Oksana Antonenko, IISS Senior Fellow for Russia and Eurasia, spoke on the crisis in Georgia at the September 2008 IISS Global Strategic Review conference in Geneva. She said Western countries should have foreseen the war.   Watch her speech   Read More about the GSR 2008    http://www.iiss.org/whats-new/iiss-voices/?blogpost=10Fri, 10 Oct 2008 11:55:13 GMTFri, 10 Oct 2008 11:55:13 GMTFri, 10 Oct 2008 12:44:19 GMT  Professor Sir Michael Howard, the eminent British historian, was one of the founders of the IISS 50 years ago. He reflected on the Institute’s history in a short dinner speech at the Institute’s annual Geneva conference.   Watch his remarks here   Read more about the IISS 50th Anniversary   Read more about the GSR 2008              http://www.iiss.org/whats-new/iiss-voices/?blogpost=11Fri, 10 Oct 2008 12:12:18 GMTFri, 10 Oct 2008 12:12:18 GMTFri, 10 Oct 2008 12:41:28 GMT   The United States used to be suspicious of Europe’s aspirations to build defence capabilities under the European Union, rather than NATO. But at the IISS Geneva conference, US Army General Karl Eikenberry, Deputy Chairman of the NATO Military Committee, made clear that he saw big opportunities for collaboration between the two organisations.   Watch his remarks here   Read More about the GSR 2008            http://www.iiss.org/whats-new/iiss-voices/?blogpost=12Fri, 10 Oct 2008 12:48:52 GMTFri, 10 Oct 2008 12:48:52 GMTFri, 10 Oct 2008 12:48:52 GMT  Professor Anatol Lieven, Chair of International Relations and Terrorism Studies at King’s College London, delivered a talk at the IISS in London after visiting Pakistan’s North West Frontier Province. While noting that there was growing sympathy among Pashtuns for the Taliban in Afghanistan, he nevertheless insisted that the situation was not as dire as some in the West believed. An Islamist revolution could not occur in Pakistan because the country was too big and too....http://www.iiss.org/whats-new/iiss-voices/?blogpost=16Fri, 10 Oct 2008 15:32:28 GMTFri, 10 Oct 2008 15:32:28 GMTFri, 10 Oct 2008 15:34:56 GMT  The global financial crisis has, for the first time since the Second World War, caused a general fear in the West that people’s savings could be lost. Governments have taken exceptional measures to restore confidence in banks. The duration, extent and effects of the crisis are not yet known. In a Strategic Comment, the IISS assesses the crisis so far.     http://www.iiss.org/whats-new/iiss-voices/?blogpost=17Fri, 10 Oct 2008 15:41:12 GMTFri, 10 Oct 2008 15:41:12 GMTFri, 10 Oct 2008 15:50:24 GMT  On Tuesday 7 October, a 3-metre-diameter asteroid entered the Earth’s atmosphere over Africa, causing a 1–2 kilotonne explosion – the strength of a small atomic bomb – high above Sudan. Such events happen every three months or so, but this was the first time  that scientists had been able to predict an impact (almost to the second) in advance – 20 hours in advance, to be precise.   What made this of particular interest was that the latest issue....http://www.iiss.org/whats-new/iiss-voices/?blogpost=18Fri, 10 Oct 2008 15:49:10 GMTFri, 10 Oct 2008 15:49:10 GMTFri, 10 Oct 2008 15:49:28 GMT   In the second US presidential debate, the candidates were asked a question about how the US could engage Russia over humanitarian issues ‘without starting another Cold War’. In their replies, the candidates agreed that, while Russia was a major challenge, a return to the Cold War was not on the cards. In the latest issue of Survival, published a week before the debate, Pierre Hassner offers a different take on the question. As we enter the ‘post-post-Cold War....http://www.iiss.org/whats-new/iiss-voices/?blogpost=19Fri, 10 Oct 2008 15:53:35 GMTFri, 10 Oct 2008 15:53:35 GMTThu, 13 Nov 2008 12:25:15 GMTIISS Senior Fellow Oksana Antonenko’s article ‘A War with No Winners’ (Survival, October–November 2008) explores the causes and implications of the 2008 Georgia crisis. In a recent interview with Survival editor Dana Allin she expanded on her conclusions.   Watch the interview http://www.iiss.org/whats-new/iiss-voices/?blogpost=20Thu, 30 Oct 2008 15:41:58 GMTThu, 30 Oct 2008 15:41:58 GMTThu, 13 Nov 2008 12:24:25 GMTThis morning after Barack Obama’s election triumph, I did a panel discussion on what it all means with Kings College London Professor (and former IISS Senior Fellow) Anatol Lieven. I argued that America’s “Nixonland” divisions are eroding. Anatol’s not so sure.   Watch the Debate and Q&A session.   -- Dana H. Allin, Editor, Survivalhttp://www.iiss.org/whats-new/iiss-voices/?blogpost=21Wed, 05 Nov 2008 15:58:21 GMTWed, 05 Nov 2008 15:58:21 GMTThu, 13 Nov 2008 12:23:59 GMTHenry Paulson’s Troubled Assets Relief Program (TARP) will not be purchasing troubled assets after all. In fact, even when the Treasury Secretary announced the $700bn rescue plan in September it was unclear how the government would price, manage and then sell impaired mortgage-backed securities. By the time an unhappy Congress had passed the bill, the financial crisis had moved on and it was clear that banks needed more capital to keep them solvent rather than the government buying their....http://www.iiss.org/whats-new/iiss-voices/?blogpost=23Thu, 13 Nov 2008 11:01:44 GMTThu, 13 Nov 2008 11:01:44 GMTThu, 13 Nov 2008 11:43:00 GMT John Hutton, the new UK Secretary of State for Defence, made a strong and cogent case for Britain’s continued presence in Afghanistan in a speech at the IISS. The argument needed to be re-stated, with Britain continuing to suffer casualties. There remains a need, however, for world leaders to define more clearly the goals that the international military and civilian presence in Afghanistan is intended to achieve, and to work more cohesively towards them. Hutton was surely right that the....http://www.iiss.org/whats-new/iiss-voices/?blogpost=24Thu, 13 Nov 2008 11:06:40 GMTThu, 13 Nov 2008 11:06:40 GMTThu, 20 Nov 2008 18:12:16 GMT  IISS maritime expert Jason Alderwick has been extensively quoted in the media during the current piracy crisis.   He told Reuters: "Maritime security operations in that area are really only a sticking plaster, they are addressing the symptoms not the causes,"   He explained to the Guardian how the process of paying ransoms for hijacked ships works- "There is usually a coordinator onshore who deals with the dynamics. Money is brought to a prearranged....http://www.iiss.org/whats-new/iiss-voices/?blogpost=25Thu, 20 Nov 2008 18:11:53 GMTThu, 20 Nov 2008 18:11:53 GMTFri, 21 Nov 2008 17:33:38 GMTA new IISS Strategic Comment on Pakistan points out the country’s many difficulties. Its security situation, politics and economy all face big challenges. But this needs to be kept in perspective. The Comment points out that   "On present evidence, Pakistan is not in danger of becoming a militant Islamist state. Pushtun extremists are not representative of all Pushtun tribes, still less of other Pakistani communities. Nor, despite plausible concerns that some Pakistani....http://www.iiss.org/whats-new/iiss-voices/?blogpost=26Fri, 21 Nov 2008 17:32:24 GMTFri, 21 Nov 2008 17:32:24 GMTTue, 25 Nov 2008 11:50:00 GMTThe next issue of Survival (December 2008–January 2008) opens with an article on the strategic implications of the financial crisis, written by Alex Nicoll here at IISS. The issue closes with my own essay on what an Obama presidency signifies in the context of America's half century of racial and ideological divisions. An obvious question is the extent to which financial meltdown and economic crisis will now crowd out war and peace as the problems that will determine the success or....http://www.iiss.org/whats-new/iiss-voices/?blogpost=27Tue, 25 Nov 2008 11:54:09 GMTTue, 25 Nov 2008 11:54:09 GMTFri, 05 Dec 2008 11:34:36 GMT   US Defence Secretary Robert Gates is to remain in his role under the incoming administration of Barack Obama. In announcing his national security team - nominating his rival Hillary Clinton as secretary of state - President-elect Obama paid tribute to the way in which Gates has restored accountability at the Pentagon during his two years at the helm.   Although he has served two Republic administrations, including the outgoing administration of George W. Bush, Gates is a....http://www.iiss.org/whats-new/iiss-voices/?blogpost=28Mon, 01 Dec 2008 17:25:49 GMTMon, 01 Dec 2008 17:25:49 GMTFri, 05 Dec 2008 15:09:43 GMT