Author: Bushmaster
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The regime’s greatest protector and greatest threat: military policy in Tajikistan
Every state needs an army, and Tajikistan is no different. In Tajikistan, the army is made up of multiple military and paramilitary branches, which all serve to protect the dictatorial regime of Emomali Rahmon from internal and external threat. This army js Rahmon’s most important tool to keep power, but also the seems to be…
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One year of war in Sudan
On the 15th of April 2023 a new war broke out in Sudan. Sudan’s largest paramilitary group, the Rapid Support Forces (RSF), initiated attacks against their supposed allies in the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) in nearly every major city across Sudan in what appeared to be some sort of an attempted coup. What started with…
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The Tatmadaw is falling
On the morning of February 1st, 2021, Myanmar experienced its third military coup since independence. The already influential military, known as the Tatmadaw (Royal Army) was displeased with its results in the 2020 election and decided to end the fragile democratic system that had been heading the country since 2011.[1] All civilian control of the…
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Armenia freezes membership in the CSTO. Why, and what does it mean?
On February 22nd the prime minister of Armenia, Nikol Pashinyan, announced that Armenia would freeze its membership in the Collective Security Treaty Organization, the Russian-led military alliance.[1] The future of Armenian membership in the alliance is uncertain. The decision to freeze Armenian membership comes in the wake of increased Azerbaijani pressure, improved Armenia-NATO relations,…
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Tajikistan, the model dictatorship
Tajikistan is not a country often discussed by international media. It is a poor post-soviet state without much to make it stick out. It does not have the economic miracles and close relations with the west of the Baltics, nor the natural gas wealth of western Central Asia, nor has it been assaulted by Russia…
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Iran’s international influence
In the background of the ongoing war between Israel and Hamas there have been increasingly escalating tensions between the United States on one hand and a series of “Iranian proxies” on the other, chiefly the Ansar Allah party in Yemen (commonly known by the name of the group from which many of their members originate,…
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A study of the failures of Russian foreign policy in Georgia
A study of the failures of Russian foreign policy in Georgia The history of Georgia since independence can serve as a demonstration of every Russian method of exercising power in the Near Abroad.[1] Georgia has been a victim of Russian-backed separatism, misinformation campaigns, invasion, and partial occupation. Despite this, Georgia proper has remained outside…
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Artsakh is gone. What now?
With the new year comes a change in the map that straddles the line between a de facto and a de jure development. As of January 1st, 2024, the Republic of Artsakh no longer exists, ending its 32-year history as an independent yet unrecognized state. The republic controlled most of the Nagorno-Karabakh region, and…
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Analyse av nasjonal beredskap og krigstrussel i Bosnia
Bosnias politiske historie og system Bosnia dukker stadig opp som samtaletema i militær sammenheng på grunn av sin nylige historie. Etter å ha vært en del av Jugoslavia siden 1920 holdt Bosnia en uavhengighetsavstemning i 1992. I respons til Bosnias uavhengighetserklæring forsøkte de bosniske serberne sin egen uavhengighetserklæring med Republika Srpska. Krigen som fulgte er…
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The Armenia Azerbaijan conflict
First Nagorno Karabakh war In 1988, prior to the fall of the USSR, ethnically inspired riots started breaking out in the South Caucasus between Azeris and Armenians, especially in the region of Nagorno-Karabakh. Soviet leadership, looking elsewhere, was incapable of hindering the soaring violence. The Nagorno Karabakh Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic had been legally…