By: Amina Abdullayeva Russia has two main problems with NATO at present: missile defence in Europe and NATO’s presence in the Arctic zone. While the missile question is at the forefront of the media these days, the Arctic issue is less acute, simmering in the background with the potential to cause problems in the near Read More…
5. Authors of the NCC
A list of authors, past and present
NATO in Afghanistan: An Early Exit?
By: Pavle Levkovic Another month, another attack on NATO. The most recent show of force against the Alliance came on January 26th as a car, heavily packed with explosives, detonated in Lashkar Gah, the capital of Helmand province. A suicide bomber targeted a UK Provincial Reconstruction Team (PRT), wounding three of its members along with Read More…
The F-35: At What Price?
By: Rodnie Allison In four years Canada will receive the first of sixty-five F-35A multi-role combat aircraft. These aircraft represent much more than a means to regulate airspace or dictate conditions on the ground. They represent a commitment to the NATO alliance structure, the integration of strategic industrial resources among like-minded governments, and finally, the capacity Read More…
All Talk and No Game: Is South Africa Ready to be a Continental Superpower?
In 1994, Nelson Mandela announced that South African foreign policy would forever be guided by the international pursuit of human rights and true democracy. Yet eighteen years later, the country appears to have lost sight of not only Mandela’s guidelines, but of any coherent global strategy at all. In a time when the international community Read More…
Syria: The Revolution will be Weaponized
By: Alexander Corbeil The Syrian revolution is sliding towards a full fledged civil war as the Free Syrian Army (FSA) has stepped up operations this past week against Syrian security forces. While army units loyal to Bashir al-Assad have cleared the suburbs of Damascus of rebel fighters, the takeover of areas on the regime’s doorstep Read More…
Continental Pipe-Dreams
By: Rodnie Allison In what can only be considered an unprecedented rupture in Canada-US cooperation on energy policy, last week’s formal repudiation of the Keystone XL expansion project will have significant implications for energy security, and wider continental relations writ large. According to the former president and CEO of the C.D. Howe Institute, Jack Mintz, the Canada-US Read More…
Pakistan: Between the Gavel and the Gun
By: Alexander Corbeil The land of coups, nuclear warheads, and Islamic extremists has born witness to a tense standoff between the country’s three political powerhouses. President Asif Ali Zardari and his Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) are currently in a struggle with both the Supreme Court and top military brass of the country. In the shadows Read More…
The Anatomy of US-China Cooperation on North Korea
By: Ben Hartley New leadership in Pyongyang invariably changes the strategic calculus of China and the US on the Korean Peninsula. The appointment of Kim Jong-un as Supreme Commander of the Korean People’s Army is an important indication of the legitimacy of Jong-un, and points to the ruling military cadre’s interest in maintaining internal stability. Read More…
A Somali Quagmire Part I – A Guide to the Players
By: James Marcus Bridger As was the case for much of the Cold War, Somalia once again finds itself playing host to a number of competing local, regional, and international actors. The beleaguered Transitional Federal Government (TFG) now controls the capital Mogadishu, thanks to an offensive launched by the African Union Mission in Somalia (AMISOM)—a Read More…
Is A Financial Crisis in Eastern Europe on the Horizon?
Even as the debt crises of Italy and Greece continue and the economic malaise of the “big two” of Europe, France and Germany, has made the headlines in the past few months, Europe watchers may have noticed that the latest region to be affected is in fact outside the Euro-zone altogether. Worries are surfacing that Read More…