Nikolas Gvosdev argues in War on the Rocks that Russia’s build-up in the Black Sea Basin is more concerning than in the Baltic Area. This leads me to reflect on the differences. The Black Sea area is more contested, and there is no united deterrence against Russia. But that does not mean that there is room for complacency in the Baltic region.
Military strategy and politics
Civilians can know military stuff too
Lately there has been a heated debate in War on the Rocks about Professional Military Education. It has turned into something of a spectacle where military and civilian teachers respectively argue that their own competencies are the most important. Tammy S. Schultz provides the sane perspective in her piece titled The Road Less Travelled: Both […]
Sergey Shoigu nuances public image with art exhibition
Russia’s defense minister shows new sides of himself as an artist. While Putin has created an image of himself as the embodiment of masculinity, Shoigu appeals to a more reflective segment with his art exhibition.
Russia’s military budget has nothing to do with the GDP of Spain
An often used reference to the GDP of Spain says nothing about Russia’s military potential. Instead, Russia’s defense budget gives them the same purchasing power as Germany, France, and the United Kingdom combined.
Gerasimov on the characteristics of modern warfare
An analysis of general Gerasimov’s speech to the military academic community in March 2018. The speech confirms Gerasimov’s earlier statements about the nature of modern warfare. There is a clear focus on conventional military capabilities which is interesting considering president Putin’s dramatic talk about nuclear weapons earlier this month.
Let’s not question the future of Königsberg
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 In this he argues that the 1975 Helsinki Accords are no longer valid, and that Kaliningrad is […]
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.
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 […]
The ‘Gerasimov Doctrine’ doesn’t exist
In the West it is widely believed that Russia follows a specific military doctrine that the current chief of the general staff Valery Gerasimov has invented. This alleged Gerasimov Doctrine prescribes a kind of hybrid warfare to undermine the societal structures of the adversary through means of disinformation, deception, subversion, intelligent use of limited force, […]
