andAzerbaijan and Armenia have now spent more than two weeks at war, with casualties mounting on both sides. On the morning of Sept. 27, Azerbaijan launched an offensive across the line of contact held by the Armenian military and local forces belonging to the breakaway region of Nagorno-Karabakh (sometimes referred to as the self-declared Republic of Artsakh). The fighting is the worst it has been since the Karabakh War of 1992 to 1994, encompassing the entire line of contact, with artillery, missile, and drone strikes deep past Armenian lines. This war features modern weaponry,...…andAzerbaijan and Armenia have now spent more than two weeks at war, with casualties mounting on both sides. On the morning of Sept. 27, Azerbaijan launched an offensive across the line of contact held by the Armenian military and local forces belonging to the breakaway region of Nagorno-Karabakh (sometimes referred to as the self-declared Republic of Artsakh). The fighting is the worst it has been since the Karabakh War of 1992 to 1994, encompassing the entire line of contact, with artillery, missile, and drone strikes deep past Armenian lines. This war features modern weaponry,...WW…

Kremlin-backed trolls are disinformation and have their game for the 2020 campaign. U.S. Attorney General Bill Barr has been vague about the probity of foreign assistance, and the U.S. Office of the Director of National Intelligence recently that it would no longer provide in-person briefings to Congress on foreign electoral interference. To boot, Facebook recently pages linked to Russian intelligence in hopes of heading off a disinformation campaign closer to election day. Four weeks before one of the most important presidential elections in its history, the United States vulnerable to...…Kremlin-backed trolls are disinformation and have their game for the 2020 campaign. U.S. Attorney General Bill Barr has been vague about the probity of foreign assistance, and the U.S. Office of the Director of National Intelligence recently that it would no longer provide in-person briefings to Congress on foreign electoral interference. To boot, Facebook recently pages linked to Russian intelligence in hopes of heading off a disinformation campaign closer to election day. Four weeks before one of the most important presidential elections in its history, the United States vulnerable to...WW…

andTurkey and Greece, two NATO allies, nearly experienced a full-fledged military conflict in August. Two of their warships during a naval standoff over in the Eastern Mediterranean. This follows a similar in June between three Turkish vessels and the frigate of another NATO ally, France, prompting an that the alliance has been trying to to prevent further discord among its ranks. Behind these incidents lies Turkey’s embrace of an assertive naval concept, namely the “,” that is poised to disrupt the transatlantic alliance in the years to come.The “blue homeland” is an irredentist concept...…andTurkey and Greece, two NATO allies, nearly experienced a full-fledged military conflict in August. Two of their warships during a naval standoff over in the Eastern Mediterranean. This follows a similar in June between three Turkish vessels and the frigate of another NATO ally, France, prompting an that the alliance has been trying to to prevent further discord among its ranks. Behind these incidents lies Turkey’s embrace of an assertive naval concept, namely the “,” that is poised to disrupt the transatlantic alliance in the years to come.The “blue homeland” is an irredentist concept...WW…

andSince 1996, China’s military has beaten countless U.S. forecasts for how long it would take it to develop and field new weapon systems. By comparison, the U.S. military has lagged in its military modernization even as it receives increasing attention and resources. In this context, that the Defense Department will take the next 10 years to manage its data effectively should disturb U.S. policymakers and mobilize them to act.While this timeline may seem forgivable given the magnitude of the Defense Department’s data management problem, decades’ worth of data debt, and dearth of data...…andSince 1996, China’s military has beaten countless U.S. forecasts for how long it would take it to develop and field new weapon systems. By comparison, the U.S. military has lagged in its military modernization even as it receives increasing attention and resources. In this context, that the Defense Department will take the next 10 years to manage its data effectively should disturb U.S. policymakers and mobilize them to act.While this timeline may seem forgivable given the magnitude of the Defense Department’s data management problem, decades’ worth of data debt, and dearth of data...WW…

“The Americans begged us to only stop firing Ashtar rockets at their bases.” Jaafar al-Husseini, the military spokesman for the Iraqi Shia militia Kata’ib Hizballah, was talking about attacking U.S. forces in Iraq before they left the country in 2011. While uttering these remarks in a February 2018 TV interview, he , as if to seem more assertive. Since then he has threatened U.S. forces on numerous occasions. The , though with much less lethal weapons than the . The attacks, however, have been assessed by the United States to be dangerous enough that Secretary of State Mike Pompeo if the...…“The Americans begged us to only stop firing Ashtar rockets at their bases.” Jaafar al-Husseini, the military spokesman for the Iraqi Shia militia Kata’ib Hizballah, was talking about attacking U.S. forces in Iraq before they left the country in 2011. While uttering these remarks in a February 2018 TV interview, he , as if to seem more assertive. Since then he has threatened U.S. forces on numerous occasions. The , though with much less lethal weapons than the . The attacks, however, have been assessed by the United States to be dangerous enough that Secretary of State Mike Pompeo if the...WW…

What was the reason that induced Georgia to take the step of secession? This reason may be summed up in one single proposition. It was a conviction, a deep conviction on the part of Georgia, that a separation from the North-was the only thing that could prevent the abolition of her slavery.                                    – From a by a delegate from...…What was the reason that induced Georgia to take the step of secession? This reason may be summed up in one single proposition. It was a conviction, a deep conviction on the part of Georgia, that a separation from the North-was the only thing that could prevent the abolition of her slavery.                                    – From a by a delegate from...WW…

Phil Klay, (New York: Penguin Press, 2020) War is a disorienting experience. One way that individuals process it is through writing. Two decades after the attacks that spawned what came to be called the “Global War on Terror,” the intertwined issues of how to tell the story of 9/11 and its meaning remain deeply unsettled. The injuries and interpretations that characterize war are already immensely complicated by their very nature, but they become even more so when the violence has gone on for so long. For many Americans that infamous day is still lived experience, but it is also far...…Phil Klay, (New York: Penguin Press, 2020) War is a disorienting experience. One way that individuals process it is through writing. Two decades after the attacks that spawned what came to be called the “Global War on Terror,” the intertwined issues of how to tell the story of 9/11 and its meaning remain deeply unsettled. The injuries and interpretations that characterize war are already immensely complicated by their very nature, but they become even more so when the violence has gone on for so long. For many Americans that infamous day is still lived experience, but it is also far...WW…

For a quarter-century after the end of the Cold War, the United States had a clear aim for Europe: to bring the former communist world into the liberal international order and build a Europe whole, free, and at peace. After containing the Soviet threat for four decades (and intervening in two World Wars before that), the United States and its allies focused on enlarging the community of market democracies eastward to eliminate sources of conflict that had bedeviled Western leaders throughout the 20th century. In November 1999, when President Bill Clinton spoke at Georgetown University to...…For a quarter-century after the end of the Cold War, the United States had a clear aim for Europe: to bring the former communist world into the liberal international order and build a Europe whole, free, and at peace. After containing the Soviet threat for four decades (and intervening in two World Wars before that), the United States and its allies focused on enlarging the community of market democracies eastward to eliminate sources of conflict that had bedeviled Western leaders throughout the 20th century. In November 1999, when President Bill Clinton spoke at Georgetown University to...WW…

In February 1946, the diplomat George Kennan — then serving as charge d’affaires at the U.S. Embassy in Moscow — authored a 5,000-word telegram analyzing the sources of Soviet conduct and laying out the case for what would become the Cold War strategy of containment. Seventy-five years later, as the United States enters a new era of great-power competition with the People’s Republic of China, War on the Rocks is pleased to publish a landmark essay in this same tradition by acclaimed international relations strategist and renowned Sinologist C. Lea Shea, drawing on his decades of scholarship...…In February 1946, the diplomat George Kennan — then serving as charge d’affaires at the U.S. Embassy in Moscow — authored a 5,000-word telegram analyzing the sources of Soviet conduct and laying out the case for what would become the Cold War strategy of containment. Seventy-five years later, as the United States enters a new era of great-power competition with the People’s Republic of China, War on the Rocks is pleased to publish a landmark essay in this same tradition by acclaimed international relations strategist and renowned Sinologist C. Lea Shea, drawing on his decades of scholarship...WW…

The People’s Liberation Army Navy (PLAN) is now the in the world. This development, announced in the 2020 annual report on the Chinese military, appears to demonstrate a determined strategy in Beijing to develop a powerful blue water fleet. Both Chinese and outside naval experts speculate that the PLAN may have an Indian Ocean fleet in the near future. Supporting this possibility, multiple Chinese sources have started to articulate an emerging Indian Ocean strategy for the PLAN. These writings are useful to understand evolving Chinese grand strategy. Furthermore, Beijing is actively laying...…The People’s Liberation Army Navy (PLAN) is now the in the world. This development, announced in the 2020 annual report on the Chinese military, appears to demonstrate a determined strategy in Beijing to develop a powerful blue water fleet. Both Chinese and outside naval experts speculate that the PLAN may have an Indian Ocean fleet in the near future. Supporting this possibility, multiple Chinese sources have started to articulate an emerging Indian Ocean strategy for the PLAN. These writings are useful to understand evolving Chinese grand strategy. Furthermore, Beijing is actively laying...WW…