Recent Publications

Russian Elite Image of Iran: From the Late Soviet Era to the Present
September 1, 2009 — Author: Dr Dmitry Shlapentokh Since the late Soviet era, the presence of Iran has loomed large in the minds of the Russian elite. Soon after the end of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR)—and even before—increasing numbers of Russian intellectuals became disenchanted with the West, especially the United States, and looked for alternative... MORE

Russia and Arms Control: Are There Opportunities for the Obama Administration?
March 1, 2009 — Author: Dr Stephen J Blank Russo-American relations are generally acknowledged to be at an impasse. Arms control issues feature prominently in that conflicted agenda. Indeed, as of September 2008, the Bush administration was contemplating not just a break in arms talks but actual sanctions, and allowed the bilateral civil nuclear treaty with Russia... MORE

Prospects for U.S.-Russian Security Cooperation
March 1, 2009 — Author: Dr Stephen J Blank Russia, despite claims made for and against its importance, remains, by any objective standard, a key player in world affairs. Russia is an important barometer of trends in world politics, e.g., the course of democratization in the world. Furthermore, Russia, if it were so disposed, could be the abettor and/or supporter... MORE

Kazakhstan’s Defense Policy: An Assessment of the Trends
February 9, 2009 — Author: Mr Roger N McDermott Kazakhstan’s foreign policy, since its independence, has successfully avoided favoring any one country based on what Astana styles as a “multi-vectored” approach to foreign policy. Yet, in terms of its conduct of defense and security policies, this paradigm simply does not fit with how the regime makes policy in its... MORE

Russia, China, and the United States in Central Asia: Prospects for Great Power Competition and Cooperation in the Shadow of the Georgian Crisis
February 1, 2009 — Author: Dr Elizabeth Wishnick Russia and China have been reacting to the pressures of changing U.S.-Central Asia policy over the past 5 years as has the United States. In response to the “color” revolutions, they achieved broad agreement on the priority of regime security and the need to limit the long-term military presence of the United States in... MORE

Russia Challenges the Obama Administration
December 1, 2008 — Author: Dr Stephen J Blank Each month a member of the SSI faculty writes an editorial for our monthly newsletter. This is the Op-Ed for the December 2008 newsletter.Read Now MORE

Cover for Russia Challenges the Obama Administration

China-Russia Security Relations: Strategic Parallelism without Partnership or Passion?
August 1, 2008 — Author: Dr Richard Weitz This report argues that, although Chinese-Russian relations have improved along several important dimensions, security cooperation between Beijing and Moscow has remained limited, episodic, and tenuous. The two governments support each other on select issues but differ on others. Since these interests conflict as well as... MORE

Towards a New Russia Policy
February 1, 2008 — Author: Dr Stephen J Blank It is obvious that U.S.-Russian relations and East-West relations more broadly have recently deteriorated. Yet analyses of why this is the case have often been confined to American policy. The author examines some of the key strategic issues at stake in this relationship and traces that decline to Russian factors which... MORE

East Asian Security: Two Views
November 1, 2007 — Author: Dr Gilbert Rozman, Dr Chu Shulong A new framework for Northeast Asian security must cope with the legacy of six decades of frequent changes in the region’s great power relations. In order to realize the goals of the Joint Agreement in the Six-Party Talks, multilateralism is becoming more important. U.S. leadership faces challenges from: the... MORE

Russian Security Strategy under Putin: U.S. and Russian Perspectives
November 1, 2007 — Author: Dr R Craig Nation, Mr Dmitri Trenin The authors illustrate the degree to which great power rivalry in Eurasia has become a major security issue and source of growing Russo-American tensions. Dr. R. Craig Nation lays out some of the fundamental macro-strategic issues of this rivalry and U.S. goals in Eurasia, as well as the consequences... MORE

Transformation Under Fire: A Historical Case Study with Modern Parallels
October 1, 2007 — Author: Major Raymond A Kimball The Bolshevik leaders who built the Red Army from the shattered remnants of the Imperial Russian Army after World War I were far more innovative and pragmatic than usually believed. These men had a clear vision of what they needed from their armed forces and sustained that vision through years of sustained combat... MORE

The Eastern Dimension of America’s New European Allies
October 1, 2007 — Author: Mr Janusz Bugajski Without a realistic prospect for NATO and EU accession, Ukraine, Belarus, Moldova, and Georgia will become sources of domestic and regional instability and objects of Russia’s neo-imperialist ambitions that will undermine American and European strategic interests. The new members of NATO and the EU have sought to develop... MORE