Late on Tuesday, July 5, an Azerbaijani tanker plane crashed in Afghanistan en route to U.S./NATO Bagram Air Base with a load of fuel. The United States and NATO should mourn the nine crew members who were killed on board, yet this accident should serve as a reminder of the invaluable contributions and sacrifices that this small, predominately Muslim country has made for NATO and American forces when other coalition allies have been pulling out of Afghanistan. This supply plane flew from Baku, the capital of Azerbaijan, which is located in …
Amidst the ongoing aerial campaign against Muammar Qadhafi’s forces in Libya, NATO is struggling with a problem that is affecting the integrity of the alliance. Arms producers in France, Italy, and Germany are selling advanced weapons, sensitive dual-use systems, and military supplies to Russia. These military sales to Moscow, which is flush with cash from oil and gas sales, signal the decline in strategic cohesiveness among some of NATO’s most important members. Such military sales include a record-breaking deal signed on June 17 between France and Russia in which Russia …
Materials obtained in the U.S. SEAL raid that killed Osama bin Laden confirm what Heritage suspected all along: Al-Qaeda considered attacking tanker ships and other maritime energy infrastructure. Bin Laden expected to drive up the price of oil and intended to cause considerable damage to the U.S. and other oil-dependent economies. As The Heritage Foundation’s 2008 and 2010 energy simulations showed, organized terrorist attacks would cause a massive disruption and long-term decline in oil production and have a significant global geo-economic impact. Both of Heritage’s simulations of terrorism-caused energy crises …
After Osama bin Laden’s death, it is clear that the war on terrorism is not over. Ayman al-Zawahiri, the former al-Qaeda’s number two, may take over as bin Laden’s heir, unless the interim operations leader Saif al-Adel, the former Egyptian commando with Iranian ties, gets the job. In the meantime, al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP), the most active and dangerous of al-Qaeda affiliate terrorist organizations, has embarked upon expanding the global reach of its supporters. AQAP recently translated al-Qaeda’s online journal Inspire into Russian in an effort to attract …
The United States is increasingly relying on the Russian Federation for supplying U.S. forces stationed in Iraq and Afghanistan. This is because the U.S. does not have enough C-17 military transport aircraft to address all of its logistical needs and meet its commitments around the world. Freedom is not free, and neither is the Russian help. In 2007, the United States paid $47,000 per hour to lease Russian Antonov AN-124 “Ruslan” strategic heavy lift jets. In fiscal year 2007–2008, the U.S. taxpayers paid more than $840 million total to the …
Ambitious efforts to modernize Russia’s defense and industrial base undertaken during the Putin administration have been paying off—at least, in some cases. The Russian leadership uses arms sales for economic gain, but also as a tool of influence in the recipient countries. The Russian military-industrial complex, one of the few national industries that maintain some competitive advantage in comparison with the West, is a source of the Kremlin’s cash and prestige. Leftover stockpiles from the Soviet military past were large enough to keep Russia active in arms sales in the …
Russia originally abstained from vetoing the U.N. Security Council resolution allowing operation “Odyssey Dawn” in Libya. Now, however, Moscow is changing its tune: Russia has called for an immediate cease-fire because of the claims of “high civilian casualties.” In other words, as long as Libyan dictator Muammar Qadhafi was killing thousands of his own people, it was fine, but now that the Western and Arab air and naval forces are trying to protect the rebels, it is not okay. Strange logic indeed. However, it may be reflecting deeper splits inside …
HERZLIYA, ISRAEL. Emergence of a nuclear Iran; turmoil in Egypt and destabilization of secular, pro-Western Middle Eastern states; blurring of the lines between unconventional, conventional, and low-intensity conflicts; explosion of information challenges in and around the battlefields—all of these concerns will increasingly challenge U.S. and regional policymakers and military commanders in the Middle East and beyond. These were conclusions at Israel’s flagship national security event, the Herzliya Conference, which ended February 9. The prestigious conference, organized by Interdisciplinary College Herzliya, attracted NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen; U.K. Defense Minister …
Two years of President Barak Obama’s Middle Eastern foreign policy, and especially its handling of the Egyptian revolution, earned poor marks at Israel’s flagship national security event, the Herzliya Conference. The prestigious conference attracted NATO Secretary-General Anders Fogh Rasmussen, U.K. Defense Minister Liam Fox, U.S. Assistant Secretary of Defense Alexander Vershbow, Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak, and many others. Israel is concerned that the the Obama Administration demonstrated inconsistency, first declaring the Mubarak regime stable, then hastening to ease out an octogerian President who for a long time was America’s …
On January 15, British Petroleum (BP) agreed to form a joint venture with Russia’s state-owned Rosneft to develop three of Rosneft’s offshore exploration blocks in northern Russia. The two companies will jointly explore for oil and gas in the Russian Arctic, one of the world’s last remaining unexplored hydrocarbon basins. Rosneft will receive BP shares equivalent to a 5 percent stake, valued at $7.8 billion, while BP will receive a 9.5 percent stake in Rosneft, in addition to the 1.3 percent it already owns. Hailed by First Deputy Prime Minister …
