Tag: Intel

With Russian President Vladimir Putin invading a neighboring non-NATO nation and engaging in nuclear saber rattling, the alliance’s Article 5 mutual-defense guarantee may have gained new appeal for NATO’s two Nordic partners, Finland and Sweden. Indeed, Finnish politicians began debating membership in Helsinki Tuesday, with a new poll showing support for joining the alliance. Both… Continue reading Complex—but Promising—Prospects as Finland and Sweden Mull NATO Membership

Russian and U.S. diplomats held multiple meetings last week to discuss the fate of Ukraine—talks that apparently failed to defuse the crisis. The U.S. government warned Friday of potential sabotage operations in Ukraine, a move that might give Moscow a pretext to mobilize some 100,000 Russian troops near the border to cross into Ukraine. Russian… Continue reading Biden’s Rhetoric on Ukraine Has Been Quite Moderate. Here’s What That Means

Much of the Western discussion about helping Ukraine in the face of overwhelming Russian military advantage centers on relatively short-range weapons and tactics meant to enmesh an invasion force in the “next Afghanistan” or a “near certainty of hell”: for example, providing more Javelin anti-tank weapons, Stinger anti-aircraft missiles, and weaponized drones; or training Ukrainian… Continue reading Ukraine Needs Help Surviving Airstrikes, Not Just Killing Tanks

This week, we discuss U.S.-Russia diplomacy in the context of the Ukraine crisis; how citizen science can help communities become safer and stronger; protecting the U.S. blood supply from future shocks; how the pandemic affected military recruitment and retention; U.S. capacity-building efforts in Africa; and new “visual essays” that show why people might join—and later… Continue reading U.S.-Russia Diplomacy, Citizen Science, America’s Blood Supply: RAND Weekly Recap

With Russian forces massed on Ukraine’s borders, the policy discussion in Washington increasingly has focused on what the United States can do to help its Ukrainian partners defend their country. Just this week, the Biden administration has approved deliveries of U.S.-made Stinger shoulder-launched anti-aircraft missiles to Kyiv, in addition to upping provision of other military… Continue reading U.S. Military Aid to Ukraine: A Silver Bullet?

After much hemming and hawing, Congress in December finally passed a $768 billion defense authorization bill, some $25 billion over what the Biden administration had requested. For defense hawks, this is good news. With China becoming increasingly belligerent towards Taiwan, Russia poised to invade Ukraine, and Iran stiff-arming nuclear negotiations, the United States faces intensifying… Continue reading American Deterrence’s Missing Half

A Japanese politician who played an important part in the history of U.S.-Japan relations died recently, and chances are you’ve never heard of him. Kaifu Toshiki was Japan’s prime minister from 1989 to 1991, a critical time in U.S.-Japan relations as the world was transitioning from the Cold War to the fog that lay beyond.… Continue reading The Premier Who Helped Change U.S.-Japan Relations

As the United States gets its arms around the challenge of a long-term rivalry with China, several powerful but dubious claims are putting down roots in the collective thinking of the U.S. national security community. Some are well on the way to becoming unquestioned articles of faith, and like similar pieces of conventional wisdom that… Continue reading Shaping China’s Ambitions

Mobilizing for great power conflict is hard enough, but with a new variant of COVID-19 running rampant, the U.S. military would have its hands full if it had to fight tonight. Fortunately, today the U.S. military is fairly well-postured to tackle a deployment during a pandemic, given its experience fighting COVID-19 over the past few… Continue reading The Future and Past of War and Disease

Thousands of families were forced from their homes due to the recent Colorado wildfires. They add to the growing number of people—21.5 million since 2010—displaced by extreme weather. In the coming decades this trend will almost certainly accelerate, as some 200 million—possibly as many as 1 billion people—are displaced by the middle of the century.… Continue reading To Help Climate Migrants, We Must First Recognize Them