Security and Defence

There can be little doubt that is falling some way short in its regional security role. In part, this is because the challenge Russia presents is far larger than those faced in the former Yugoslavia, Afghanistan and Libya - Nato's largest previous operations to date.

In the end a moderate pact of Libyans — and a united and forceful international response — is needed to save the country from the ledge from which it is currently leaning. It will take time, it will cost money and it will require long term planning. But inaction now will only lead to the need for action later.

DPRK’s ignorance of international norms does not only pose a risk to international peace and security, but also a threat to the concept of internationalism.

The civil war in Darfur will most likely continue to escalate as the violent acts of rebel groups and an uncooperative government remain unpunished.

There are other competing theories as to who is behind the Parisian massacres, but the theory that the Kouachis were financed and trained by AQAP certainly seems to hold the most water.

We will witness a battle between a Congress that desires to restore a proactive approach to US foreign affairs and an administration that seeks to continue to limp down the path to the finish line of the next presidential inauguration. It could be a long two years.

Decades of national economic mismanagement have combined with a lingering mistrust of the military by both the public and political class to leave the Argentine Armed Forces underfunded, underequipped and unready for war. It seems likely the country’s military will have to come to terms with the fact that their fall from grace is a permanent arrangement.

The commencement of air strikes against the assets of ISIS in Syria last month marked the opening of the US-led coalition’s second front against the extremist group. But behind the immediate campaign to counter the terror organisation, the question regarding what to do about the Assad regime – a government responsible for far more deaths than the toll inflicted by ISIS – looms large.

Whilst both Vietnam and the US suffered a massive trauma as a result of the conflict between the two countries, the status the war occupies today in these nations is more as a set of personal tragedies, rather than a cultural and institutional monolith that defines the relationship between them. If handled correctly, enhanced collaboration could offer the prospect of massive and almost cost-free foreign policy benefits for both countries.

The Somali terrorist organisation, al-Shabaab, have not been having a very good month. Firstly, they have been suffering a string of defeats in their conflict with the Somali government and African Union forces, capitulating and allowing key towns to be captured with little in the way of resistance.