Photo Credit: Boris Baldinger/World Economic Forum Soon after Russia invaded Ukraine at the end of February, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy became, at home and abroad, a symbol of heroic resistance to Vladimir Putin. Through bold addresses from Kyiv and emotional, heartbreaking appeals to other foreign leaders, Zelenskyy gave a human face to the impact of Russian … Continue reading Ukraine Is Not the Leadership Case Study You Think It Is
Category: Europe & Central Asia
The Ukraine-Russia War: An Uncertain Future for Indian Defense Modernization
Photo Credit:Agence France-Presse In the days following the Russian invasion of Ukraine in late February, India remained silent. In the United Nations Security Council, where India is currently a non-permanent member, and in the General Assembly, India has noticeably abstained on resolutions condemning Russia. This silence has prompted international criticism given Russian targeting of … Continue reading The Ukraine-Russia War: An Uncertain Future for Indian Defense Modernization
A New Russian Strategic Calculus? Analyzing the Viability of JCPOA Negotiations
Photo Credit: Deutsche Welle Underneath the central crisis of its invasion of Ukraine, Russia is more subtly challenging global security. Most recently, Russian attempts to hijack negotiations around the United States’ re-entrance into the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), threaten to spiral Middle Eastern security into greater crisis. Indeed, these negotiations have constantly been … Continue reading A New Russian Strategic Calculus? Analyzing the Viability of JCPOA Negotiations
Incongruence and Strategic Adaptation
Image from Twitter Military means must not be considered separately from the political ends they serve. This political-military maxim is both elementary and often ignored. In an effective system, civilian and military leaders collaborate to craft strategies that establish realistic political ends and military means capable of accomplishing them at an acceptable cost. More often … Continue reading Incongruence and Strategic Adaptation
Putin’s Hitmen: How Mercenaries Serve the Kremlin at the Expense of Stability
Photo released by the Ukrainian Security Service allegedly depicting Wagner Group mercenaries at an unknown location. Photo Credit: VOA News Volodymyr Zelensky sits in a chair next to the podium as he conducts a press conference, wearing the olive-green military clothing that has now come to symbolize his defiant resolve to fight against the Russian … Continue reading Putin’s Hitmen: How Mercenaries Serve the Kremlin at the Expense of Stability
Democracy, Race, and Ukraine
Nigerian students in Ukraine wait at the platform at the Lviv railway station on Sunday. (Bernat Armangue/AP) The Russian violation of Ukraine’s sovereignty has brought the former Eastern Bloc country to the forefront of news cycles. Democratic countries standing up to the autocratic ruler of Vladimir Putin have also been a focus of the crisis. … Continue reading Democracy, Race, and Ukraine
How Will the Russia-Ukraine War Affect the Stability of Egypt?
On February 24th, Vladimir Putin initiated a ‘special military operation’ in Ukraine. Despite diplomatic attempts to prevent escalation, the Russian president moved to enforce his military grip on the former Soviet republic. While much has already been said about the potential consequences of the Russo-Ukrainian War on NATO, on other Eastern European republics, and on … Continue reading How Will the Russia-Ukraine War Affect the Stability of Egypt?
Why Putin Pulled the Trigger
Photo Credit: Screengrab from YouTube. On February 24 at around 5:00 AM local time, Russian forces invaded Ukraine. This should be unsurprising given the widespread media and government coverage over the preceding months. However, the West is now scrambling for explanations, often resorting to calling Putin an irrational tyrant. Perhaps he is tyrannical, but he … Continue reading Why Putin Pulled the Trigger
Shaping a Generation of Ukrainian Children
Photo Credit: Daily Mail Ukrainian people feared every day Russia could invade, and that fear unfortunately became reality. Media coverage primarily discusses military action and geopolitical consequences, sidelining other groups. The impact of Russian aggression on civilians, especially children, should be a larger part of the discussion on security. The human impact in this conflict … Continue reading Shaping a Generation of Ukrainian Children
We Are All Realists Now
Photo Credit: Dan Rivers For weeks leading up to the invasion and even in the hours afterward, the crisis in Ukraine was flattened into an academic debate, abstracted into a case to be studied. The most politically scientific and least affected among us have been offered the luxury of musing about tangential questions:What might the … Continue reading We Are All Realists Now