Strategic Paradigms by Ehsan Ahrari

The continuing economic crisis has created new pressures and demands for reduced expenditures inside the United States.  The chief question is how to lower defense spending without damaging America’s capacity to project power globally and being able to fight more than one war in different regions of the world.  The fact that no such situation [...]

As much as the world’s attention is focused on the loss of the United States’ AAA rating and the related long-term consequences for its global dominance, the PRC seems to be taking full advantage of the politics of symbolism related to its military modernization.  Its decision to show off its first aircraft carrier is one such [...]

Reading the headlines on Pakistan these days, it seems there is no end to the “humiliation” of that country. It was humiliated when Usama Bin Laden was found to be living in Abbottabad, only a half-mile from Pakistan’s military academy. The government claimed that it was unaware of the world’s most wanted terrorist’s presence. Its [...]

The news that China and the U.S. have reestablished their military-to-military (mil-to-mil) contacts is indeed a positive development. However, the differences between these two major actors promise to keep the element of competition both alive and steady. Thus, while not denying the benefits of sustaining such contacts, one has to keep in mind that they [...]

China has always followed the U.S. military’s strategic as well as operational innovations.  That is an important basis for its emergence as a rival of the American armed forces in the distant future.  That very fact also bothers the U.S. military.  Reading China’s latest White Paper (“China’s National Defense in 2010”), once again, convinces one [...]

If the Chinese leaders read Francis Fukuyama’s latest essay, “Is China Next?,” they should come away with ample mixed feelings.  As much as he relied on a variety of well-chosen variables to develop a highly rational analysis about why China may not be the next country to experience the Chinese version of the Arab awakening [...]

  One unexpected development from the U.S. Secretary of Defense Robert Gates’ highly publicized trip to China is that there are rumors and speculation that President Hu Jintao does not really have a firm grip on his country’s foreign policy; that the PLA is getting ahead of the PRC’s civilian leadership in conveying its displeasure [...]