Category: Foreign Policy

There’s never been any doubt that cyber warfare is a unique facet of the national defense apparatus that comes with unique challenges and equally specific best practices. However, there’s something to be said for the Naval tradition of firing “a shot across the bow” of your opponent. The phrase usually refers to firing a warning […]

Mexico—A migrant caravan comprised of more than seven thousand Central Americans is headed toward the U.S.-Mexico border. Like a cascading snowball, the caravan has increased in size and visibility with every mile northward. It all began when around 150 Honduran migrants grouped to have better security for their trek north. As they hitched rides, their […]

Recently, the political courtship between North and South Korea led to the two states signing an agreement that, among other things, establishes a no-fly zone in the vicinity of the North and South Korean border. This military accord has been hailed by some as a landmark step toward North Korea’s eventual denuclearization. After all, a […]

In 1987, President Ronald Reagan and the last Soviet leader, Mikhail Gorbachev, signed the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty — a document widely known today as simply the INF treaty. The breadth of the treaty pertained to ground-launched, medium-range missiles that could engage targets between 300 and 3,400 miles away. It was part of a broader […]

“Actions are dictated by decisions, decisions are based on perceptions, and perceptions are subject to manipulation. That is the basis of the Perception Wars.” Alex Hollings’ Perception Wars describes how foreign governments are trying to shape American public opinion by manipulating their perceptions. Hollings singles out Russia and China and their ongoing information operations (IO) on […]

In August, Google executives chose to yield to internal and external pressure and cut ties with the United States Defense Department on an initiative that aimed at bringing a Google image search-like capability to the intelligence feeds human analysts currently sift through in hopes of locating high-value targets or identifying behavioral trends. The project, which […]

Many people tend to think of Russian influence campaigns as overt forms of messaging that are easily discerned by the well-informed audience. The truth of the matter is, however, Russian influence comes in many forms — and most often, from Americans themselves that share narratives that are in keeping with their own sense of political […]

Moscow, Russia—Could U.S. sanctions be benefiting the Russian economy instead of hurting it? President Trump’s recent decision to impose yet another wave of sanctions on Iran over its nuclear program has Russian energy oligarchs and government officials rubbing their hands with pleasure. This new wave of sanctions is scheduled for early November. Iran and Russia […]

Nikki Haley, U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations, announced her resignation on Tuesday. President Trump, who referred to Haley as a “fantastic person” in a joint press conference following the announcement, said Haley first indicated that she planned to leave six months ago. Her tenure as America’s ambassador to the U.N. will conclude at the […]

Russia recently announced that they would be halting production on their latest and most technologically advanced main battle tank, the T-14 Armata, in favor of lower cost programs like updating their existing fleet of T-72 tanks. The problem with the T-14, like the nation’s stealthy fifth-generation fighter, the Su-57, isn’t that the platform doesn’t seem […]

China is emerging from the deep slumber it has been in for the past centuries. Slowly and awkwardly, the Asian dragon is exerting itself ever surer on the geopolitical chessboard. The weapons of choice are economic, diplomatic, and military—carefully and shrewdly arranged in that order. China understands that it can’t compete militarily with the United States—not […]

On Thursday, the Justice Department announced the indictment of seven Russian intelligence officials, as accusations and allegations regarding Russia’s intelligence community continue to mount. All seven defendants are members of Russia’s GRU, KGB’s successor and rough equivalent to the CIA. The charges include hacking, wire fraud, identity theft, and money laundering carried out in an […]