Russia has blocked a U.S. initiative to build a network of U.S.-supported counternarcotics centers in Central Asia. In public, Russian officials denigrate the effectiveness of such programs and have favored concentrating on fighting opium poppy cultivation in Afghanistan itself. But some Russian officials’ opposition to the initiative is driven by their desire to minimize the U.S. presence in Central Asia.
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Global Insights: Russia’s Self-Defeating Afghan Narcotics Policy
The national rebuilding project now facing America has us toggling between bouts of renewed self-confidence and crippling self-doubt. But the same thread runs through both cycles of this national bipolar disorder: the assumption that we must bear this burden alone. That assumption is our greatest weakness right now. Frankly, Americans should know their own history better and trust in themselves more.
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The New Rules: U.S. Needs Chinese Partners in Asian Century
The ongoing efforts to remove Bashar al-Assad from power in Syria and the recent referendum in the majority-Serbian areas of northern Kosovo are both symptoms of a larger problem: the delegitimization of the territorially defined state. In cases where internal challenges to legitimacy involve the potential for separatist enclaves, states no longer have carte blanche to preserve their territorial integrity.
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The Realist Prism: Syria, Kosovo Highlight Sovereignty’s Enclave Problem
When a bomb attached to an Israeli diplomat’s car exploded in New Delhi earlier this week, it not only injured at least four people, it also damaged India’s hopes of staying out of the conflict over Iran’s nuclear program. The incident points to India’s increasingly untenable efforts to strengthen ties with the U.S and Israel, while maintaining valuable ties with Iran in the face of international sanctions.
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World Citizen: India Must Choose Between Iran and Israel
Over the past two weeks, the U.S. Navy and Marine Corps conducted an exercise off the Atlantic seaboard designed to refine expertise in amphibious operations and test new amphibious capabilities. The exercise demonstrated the continued importance of amphibious capabilities within the U.S. policy “toolbox,” while also providing an opportunity to refine and extend those capabilities.
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Over the Horizon: Amphibious Ops a Dual-Use Tool for U.S. Policy Kit