Atlantic Council

Russia’s rapidly declining population will soon no longer be able to support the current size of the Russian military. The number of Russian males turning 18-years-old is forecasted to drop by about 50 percent in the next 10 to 15 years. This approaching population decline requires significant structural reform within the Russian military. Yet, Russia’s military leadership has been slow to act and has not taken the kinds of steps required to prepare for this coming change.

Following the publication of his most recent book, China’s Rise in Asia: Promises and Perils, Dr. Robert Sutter embarked on a research trip in spring-summer 2006 which involved dozens of workshops to explore China’s rise and U.S. leadership in Asia.

During the recent football extravaganza, the world discovered a Germany that at last seemed confident and optimistic. Can this new self-esteem last? This is a key question, not only for Germany but also for Europe and the U.S., who depend on Berlin's willingness and ability to help defend Western interests around the globe.

In recognition of the impact China’s and India’s quest for sustainable development will have on the world’s energy markets and the global environmental outlook, the Atlantic Council of the United States undertook a major project in 2000 to conduct a dialogue among prominent experts in China, India, Japan and the United States.

The stunning rout of the proposed EU constitution a year ago in the referenda in the Netherlands and France leads one to wonder, a year later, where Europe goes from here. One must also consider what went wrong and whether circumstances have changed, or will change, sufficiently to allow another approach to a European charter, as proposed by the European Council at their June gathering.

Honoring Christopher J. Makins, NATO Secretary General Visits Washington, Building a New NATO-EU Architecture, Assessing Ukraine’s Euro-Atlantic Ambitions, Sustaining Support for the War on Terror, Stabilizing Post-Conflict Areas through NATO, Exploring China’s Role in the World Economy, Taiwan in Search of Strategic Consensus?, Strategic Dialogues with China on Energy and Other Issues, and Promoting Clean Air and Sustainable Energy in Asia.

In March 2006, Secretary General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer discussed the future of the Alliance with twenty-four university students from around the world at a session hosted by the Atlantic Council at American University. This private discussion with the Secretary General is part of the Office of Education’s wider outreach program for students.

Over the past several years, the Atlantic Council’s International Security Program has taken a position that, in due course, the United States’ adversarial relationships with countries, such as Libya, Iran, Syria, Cuba, and North Korea will eventually be restructured both in recognition of changes in the nature or policies of these difficult regimes, and in anticipation of a more co

This Issue Brief is based in part on an Atlantic Council delegation trip to Taiwan in December 2005, led by Franklin D. Kramer, chairman of the Council’s Committee on Asia and Global Security, and including Jan M. Lodal, president of the Council, and Council board members, Julia Chang Bloch, John L.

Since 1989, the security environment facing the United States and its European allies has changed beyond recognition. The Soviet Union has disintegrated, as has the division of Europe between East and West, and new threats have arisen. The disintegration of Yugoslavia in the 1990s demonstrated that instability and war emerging from failing states could affect the peace and security of Europe.