Asia Pacific

China-Russia Security Relations: Strategic Parallelism without Partnership or Passion? Dr Richard Weitz Monograph by the US Army War College, Strategic Studies Institute "Chinese-Russian security relations directly concern many subjects of interest to the Strategic Studies Institute. These areas include regional conflicts, nonproliferation issues, and military force balances. Given the importance of these two countries in international affairs, however, almost any foreign policy action of their governments affects some American national interest. For almost 2 decades, China and Russia have been strengthening their security ties. Nonetheless, as this monograph makes clear, the relationship between Beijing and Moscow remains in flux. In some cases, they share overlapping interests. In other instances, they compete for power and wealth, particularly for oil and gas resources."

Baloch Nationalism and the Geopolitics of Energy Resources: The Changing Context of Separatism in Pakistan Dr Robert J Wirsing Monograph by the US Army War College, Strategic Studies Institute "Today the quest for energy security stands at or near the top of most nations’ foreign policy agendas. For energy-dependent countries lacking sufficient energy resources of their own, achieving energy security is a formidable problem. Pakistan, currently the world’s sixth most heavily populated nation, is one such country. To ensure its energy future, its government is active on several fronts, including efforts to more fully exploit the country’s own energy resources, to negotiate the construction of transstate natural gas pipelines, and to build a new coastal seaport at Gwadar, an ambitious project which its developers hope will enable Pakistan to occupy an important place in the emerging Asian energy refining and distribution system."

Building for the Future: China's Progress in Space Technology during the Tenth 5-Year Plan and the U.S. Response Mr Kevin Pollpeter Monograph by the US Army War College, Strategic Studies Institute "China’s space program has achieved spectacular success in recent years. Since 2003 China has launched two human space flight missions, destroyed a satellite with a direct ascent anti-satellite weapon, and launched a moon orbiter. In this monograph, Mr. Kevin Pollpeter assesses China’s rise as a space power and its implications for the United States. He argues that China’s use of space power is part of an integrated approach to increasing its comprehensive national power and achieving great power status. As a result, China’s increasing space power challenges the United States militarily, economically, commercially, and politically."

Projecting Pyongyang: The Future of North Korea's Kim Jong Il Regime Dr Andrew Scobell Monograph by the US Army War College, Strategic Studies Institute "This monograph considers the future trajectory of the Pyongyang regime and explores a range of future scenarios. It does not consider the future of North Korea as a geographic or territorial entity. Some analysts and observers discuss the future without clarifying whether they are discussing the country of North Korea or the Pyongyang regime. In this monograph, the focus is on the fate of the regime dominated by the Kim Dynasty, initially ruled by Kim Il Sung and then led by his son, Kim Jong Il, following the former’s death in 1994. A fundamental assumption is that the regime will collapse. Thus, the key question is not whether the regime will collapse, but when and how it will collapse. The logic behind this assumption is based on this author’s assessment that the Kim regime is a totalitarian one, and that such a regime has a limited life span. However, this collapse may be a long and drawn out process that could very well play out over a period of years or even over the course of a decade or more."

The Political Context Behind Successful Revolutionary Movements, Three Case Studies: Vietnam (1955-63), Algeria (1945-62), and Nicaragua (1967-79) LTC Raymond A Millen Monograph by the US Army War College, Strategic Studies Institute "Lieutenant Colonel Raymond Millen examines the extent to which some states create the conditions for revolutionary movements to flourish. Employing Jeff Goodwin’s analytical framework for exploring the political context behind revolutionary movements, Lieutenant Colonel Millen explores how the governments in Vietnam (1955-63), Algeria (1945-62), and Nicaragua (1967-79) unintentionally empowered revolutionary movements, resulting in these governments’ demise. He supplements Goodwin’s framework by including an examination of the insurgent leadership’s political-military acumen. "

The North Korean Ballistic Missile Program Dr Daniel A Pinkston Monograph by the US Army War College, Strategic Studies Institute "North Korean ballistic missiles are a direct threat to Northeast Asian security, and North Korean missile proliferation poses a threat to other regions, particularly the Middle East and South Asia. North Korea is an isolated and authoritarian one-party state; the political system is based upon an extraordinary personality cult that idolizes current leader, Kim Jong Il (Kim Chŏng-il), and his deceased father, Kim Il Sung (Kim Il-sŏng). Several factors have contributed to Pyongyang’s chronic insecurity including national division, the Korean War, the international politics of the Cold War, and doubts about the commitments of its alliance partners."

Pakistan's Nuclear Future: Worries Beyond War Mr Henry D Sokolski Book by the US Army War College, Strategic Studies Institute "This volume was completed just before Pakistani President Musharraf imposed a state of emergency in November 2007. The political turmoil that followed raised concerns that Pakistan’s nuclear assets might be vulnerable to diversion or misuse. This book, which consists of research that the Nonproliferation Policy Education Center (NPEC) commissioned and vetted in 2006 and 2007, details precisely what these worries might be."

The “People” in the PLA: Recruitment, Training, and Education in China's 80-Year-Old Military Mr Justin B Liang, Dr Sarah K Snyder Colloquium Brief by the US Army War College, Strategic Studies Institute, with The National Bureau of Asian Research "On September 28, 2007, more than 60 leading experts on China’s People’s Liberation Army (PLA) convened at Carlisle Barracks, Pennsylvania, for a 2-day discussion on “The ‘People’ in the PLA: Recruitment, Training, and Education in China’s 80-Year-Old Military.” The 2007 PLA Conference, conducted by The National Bureau of Asian Research and the Strategic Studies Institute of the U.S. Army War College, sought to investigate the 80-year-old military’s human infrastructure, identifying trends in PLA recruitment, education and training, demographics, and historical perspectives."

East Asian Security: Two Views Dr Gilbert Rozman, Dr Chu Shulong Monograph by the US Army War College, Strategic Studies Institute "Northeast Asia is the most dynamic sector of the global economy, and the most dynamic element is undoubtedly the rise of China. However, in this region conflicts dating back to the Cold War have not yet found resolution. The imbalance between economic progress and political stagnation ensures that international affairs pose many challenges to governments and to students alike. The two papers herein, originally presented at the Strategic Studies Institute’s 2007 annual Strategy Conference, highlight the challenges posed by the rise of China and by the new possibility for making progress on Korean issues due to the SixParty Agreements on North Korean proliferation of February 13, 2007."