Europe & Russia

Russia, the United States, and the Caucasus Dr R Craig Nation Monograph by the US Army War College, Strategic Studies Institute "The Caucasus region consists of the new independent states of the Southern Caucasus (Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia) and the Russian federal region of the Northern Caucasus, including war-torn Chechnya. In the post-Soviet period, it has become one of the most volatile and potentially unstable regions in world politics. Fragile state structures, a series of unresolved or “frozen” secessionist conflicts, and widespread poverty generate popular dissatisfaction and political instability. The region covers a major “fault line” between Christian and Islamic civilizations, and confessional rivalry, together with the rise of Islamic radicalism, have become sources of friction. Despite these inherent challenges, the hydrocarbon reserves of the Caspian basin also have attracted significant great power competitive engagement."

Rosoboroneksport: Arms Sales and the Structure of Russian Defense Industry Dr Stephen J Blank Monograph by the US Army War College, Strategic Studies Institute "This monograph focuses on the relationships between the state and Russia’s defense industrial sector, particularly Rosoboroneksport (ROE), the main state agency for arms sales. ROE is more than a seller of weapons; rather, it has become an industrial behemoth that is monopolizing whole sectors of this industry on behalf of the state. Its activities reflect the fundamental nature of the Russian state’s relationship to the economy, which increasingly is regressing to tsarist or even Soviet models in some respects. In this respect, defense, like energy, is a vital sector of the Russian economy that the state intends to control directly. And the Putin regime has implemented a conscious strategy of increasing state control over more and more branches of industry beyond those two sectors."

Russian Nonproliferation Policy and the Korean Peninsula Dr Yong-Chool Ha, Dr Beom-Shik Shin Monograph by the US Army War College, Strategic Studies Institute "One of the key challenges of our time is the threat posed to the security of Northeast Asia by North Korea’s nuclear proliferation. Efforts to resolve this problem through the medium of a six-party negotiation are proceeding with great difficulty. As in any multilateral process, a major problem is understanding the goals and perspectives of each of the participants. One of those participants is Russia, and this monograph focuses upon Moscow’s perspectives with regard to North Korea’s nuclear program and Russia’s own standing in Northeast Asia. This monograph makes a valuable contribution to the debate or analysis of the difficult issues connected with North Korea’s nuclear proliferation because the views of Russia, and of the other participants in those negotiations, unfortunately are not well-known or readily available in the United States."

The NATO-Russia Partnership: A Marriage of Convenience or a Troubled Relationship? Dr Stephen J Blank Monograph by the US Army War College, Strategic Studies Institute "Four years after the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO)-Russia Council came into being, it represents a picture in ambivalence and incomplete realization of partnership. This monograph focuses on the Russian side of this growing estrangement. It finds the Russian roots of this ambivalence in the increasingly visible manifestations of an autocratic and neo-imperial Russian state and foreign and defense policy. These strong trends in Russian policy inhibit the formation of a genuine security partnership that can provide for Eurasian security in the face of multiple contemporary threats."

Russia, Iran, and the Nuclear Question: The Putin Record Dr Robert O Freedman Monograph by the US Army War College, Strategic Studies Institute "Vladimir Putin inherited a strong Russian-Iranian relationship from his predecessor, Boris Yeltsin. Russia made major arms agreements with Iran under Yeltsin, selling Tehran jet planes, tanks, and submarines, and also began building a nuclear reactor for Iran at Bushehr. The two countries also cooperated on regional issues such as Tajikistan and Afghanistan, and Yeltsin valued the low Iranian profile during the first Chechen war (1994-96)."

Russian Defense Reform: Current Trends Dr Irina Isakova Monograph by the US Army War College, Strategic Studies Institute "This monograph is another in the series of studies on aspects of Russian defense and foreign policy being published by the Strategic Studies Institute (SSI). These monographs derive from a conference that was jointly sponsored by the Strategic Studies Institute; the Ellison Center for Russian, East European, and Central Asian Studies at the Jackson School of International Studies at the University of Washington; the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory’s Pacific Northwest Center for Global Studies; and the Institute for Global and Regional Security Studies. This conference, titled “The U.S. and Russia: Regional Security Issues and Interests,” was held in Washington, DC, on April 24-26, 2006, and examined many different regional dimensions of this bilateral relationship."

Ukraine After the Orange Revolution: Can It Complete Military Transformation and Join the U.S.-Led War on Terrorism? Dr Deborah Sanders Monograph by the US Army War College, Strategic Studies Institute "Ukraine is located at a pivotal crossroads in Europe between east and west and has the potential to play an important role in combatting terrorism in two ways. First, by consolidating democracy and democratic control over its armed forces, Ukraine can be a stabilizing force in Eurasia. Second, the country can contribute toward the defeat of terrorism by developing niche capabilities, particularly in its peacekeeping forces. Dr. Deborah Sanders, the author of this External Research Associates Program (ERAP) monograph, argues that for Ukraine to be an effective U.S. ally in the war on terror, it must engage in comprehensive military transformation..."

Is Eurasia's Security Order at Risk? Dr Stephen J Blank Op-Ed by the US Army War College, Strategic Studies Institute "The foundation stones of European and Eurasian security are the series of treaties beginning with the Helsinki treaty of 1975 and its extension at Moscow in 1991; the 1987 Washington Treaty on Intermediate Nuclear forces in Europe (INF); the 1990 Paris Treaty on Conventional Forces in Europe (CFE), extended in 1999; and the Paris and Rome treaties between NATO and Russia in 1997 and 2002. However, some, if not all, of these treaties are apparently at risk. In 2005 Russian Defense Minister Sergei Ivano, told U.S. Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld that Russia was thinking of withdrawing from the INF Treaty. Although nothing came of this gambit, a lower-ranking Russian general restated this interest in early, 2006, obviously at his superiors’ instigation."

Iron Troikas: The New Threat from the East Dr Richard J Krickus Monograph by the US Army War College, Strategic Studies Institute "There has been widespread discussion of Russia’s efforts to exploit its energy assets to influence developments in Ukraine; specifically, to put pressure on the leaders of the Orange Revolution who have adopted a Western orientation, rather than one toward the East—Russia. Less attention has been devoted to similar efforts undertaken by Russia to advance Moscow’s security objectives in the East Baltic Sea Region (EBSR). Through what the author of this monograph, Dr. Richard Krickus, calls Iron Troikas, he demonstrates how the Russian leadership has exploited its energy assets to advance its security interests in the vital EBSR—with emphasis on Poland and the Baltic countries."