As BRIC countries prepare for a summit in China next week, trade skirmishes and disagreements within the bloc persist in casting doubt on its future relevance as a global entity.

The government of Canada recently announced a plan to purchase 65 Lockheed Martin F-35 Lightning II Joint Strike Fighter aircraft.

The sovereign debt crisis in Europe, and soon America, will exert tremendous pressure on national defense budgets, resulting in a re-alignment of global military power from West to East.

Russia is poised to occupy the diplomatic space created in Latin America by American decline.

President Hugo Chavez is hosting Prime Minister Vladimir Putin on Friday for meetings that will seal an assortment of lucrative deals – as well as raise some eyebrows in Washington.

Monday’s dual suicide bombing attack on the Moscow metro will have profound consequences for Russian domestic politics.

In the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, we find a nuclear-armed state with a collapsing economy and a blurred line of leadership succession. In short, a geopolitical time bomb.

This backgrounder examines the international nuclear nonproliferation regime; specifically the origins, benefits, and drawbacks of the Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) and the Comprehensive Test-Ban Treaty (CTBT).

American decline has once again become a fashionable prophecy in academic and media circles. This time, BRIC countries like China and India have replaced the specter of a rising Japan, the country that was often cited by ‘declinists’ as a challenger to American hegemony during the 1980s. This backgrounder will examine both sides of the debate and provide an objective analysis of the causes and possible effects of American decline.

The Royal United Services Institute’s (RUSI) recent appraisal of defense spending in the UK paints a bleak picture; one that will force the UK government to make hard decisions on its’ global military posture moving forward.