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Kazakhstan’s road to becoming a democratic society has certainly been laid with twists and turns, more slowly than necessary and with no shortage of temporary road-blocks along the way. When it will be completed is still not clear. Much depends on the will of the man who is the lead planner for its construction, who seems reluctant to define his task as completed.
Russian Civil-Military Relations provides crucial analysis of the nature and evolution of the balance between civilian and military institutions. These relations will continue to influence regime development, security policy, and societal attitudes that build from Putin’s Russia, to Medvedev’s administration, and into the future.
Medvedev can set a new tone for Russia in order to sustain its newfound position on the world stage. By cultivating cooperation rather than confrontation, Russia will maximize its self-interests.
Washington's strategic confusion on the logic of NATO expansion to Georgia and Ukraine split the alliance, undermined democratic reforms abroad, and helped bring out the worst in Moscow's relations with the West. Washington should convince skeptics of its sincerity on the importance of democratic reforms by setting stringent political standards for potential members.
Robert Kagan and Robert Cooper discuss whether the world is reverting to a struggle between great powers or if it is embracing the democratising spirit of 1989.
Many believe that when Chinese and Russian leaders stopped believing in communism they became pragmatists. But Chinese and Russian rulers do have a set of beliefs that guide their domestic and foreign policies. They believe in the virtues of strong central government and disdain the weaknesses of the democratic system. Chinese and Russian leaders are not just autocrats. They believe in autocracy.
Martha Brill Olcott looks in detail on Kazakhstan's positive trend and recent foreign policy achievements. While credit is givern to the leadership's skills in maneuvering both on the domestic political arena as well as among the great powers, Dr. Olcott still flags for potential future problems if President Nazarbaev fails to open up the political system.
On my way out of Moscow on the day when George Bush and Vladimir Putin met for the last time in Sochi, Russian blogs were alight with complaints about how Putin had lost big at the NATO summit meeting in Bucharest the day before. As I flew across the ocean a few hours later, I sat next to a well-placed Washington operative on his way back from Bucharest. "Bush lost big at the summit," he said."
NATO's decision not to offer Georgia an immediate path to membership appears at first glance to be a blow to Washington. Although the NATO secretary-general announced that Ukraine and Georgia would eventually become members, Russia's envoy to NATO, Dmitry Rogozin, confidently predicted that nothing would change anytime soon.
When the U.S. launched a missile to destroy a dead satellite that would have otherwise re-entered the atmosphere and possibly threatened populated areas with a toxic load of hydrazine fuel, it resurrected fears about the so-called weaponization of space. Carnegie Associate Ashley J. Tellis comments in the Wall Street Journal on the ongoing “space weapon” debate and praises the Bush administration for rejecting a joint Russian-Chinese arms treaty aimed at banning such weapons.