The Russian president has held on to the government with a strong fist and a creative media presence, but a storm is brewing.
https://worldview.stratfor.com/article/russia-putin-power-losing-some-its-shine
Russia should be counted among the European colonial empires—and as the only one left standing. That’s the key to comprehending its future.
https://www.the-american-interest.com/2017/06/29/russia-last-colonial-empire/
https://jamestown.org/program/patriotism-military-uniform/
The last time Armenia negotiated closer ties with the European Union, in 2013, Russia swooped in at the last minute with a better offer to join the rival Customs Union and persuaded President Serzh Sargsyan to abandon the EU deal.
http://www.eurasianet.org/node/84146
https://jamestown.org/program/baltic-standoff-highlights-cold-war-lite-russia-nato/
The general trend in Afghanistan is clear-cut: the overall security situation has consistently deteriorated since 2009, worsening dramatically since 2014. However, in the provinces of Afghanistan adjacent to Central Asia, the security situation has deteriorated even further than in Afghanistan as a whole. This report considers the range of options available to the Central Asian neighbors of Afghanistan (Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan) in responding to this growing threat, both unilaterally and in their bilateral engagement with actors in Afghanistan.
https://www.csis.org/analysis/afghanistan-and-its-central-asian-neighbors
Russia hawks and national security worry talk of friendship, unclear agenda might make Trump too eager to please.
http://www.politico.com/story/2017/06/29/trump-putin-raises-worries-240124
The S-400 surface to air missile (SAM) system is one of Russia’s most important assets in Syria, as well as in Eastern Europe where the system’s presence in the Russian enclave of Kaliningrad gives the Kremlin powerful airspace denial options over the Baltic States and much of Poland. The S-400 system consists of wheeled vehicles including long-range surveillance radars, tracking and engagement radars, missile transportation and launch vehicles, and a command and control node.
https://rusi.org/publication/rusi-defence-systems/russia%E2%80%99s-air-defence-challenge-syria
Die Nato kündigt mehr Soldaten für Afghanistan an und überdenkt ihre Strategie für das Land. Zudem stiegen die Verteidigungsausgaben der Mitgliedsländer in Europa und in Kanada – zum Ärger Moskaus.