PULASKI POLICY PAPER – R. Lipka: The London Summit as a Test for NATO Unity
Pułaski Policy Paper No 9, 2019. 24 December 2019 On December 3-4, 2019, the North Atlantic Council held a summit meeting in London to commemorate the 70th anniversary of NATO founding treaty as well as the 30th anniversary of the fall of the Iron Curtain. The summit turned out to be another tense meeting for NATO. The disputes between the member states materialised on the first day of the summit. The President of France, Emmanuel Macron, accused Turkey of supporting the Islamic State. On the other hand, Macron’s recent comments on NATO provoked sharp criticism from Donald Trump[i]. Furthermore, on the eve of the summit a rumour had surfaced that Ankara […]
PULASKI POLICY PAPER – T.Otłowski: Consequences of Caliph Ibrahim’s Death—What’s Next for the Islamic State?
Pułaski Policy Paper No 8, 2019. 11 December 2019 The death of Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi – the self-proclaimed Caliph Ibrahim and the leader of the Islamic State (IS) that had been hiding in Idlib province in northwestern Syria – triggered a number of analysts to announce a major breakthrough in war against the caliphate and the Islamic extremism in general. It seems, however, that those overly optimistic claims are premature. The Islamic State is apparently capable of existing and functioning without a charismatic leader, such as al-Baghdadi, due to its characteristics, current organisational structure, and the attractiveness of the ideology that this movement represents. Furthermore, given that Caliph Ibrahim had been […]
PULASKI POLICY PAPER – S. Koziej: NATO’s Strategic Defence in the new “hybrid cold war”
Pułaski Policy Paper No 6, 2019. 27 August 2019 The new “hybrid cold war” is not at an end even though it has never been declared, but instead, dictated by Russia. On the contrary, the conflict is escalating and becoming multidimensional.[i] The new cold war is no longer limited to spectacular phenomena such as hybrid and other threats below the threshold of war (cyber interventions and cyber defence, and information operations in social media). Today, the clash between Russia and the West bears a strong resemblance to the Cold War in the second half of the 20th century with its indirect military confrontation: an arms race, large-scale military exercises, provocative […]
PULASKI POLICY PAPER – K. Zięć: The next-generation multirole fighter for Poland –operational, economic and strategic aspects of the procurement process
Pułaski Policy Paper No 5, 2019. 25 June, 2019 In May 2019, Poland’s Minister of National Defence announced that the Polish government had sent a letter of request to the U.S. Department of Defence regarding the procurement of 32 F-35A multirole fighters. Selection of the next generation aircraft is of great importance for any state. Currently, Poland and its Armed Forces have reached the turning point which will have an enormous impact for the entire defence system of the country; its economic and technological development, particularly in the field of aircraft and missile industry; as well as the political relations with allied nations and Poland’s security environment in the future. […]
PULASKI POLICY PAPERS – T. Otłowski: Libya at a crossroads
Pułaski Policy Paper No 4, 2019. 12 June, 2019 In early 2019, that is eight years after the fall of Muammar Gaddafi’s regime and five years since the outbreak of the second Libyan civil war, the political situation in Libya aggravated once again. On April 4th, 2019 Field Marshall Khalifa Haftar, Head of the Libyan National Army (LNA) that supports the government in Tobruk, announced an offensive against Tripoli, the capital city of Libya. The ultimate goal of the operation is to wipe out Islamist military formations and militias and to unite the country. In fact, the operation was launched against the second centre of power in Libya, the Government of […]
PULASKI POLICY PAPER – S.Koziej: New Cold War on NATO’s Eastern Flank – Security Scenarios for Central and Eastern Europe
Pułaski Policy Paper No 3, 2019. 02 April 2019 The clash between Russia and the West has increased the importance of Central and Eastern Europe. The role of this region in a new hybrid cold war will depend on further developments and successful implementation of certain conflict scenarios.[i] Currently, Central and Eastern Europe is in the center of the ongoing conflict between the Russian Federation and NATO[ii] despite that neither of them want to admit it.[iii] To understand the position and the role of CEE in the conflict with Moscow, it is necessary to analyze and consider various scenarios regarding the future relations between Russia and the West. In the […]
PULASKI POLICY PAPER – T.J. Omedi: Suspension of the INF Treaty – What’s next?
Pułaski Policy Paper No 2, 2019. 21 February 2019 The Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs announced that on February 2nd, 2019 the U.S. Department of State sent an official notice declaring a U.S. suspension of the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty (INF). This decision is a follow-up of Donald Trump’s threats to withdraw from the bilateral agreement between the Russian Federation and the United States which banned land-based cruise and ballistic missiles with ranges of 500–5,500 km. The final U.S. withdrawal should take place in six months. According to Donald Trump’s administration, Russia has violated the treaty by producing and deploying the 9M729 (SSC-8) missiles. The U.S. decision has been supported by […]
PULASKI POLICY PAPER – R.Lipka: The Demise of the Arms Control Era: Washington and Moscow-Beijing axis on a Collision Course
Pułaski Policy Paper No 7, 2019. 30 September 2019 On 8th August, 2019 a mysterious blast rocked Nyonoksa, a small village located on the White Sea coast in the Arkhangelsk Oblast, Northern Russia. State Atomiс Energy Corporation ROSATOM acknowledged that an accident at the military firing range in Severodvinsk claimed the lives of five workers whereas three others were seriously injured.[i] The incident happened during alleged tests of a liquid reactive propulsion system. The public has been galvanized by news reports published shortly after the explosion that initially claimed a spike in radiation levels. Shortly afterwards, on 13th August Russian news agency Tass confirmed that the Federal Service for Hydrometeorology […]