Next time you think the Russians are paranoid for believing that NATO might attack them, keep this in mind: Jüri Saar has an article titled “The Future of Königsberg” in Diplomaatia, which is an Estonian think tank publication. In this he argues that the 1975 Helsinki Accords are no longer valid, and that Kaliningrad is […]
Archives for March 2018
HMS Ocean retired and sold to Brazil
HMS Ocean was retired from the Royal Navy today. The helicopter carrier officially left service at a ceremony at HM Naval Base Devonport with the participation of Queen Elizabeth. Ocean has been the flagship of the Royal Navy since it was commissioned into service in 1998. Now she will be handed off to Brazil for […]
On the scholarship-policy gap in foreign politics
John Glaser has written an interesting commentary on War on the Rocks under the title “Truth, Power, and the Academy: A response to Hal Brands”. It is about the relationship between academic expertise and the political establishment in the United States. Last fall, Hal Brands wrote an article in The American Interest in which he […]
Book review: Near Abroad — Putin, the West and the Contest over Ukraine and the Caucasus
Gerard Toal has written an insightful book about the geopolitics of the former Soviet Union. Through case studies of South Ossetia and Ukraine, Toal unfolds the complexities of the geopolitical field and exposes prejudices on all sides.
Poland extends service life of Perry-class frigates until 2024
Poland has extended the service life of its two Oliver Hazard Perry-class frigates until 2024. That reports Janes. The prolonged service time has required some additional maintenance work and upgrades of subsystems. ORP General Kazimierz Pulaski has already completed these works during a scheduled docking. This includes the installation of Link 16 and an upgrade […]
Putin is popular, but his voters don’t necessarily agree on much
There is little excitement about the result of today’s presidential election in Russia, but that does not mean that there is nothing exciting about it. Sam Greene has a sharp analysis on his blog, Moscow-on-Thames: Vladimir Putin will win today’s elections because he is genuinely popular. We should be clear about that. But we should […]
Sailor fell overboard from Russian corvette in Baltic Sea
On Tuesday 13 March a crew member fell overboard from the Russian corvette Soobrazitelny in the Baltic Sea. Eight ships took part in the search-and-rescue operation, but the sailor was not found. That reports korabel.ru. The incident occurred just after midnight, and at 21:00 the search was canceled. With the present water temperatures around 0 […]
Podcast recommendation: WOTR – A big debate about a little nuke
There is a great discussion about Russia and nuclear weapons in this episode of the War on the Rocks podcast. The panel is terrific. Olga Oliker is brilliant, Frank Miller is wrong about most things concerning Russia but argues his case very well, and Vipin Narang has deep technical insights. Ryan and Usha do a […]
Russia’s new nuclear weapons are about missile defense
Vladimir Putin spent a surprising amount of time in his March 1st speech talking about nuclear weapons. Pavel K. Baev has some interesting considerations in Brookings about the possible motivations for this: Russia’s economic weakness is so profound that Russia cannot possibly engage in anything resembling a real arms race with the United States and […]
Predator retired
Joe Chapa in War on the Rocks: Today, the U.S. Air Force “sunsets” the Predator, permanently retiring it from service. Though individual squadrons have been transitioning from the Predator to the Reaper for some time, that transition is now complete. This provides a good opportunity to look back at the Predator to learn what we […]
