The Relevance of Conflict History in 2017

DR JONATHAN FENNELL Co-Director of The Research Centre for the History of Conflict, Defence Studies Department, King’s College London Michelle Obama’s speech to the Democratic National Convention in July 2016 caught my imagination, as it did, I’m sure, many of the readers of Defence-in-depth. ‘When someone is cruel or acts like a bully’, she said,… Read More The Relevance of Conflict History in 2017

Iran’s Afghanistan Policy: At odds with Trump?

By Dr. Amir M. Kamel The prospect of the US president-elect Donald Trump’s Administration has led to ripples across the international system, not least in the Middle East. Indeed, at the time of writing, Trump had pledged to reduce the US tendency to carry out foreign interventions. Significantly, this included harsh criticisms of the 2015… Read More Iran’s Afghanistan Policy: At odds with Trump?

Looking ahead to 2017: ‘Brexit’ and Britain’s role in the world

DR TIM BENBOW This time last year, the editors of Defence-in-Depth asked me in my capacity as Director of the DSD Strategy and Defence Policy Research Centre to look forward to the year ahead. I used the opportunity to consider the challenges facing British strategy and defence policy in 2016. I mentioned Russia and the linked… Read More Looking ahead to 2017: ‘Brexit’ and Britain’s role in the world

China’s space weapons test ten years on: Behemoth pulls the peasants’ plough

DR BLEDDYN BOWEN This post is based aspects of a forthcoming paper presented at the ISA Annual Convention 2017 in Baltimore, MD. Ten years ago, on 11th January 2007, a road-mobile SC-19 Chinese antisatellite (ASAT) weapons test renewed interest, debate, and occasional polemic hysteria, in the role of space weapons in international security and Sino-US… Read More China’s space weapons test ten years on: Behemoth pulls the peasants’ plough

Erdogan and the National Pact: the fallout today from the British Army’s seizing of Mosul in 1918

By Dr Rod Thornton Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has recently repeated his country’s long-held territorial claim to Mosul and the whole of northern Iraq. Such a claim is based on the belief prevalent in Turkey that this area had, as territory of the Ottoman empire, been illegally seized by the British in November 1918… Read More Erdogan and the National Pact: the fallout today from the British Army’s seizing of Mosul in 1918