Valdai Club

Daniel Kosinski

P.R. Kumaraswamy

Ulrich Kühn

Sergei Karaganov

Konstantin Kurylev

Dmitry Konukhov

Olga Kryshtanovskaya

Václav Klaus

Michael Kofman

Arnaud Kalika

France

Chief Editor, Confidential Newsletter Strategic Information TTU; lecturer, department for the study of organized crime, University of Paris II.

Materials

Warfare in the 21st Century

If one is to define four possible types of war in the future, we would have from the more violent one to more pernicious: nuclear war, conventional war, small guerrilla-type wars, and cyber warfare. War against terrorism is a war without end, and there is no victory against terror, unless the total extermination of mankind.

New Russian Defense Minister

General Sergei Shoigu comes from the “old guard,” and he is quite popular in Russia. As a new minister, he will face many challenges. First, he must set up a dialogue with his military counterparts in order to move forward with the reform. Second – and this could be a severe blow to the Russian military – he should launch a so-called “purge” within the ministry, tracking embezzlement and bribes.

Russia Cannot be Put Outside of Fighting Drug Trafficking in Central Asia

The problem with drug trafficking in Central Asia is linked to production of opium, heroin, poppy in Afghanistan. When the United States began the war against terrorism in Afghanistan 10 years ago, they were going to destroy the entire culture of opium in it. But they decided not to destroy it, because a lot of people in Afghanistan needed this production in order to maintain their livelihood.

France and Europe Interested in Mistral Contract With Russia

The Mistral deal is for Russia a step to move closer to NATO. Now everybody is wondering what Sarkozy has promised Medvedev following the Mistral deal. Perhaps he pledged something connected with NATO, such as help and support in bringing Russia and the North Atlantic alliance closer together. Russia is not against technical cooperation with NATO and already has some experience of such cooperation.