Recent Publications

China, the Illiberal Counter-Order, and the Role of Values in the Strategic Response
July 22, 2024 — The dynamics of the international order in the third decade of the 21st Century are changing profoundly. The magnitude and complexity of the change are illustrated by Russia’s invasion of the Ukraine, in both its initial failure, and in the ability of the Putin administration in Russia to sustain its costly campaign. The new international... MORE

Russian Warships, Venezuelan Elections, and a Fabricated Crisis with Guyana in the Caribbean?
June 17, 2024 — The deployment of Russian warships to the Caribbean is Kabuki theater. For 15 years, a Russia whose international power projection capabilities have deteriorated significantly since the end of the Cold War has periodically sent limited, yet still threatening forces to the U.S. near abroad, in response to U.S. activities in what it regards as its... MORE

Russian Warships, Venezuelan Elections, and a Fabricated Crisis with Guyana in the Caribbean?

R. Evan Ellis

“The Cuban Missile Crisis: Miscalculation, Nuclear Risks, and the Human Element”
September 14, 2022 — Decisive Point Podcast, Dr. Arthur I. Cyr, leadership, deterrence, Cuba, nuclear weapons, missile crisis... MORE

Strategic Insights: Thinking Strategically About Latin America and the Caribbean
December 9, 2016 — Dr. R. Evan Ellis In the 2016 U.S. presidential debates, as on other occasions, the theme of Latin America and the Caribbean was remarkably absent. Important events in the region occasionally insert themselves into the U.S. consciousness through the mainstream media, including: the arrival of thousands of Central American child refugees at the U.S... MORE

Cover for Strategic Insights: Thinking Strategically About Latin America and the Caribbean

The New Russian Engagement with Latin America: Strategic Position, Commerce, and Dreams of the Past
June 17, 2015 — Author: Dr R Evan Ellis View the Executive SummaryIn many ways, Russia’s expanded engagement in Latin America as a response to escalating tension over the Ukraine was a repetition of its answer to U.S. involvement in the 2008 conflict in the former Soviet Republic of Georgia. In the latter conflict, the U.S. deployed naval forces to the Black Sea... MORE

Russian Engagement in Latin America and the Caribbean: Return to the “Strategic Game” in a Complex-Interdependent Post-Cold War World?
April 24, 2015 — Dr. R. Evan Ellis The views expressed here are his own. Dr. Ellis thanks his research assistants, Allen Church and Isaac Schlotterbeck, for their help with this article.In February 2015, Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu traveled to Latin America to meet with leaders and defense officials in Cuba, Nicaragua, and Venezuela. Although the visit... MORE

Strategic Insights: From Ideology to Geopolitics: Russian Interests in Latin America
March 24, 2015 — Dr. José de Arimatéia da CruzThe implosion of the Soviet Union on the eve of December 25, 1991, has been heralded by pundits and Sovietologists as an unprecedented event in world history. No one expected the powerful Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR) to come to an end as uneventfully as it did. The implosion of the Soviet Union sent... MORE

Mind-Sets and Missiles: a First Hand Account of the Cuban Missile Crisis
September 1, 2009 — Author: Mr Kenneth Michael Absher This chronology provides details and analysis of the intelligence failures and successes of the Cuban Missile Crisis, and suggests the applicability of lessons learned to the collection, analysis, and use of intelligence in strategic decisionmaking. The author describes how the crisis unfolded using the author’s... MORE

The Role of Cuban Paramilitary Organizations (People’s Militias) in the Post-Castro Era
August 1, 2009 — Author: Dr Max G Manwaring Each month a member of the SSI faculty writes an editorial for our monthly newsletter. This is the Op-Ed for the August 2009 newsletter.Read Now MORE

Kiss the Embargo Goodbye
February 1, 2009 — Author: Dr Alex Crowther Each month a member of the SSI faculty writes an editorial for our monthly newsletter. This is the Op-Ed for the February 2009 newsletter.Read Now MORE

After Fidel, The Deluge?
March 1, 2008 — Author: Dr Alex Crowther Each month a member of the SSI faculty writes an editorial for our monthly newsletter. This is the Op-Ed for the March 2008 newsletter.Read Now MORE

Security Requirements for Post-Transition Cuba
August 1, 2007 — Author: Dr Alex Crowther Change is inevitable in Cuba. Both Fidel Castro and his brother Raul are aging. Their passing will trigger either a succession or a transition. Eventually Cuba will change. With that change, the security requirements of Cuba will change as well. This monograph provides an analysis of security requirements that the new Cuba... MORE