninitiated, RUMINT stands for “Rumor-based Intelligence.”  It is the grapevine, the Lance Corporal Underground, the mysterious pathways by which information gets around before higher’s even aware that it’s out there. With social media and so-called “New Media,” RUMINT has gotten more pervasive than ever.  Now you can find up-to-the-minute reports of what is […]

In Part One of this series, Russia and the West: NATO (Birth, Adulthood, and Evolution), I examined the history of the Atlantic Alliance, its hallmark moments, and how the mission of the alliance has shifted from collective defense to collective security since its inception in 1949. Additionally, I touched on the issue of enlargement, noting […]

I’m taking the opportunity to digress from my usual international relations pieces today for an opportunity to write an opinion piece. In completing a graduate program in the study of foreign policy, students are inevitably faced with the task of ranking the foreign policy successes, failures, and management styles of American presidents. Writers are also […]