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Research Handbook on NATO "Collective Defense"
Research Handbook on NATO Collective defense is back at center stage for NATO. This is primarily due to Russia’s 2014 invasion of Ukraine, its illegal annexation of Crimea, and the subsequent and more brutal second invasion of 2022, all of which prompted NATO to fundamentally reassess how it provided security to its members states. Since then, the alliance has had to relearn lost skills, refill the ranks, and reinvest in materiel necessary for territorial defense in a way that it has not since the late 1980s. This chapter puts NATO’s return to collective defense in historical context, examining how the alliance pursued security during the Cold War and the post-Cold War period through the mid-2010s. The chapter also briefly outlines some of the most significant challenges NATO has confronted since 2014 in adapting to the ‘cold peace’. The key question facing NATO today is whether the allies have the wherewithal to fully reembrace collective defense while simultaneously remaining committed to crisis management and cooperative security. https://www.e-elgar.com/shop/usd/research-handbook-on-nato-9781839103384.html Background image from NATO on Flickr https://www.flickr.com/photos/nato/40006342665
March 28, 2024 - Collective defense is back at center stage for NATO. This is primarily due to Russia’s 2014 invasion of Ukraine, its illegal annexation of Crimea, and the subsequent and more brutal second invasion of 2022, all of which...
Argentina Political and Economic Challenges
Argentina Political and Economic Challenges | R. Evan Ellis From February 24 through March 2, I traveled to Argentina to speak with government, business and academic experts regarding the situation in the country, including 27 interactions involving some 300 people. Argentina is at a pivotal moment, as its new libertarian President Javier Milei seeks to turn around the country’s unfolding economic collapse through a series of “shock therapy” measures, while struggling to govern with a politically inexperienced minority party and allies with sometimes divergent incentives, against vested interests for whom the Milei project’s success is an existential threat to their privilege and political future. https://gordoninstitute.fiu.edu/news-events/the-policy-spotlight/2024/argentina-political-and-economic-challenges.html
March 12, 2024 - From February 24 through March 2, I traveled to Argentina to speak with government, business and academic experts regarding the situation in the country, including 27 interactions involving some 300 people. Argentina is at a...
Is China Cornering the Green Energy Transition in Latin America?
A key element of China’s economic advance over the past four decades has been the government’s promotion of its companies’ acquisition of capabilities and market share in sectors seen as strategically important to the country. In recent years, that emphasis has increasingly focused on digital technologies and green energy. The advance of the People’s Republic of China- (PRC) based firms in telecommunications and other digital sectors has received significant coverage in the press and attention by U.S. policymakers. The equally important advance of PRC-based companies in green energy, however, has received less attention. In the past decade, in Latin America and elsewhere, PRC-based companies have progressed considerably in sectors critical to the green energy transition, including hydroelectric, solar, wind energy, electric vehicles, electricity storage and transmission, as well as strategic minerals critical to those sectors such as lithium and rare earth elements. In the last quarter of 2023, BYD surpassed Tesla for the first time in sales of electric vehicles globally. The PRC has also increasingly included cooperation on green energy in its diplomacy with the region, such as in President Xi Jinping’s April 2023 meeting with Brazil’s Luis Ignacio da Silva. The strengthening position in these sectors by China-based state-owned enterprises (SOEs) positions the PRC to reap both enormous profits and strategic leverage, as governments across the globe transition from fossil fuels to green energy. https://dialogo-americas.com/articles/is-china-cornering-the-green-energy-transition-in-latin-america/ Background image from Dialgo (https://dialogo-americas.com/articles/is-china-cornering-the-green-energy-transition-in-latin-america/)
March 6, 2024 - A key element of China’s economic advance over the past four decades has been the government’s promotion of its companies’ acquisition of capabilities and market share in sectors seen as strategically important to the...
EXPLAINER: What Is Article 5 and How Does it Shape NATO’s Ukraine Response?
Sweden, a neutral country for two centuries, is joining NATO in a move experts say will have a significant impact on global politics. The Swedish island of Gotland, located 120 miles southeast of Stockholm and slightly smaller than Rhode Island, is home to around 60,000 people, a thriving local farm scene and one of the world’s northernmost vineyards. In the face of the continued threat from Russian President Vladimir Putin, it’s also become one of the world’s most important geopolitical hotspots: For years American and European analysts have warned that the island in the middle of the Baltic Sea would likely play a key role in a broader Russian attack against Europe, with Russia potentially attempting to occupy Gotland to facilitate a larger regional invasion. In March 2022 – just days after Putin invaded Ukraine – Russian fighter jets emphasized the threat by buzzing Gotland airspace. ... “We’ve likely seen no comparable boost to the strength of Western security,” John R. Deni, a professor at the U.S. Army War College and the author of a book on NATO’s Article 5, wrote in a Wall Street Journal op-ed following Finland’s accession, “since West Germany joined the alliance in 1955.” https://teams.microsoft.com/l/message/48:notes/1709671085790?context=%7B%22contextType%22%3A%22chat%22%7D
March 5, 2024 - Sweden, a neutral country for two centuries, is joining NATO in a moveexperts say will have a significant impact on global politics.The Swedish Island of Gotland, located 120 miles southeast of Stockholm and slightly smaller...
Look deeper: Time may be on Ukraine’s side
If Kyiv can hold out through the next winter—a big if—there are trends that run in its favor. By John R. Deni Conventional wisdom is that time is on Russia’s side as Ukraine battles to fend off Moscow’s invasion. Although much remains unclear, it seems certain that if Congress fails to fund more military assistance to Ukraine or if U.S. policy shifts dramatically after Inauguration Day 2025, Kyiv may be forced to sue for peace. However, if these two possibilities do not come to pass, and if Ukraine can hold out through next winter, there are some indications that the tide will turn in Kyiv’s favor. Perhaps the most significant indication that a longer war would advantage Ukraine is the fact that U.S. defense industry is slowly but steadily reprising its role as “the arsenal of democracy.” For instance, the United States has increased its output of 155mm shells far faster than expected, with plans to increase it further. From a rate of around 14,000 rounds per month before Russia’s full-scale invasion began in February 2022, the United States has exceeded its target of 24,000 rounds by the end of 2023 and is now on track to produce around 36,000 per month by March. Furthermore, that rate should be doubled by this time next year. https://www.defenseone.com/ideas/2024/03/look-deeper-time-may-be-ukraines-side/394649/ Background image by BEATA ZAWRZEL/NURPHOTO via Getty Images from from Defense One article (https://www.defenseone.com/ideas/2024/03/look-deeper-time-may-be-ukraines-side/394649/)
March 4, 2024 - If Kyiv can hold out through the next winter—a big if—there are trends that run in its favor.Conventional wisdom is that time is on Russia’s side as Ukraine battles to fend off Moscow’s invasion. Although much remains...
The Case for Containing, Not Coddling, Maduro
The inability of the U.S. to facilitate a return to democracy in Venezuela does not justify accommodating dictatorship in the name of engagement. R. Evan Ellis https://theglobalamericans.org/the-case-for-containing-not-coddling-maduro/ Background image from Wikimedia Commons (https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/f8/Nicol%C3%A1s_Maduro_2019_Inauguration.jpg) 240304-A-JQ161-1001.jpg
March 4, 2024 - From 2019 to 2020, I had the honor of serving on Secretary of State Mike Pompeo’s policy planning staff (S/P). One of my priority focus areas was the dictatorship of Nicholas Maduro and the dangers it posed to the Venezuelan...
China’s Security Engagement in Latin America and the Caribbean
China’s Security Engagement in Latin America and the Caribbean An overview of the characteristics and trends in China’s security engagement in the region, and how it is evolving. China’s activities in the security and defense sector in Latin America and the Caribbean are a small but strategically significant portion of its engagement with the region. Beijing has openly acknowledged its interest in engaging with the region on security matters in the 2008 and 2016 China-Latin America Policy White Papers, as well as in the 2022-2024 China-CELAC plan. That interest is also reflected in the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs white paper elaborating on China’s Global Security initiative. The security dimension of China’s engagement in the region has been highlighted by the head of U.S. Southern Command and other senior U.S. defense officials, as well as receiving occasional coverage in the media and academic works, generally with a focus on the threat posed to the United States. Background image from Deposit Photos via The Diplomat (https://thediplomat.com/2024/02/chinas-security-engagement-in-latin-america-and-the-caribbean/)
Feb. 26, 2024 - An overview of the characteristics and trends in China’s security engagement in the region, and how it is evolving.China’s activities in the security and defense sector in Latin America and the Caribbean are a small but...
China-Latin America Space Cooperation: An Overview
China-Latin America Space Cooperation: An Overview By R. Evan Ellis As China has increased its political and economic cooperation with Latin America, it has also expanded its space engagement with the region. In September 2023, during a visit to China, Venezuelan President Nicholas Maduro announced an agreement in which China would transport Venezuelans to a research base it plans to build on the moon, the International Lunar Research Station (ILRS) project. As illustrated by the deal, China’s expanding space capabilities create imperatives for associated engagement around the globe, from initiatives to build international coalitions, such as ILRS, to the search for access to ground stations and other space communication sites to support China’s expanding constellation of satellites, which currently number 700, as well as beyond-Earth missions. Deepening rivalry with the United States also makes China’s access to space from points in both hemispheres and the polar regions a strategic imperative for the space component of any future conflict with the West. Photo from article: https://thediplomat.com/2024/02/china-latin-america-space-cooperation-an-overview/
Feb. 16, 2024 - As China has increased its political and economic cooperation with Latin America, it has also expanded its space engagement with the region.In September 2023, during a visit to China, Venezuelan President Nicholas Maduro...
PRC Engagement with Latin America, and Central and Eastern Europe: Comparisons and Insights
Over the past twenty years, the People’s Republic of China (PRC) has expanded its political, institutional, economic, and other forms of engagement with all regions of the world. Not surprisingly, because engagement in Latin America and the countries of Central and Eastern Europe (CEE) is formulated by the same Chinese Communist Party and PRC-based state-owned enterprises (SOE), it is broadly comparable across regions. 1 Differences in PRC engagements between regions generally reflect differences between government types, particular business opportunities, strategic geography, historical relationships, and Chinese familiarity with the target country, among others. A comparative examination of PRC engagement across regions offers insights by helping to identify common patterns and differences, focusing on the reasons why each occurs. 2  There is a limited but growing volume of work in English on PRC engagement with Central and Eastern Europe. Important works include the Carnegie Foundation report “China’s Influence in Southeastern, Central and Eastern Europe.” 3 Other works include works by think tanks such as China Observers in Central and Eastern Europe 4 and the Washington, DC based Center for European Policy Analysis. 5 Read Now
Feb. 8, 2024 - PRC Engagement with Latin America, and Central and Eastern Europe: Comparisons and Insights R. Evan Ellis Over the past twenty years, the People’s Republic of China (PRC) has expanded its political, institutional, economic,...
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