Publications

Global Islamism Monitor: No. 17

February 21, 2016

The Islamic State's growing strategic capabilities;

Has the Islamic State come to Pakistan?;

Targeting ISIS finances...with bombs;

Iraq's Sunnis start to push back  

Countering Putin begins with knowing what his regime is saying

February 17, 2016 Stephen Blank The Hill

Recent media accounts have argued that the U.S. government suffers from an absence of high-quality expertise on Russia. These accounts correctly note that funding for careers to ensure career opportunities for a continuing flow of people interested in Russia has dried up as well as the quantitative as well as qualitative lack of capable analysts. Undoubtedly we suffer from a shortage of funding and of professional interest in Russia, which is widely regarded as a busted flush of little account despite Ukraine and Syria. This shortage tallies with the president and his administration’s view that Russia is a declining regional power. Yet, as we have seen reality continues to belie such shortsighted thinking, particularly when it comes to the information battlefield and America’s struggle to contest Russian dominance in the weaponization of information used by the Kremlin against the United States and NATO.