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Volume 14, Issue 4 of Strategic Comments, the Institute's online journal has just been published.
The first article is free to all readers, with the remaining four accessible to IISS members or Strategic Comments subscribers. A pay-per-view facility is also available. The charge for each article is £5.
America's expensive defence
The US Department of Defense and military services are facing their most acute planning and budgetary crisis since the fall in defence spending that followed the end of the Cold War. While the military’s internal projections call for continued expansion on top of the large funding increases of the past seven years, the Pentagon is expected to come under pressure – particularly under a new administration – to provide a more detailed strategic justification for the maintenance of current spending levels.
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Conflict in Somalia
Tentative steps towards a political reconciliation offer a faint chance of restoring some measure of peace to Somalia. But any expectations placed on talks between officials of the struggling Transitional Federal Government and representatives of the Eritrea-based opposition must be tempered by the failure of around 15 previous peace initiatives since the early 1990s.
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After elections that delivered a setback to President Pervez Musharraf, Pakistan’s warring political parties came together to forge a grand coalition led by prime minister Yousuf Raza Gillani. However, the new government faces large challenges, not only in maintaining cohesion and forging a working relationship with Musharraf, but also in confronting the growing dangers of militant violence.
The European Union has begun its most ambitious military operation to date, a peacekeeping mission in Chad and the Central African Republic. EUFOR has a mandate to protect refugees, internally displaced persons and UN personnel, and to facilitate the delivery of aid. Apart from the logistical and military challenges involved, its commander faces sensitive political tasks.
Turkey and the PKK
In resumed hostilities between Turkish security forces and the Partiya Karkerên Kurdistan (Kurdistan Workers’ Party or PKK), both sides have scaled up their operations. Turkey has struck at PKK positions in northern Iraq, straining its already troubled relationship both with the Kurdistan Regional Government in northern Iraq and the Iraqi government.
