Home : Research & Commentary : SSI Worldwide
From the Archives
It’s (Still) More Expensive to Rotate Military Forces Overseas than Base Them There
It’s (still) more expensive to rotate military forces overseas than base them there | By John R. Deni
Dec. 19, 2024 - In mid-2020, then-President Donald Trump ordered the Pentagon to withdraw roughly one-third of US forces from Germany, reportedly because of policy differences with Berlin. Given how long it would take to implement such a...

Security Implications for the United States from Iranian and Hezbollah Activities in Latin America
Security Implications for the United States from Iranian and Hezbollah Activities in Latin America | R. Evan Ellis 
WEBINAR with Homeland Defense and Security Information Analysis Center (HDIAC) https://youtu.be/tCh_k7zYgiQ
Dec. 18, 2024 - This presentation will examine engagement with Latin America by Iran, its government agents, and surrogate groups such as Hezbollah, including terrorist finance, terrorism, and other activities and their evolution in recent...

Making the Case for Democratic, Limited Government and Economic Liberty in the Americas
Making the Case for Democratic, Limited Government and Economic Liberty in the Americas | R. Evan Ellis
Background image of worldmap overlaid on a city, from Freepik (https://www.freepik.com/free-photo/world-map-continent-global-support-graphic_17117708.htm)
US Army War College Press
Dec. 17, 2024 - This work is derived from an address given by the author to the InterAmerican Institute for Democracy on December 4, 2024, in Miami, Florida.In discussing the status of political and economic freedom in Latin America, my...

Will Assad’s Defeat be Putin’s Waterloo?
Will Assad’s defeat be Putin’s Waterloo? | John R. Deni
The Assad regime in Syria has become a casualty of Moscow’s increasingly desperate efforts in Ukraine, and its collapse is a strategic and operational blow that undermines the narrative of Russia as ascendant, Kyiv as doomed, and Vladimir Putin as strategic mastermind.
Dec. 10, 2024 - The narrative of Russia’s ascendancy in 2024 is beginning to look like more fiction than fact. The Assad regime in Syria has become a casualty of Moscow’s increasingly desperate efforts in Ukraine, and its collapse is a...

China’s Summit Diplomacy: Insights From BRICS, APEC and the G20
China’s Summit Diplomacy: Insights From BRICS, 
APEC and the G20 | R. Evan Ellis
Nov. 26, 2024 - From late October through mid-November, China’s President Xi Jinping held high-profile engagements in three very different major international forums: the BRICS summit in Kazan, Russia; the APEC Leadership Forum in Lima,...

Challenges and Opportunities for U.S.-Mexico Security Cooperation
Challenges and Opportunities for US-Mexico Security Cooperation | R. Evan Ellis
Nov. 26, 2024 - While policy clashes between the elected governments of Mexico and the United States in the coming years appear likely, the degree to which those tensions degrade the commercial relationship and security cooperation that is...

Opidata #8: The BRICS Summit, China, and the Emerging Illiberal Counter-Order
Opidata #8: The BRICS Summit, China, and the Emerging Illiberal Counter-Order | Dr. R. Evan Ellis

The 2024 BRICS summit in Kazan solidified an anti-liberal «counter-order,» challenging the rules-based international system. With its expansion to 23 members, the bloc, financially led by China, seeks to evade global restrictions and advance its agendas, though it faces coordination challenges and diverse objectives among its members.

The October 2024 BRICS summit in Kazan, Russia, in which the body expanded its membership from 10 to 23, is the most concrete expression of an emerging, if nebulous illiberal resistance to the rules-based international order that has created the basis for international economic and technological progress and democracy since the second World War.
Nov. 14, 2024 - The 2024 BRICS summit in Kazan solidified an anti-liberal «counter-order,» challenging the rules-based international system. With its expansion to 23 members, the bloc, financially led by China, seeks to evade global...

Security Challenges in the Dutch Caribbean
Security Challenges in the Dutch Caribbean | R. Evan Ellis
This work examines security challenges facing the Dutch Caribbean, including narcotrafficking and other forms of organized crime, money laundering, Venezuelan and other refugee flows, and the little-understood activities of criminal groups operating within the region’s Chinese minority communities. It also examines the successes and challenges in coordination between law enforcement and other government entities in the Dutch Caribbean, and between the Dutch Caribbean and the European Netherlands, with the French, English and Spanish-speaking Caribbean, and with the range of other states and actors in the region. This work recommends that both the U.S. and Dutch government pay more attention to the challenges of the Caribbean part of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, and more fully take advantage of opportunities to work together more closely in addressing those challenges, and also in leveraging the lessons of good governance in the region, as they wrestle with difficulties elsewhere in the Caribbean.

Keywords: Dutch Caribbean, Netherlands, narcotrafficking, Venezuela, money laundering, organized crime.

Image from article: https://ceeep.mil.pe/2024/11/07/desafios-de-seguridad-en-el-caribe-holandes/?lang=en
Nov. 12, 2024 - This work examines security challenges facing the Dutch Caribbean, including narcotrafficking and other forms of organized crime, money laundering, Venezuelan and other refugee flows, and the little-understood activities of...

Paraguay’s Security Challenges and the Government Response
R. Evan Ellis for CEEP  
The article analyzes the security challenges in Paraguay and the government response under the administration of Santiago Peña. It argues that Paraguay, despite its strategic location and regional relevance, faces serious security problems due to organized crime, corruption and its role as a transit point for drugs and weapons. The country also serves as a hub for Hezbollah operations in the region.
Keywords: Paraguay, security, organized crime, corruption, drug trafficking, Hezbollah.
Oct. 28, 2024 - This article analyzes the security challenges in Paraguay and the government response under the administration of Santiago Peña. It argues that Paraguay, despite its strategic location and regional relevance, faces serious...