Joshua Kucera
Tuesday, March 10, 2015 - 06:52
ran's newest, most capable warship in the Caspian Sea has formally entered service following a March 9 ceremony at the port of Bandar-e-Anzali. While Iranian officials played up the technical capabilities of the new ship, they also noted that one of its missions would be training, highlighting the fact that the Caspian remains a very secondary strategic priority for Tehran.
Wednesday, March 4, 2015 - 06:54
Kazakhstan has reached an agreement with Russia to take over most of a Russian military training facility in far western Kazakhstan. The deal represents the latest step in Kazakhstan's efforts to regain control over the many Soviet-legacy military and other strategic facilities that Russia still operates in the country.
Thursday, February 26, 2015 - 06:15
Saakashvili's efforts notwithstanding, the White House remains undecided about supplying Ukraine with the weapons it wants, and the military is preparing assessments about what an aid package could look like. "I think that we have to be cognizant that if we arm the Ukrainians, it could cause positive results. It could cause negative results. But what we're doing right now is not changing the results on the ground," said General Philip Breedlove, NATO's top commander, in congressional testimony on Wednesday.
Wednesday, February 18, 2015 - 06:45
After a U.S. Congressional committee held a hearing critically examining U.S.-Azerbaijan relations, Azerbaijan's parliament responded with a retaliatory event of its own, accusing the U.S. of ignoring Baku's strategic cooperation with Washington.
Wednesday, February 18, 2015 - 06:43
Russia may soon be exporting its model of counterinsurgency across the globe, as Chechnya's president is building an international special operations training center with the aim of training elite troops both from Russia and abroad.
Wednesday, February 11, 2015 - 06:31
A U.S. Navy warship entered the Black Sea this week "to promote peace and stability in the region," according to a Navy statement, but Russia doesn't see it that way.
Friday, February 6, 2015 - 06:53
Armenia's chief prosecutor has formally asked his Russian counterpart to hand over a Russian soldier accused of killing seven members of a family outside Russia's military base in Armenia. The request was made just after the two sides apparently had agreed to try the soldier in a Russian military court at the base.
Wednesday, February 4, 2015 - 06:18
Georgia would see a big boost in its U.S. military and economic aid under the White House's new proposed budget, while aid to most of the rest of the region would decline.
Monday, February 2, 2015 - 06:13
Russia's post-Soviet security bloc will work to build up the capacity of other member states to produce substitutes for Ukrainian weaponry. The Collective Security Treaty Organization will strengthen its commission on defense industry cooperation and focus its efforts on "import substitution."
Wednesday, January 28, 2015 - 06:17
Last week U.S. officials announced that they were donating over 300 Mine-Resistant Ambush Protected (MRAP) vehicles to Uzbekistan; it will be the biggest ever transfer of American military equipment to a Central Asian country. It was surprising in many ways: American military interest in Central Asia had appeared to be on the wane, and U.S. military aid to Uzbekistan -- one of the worst human rights violators on the planet -- was at a largely token level, with little apparent justification for Washington to change that.