Russia in Global Affairs

The war in Syria has ground on for more than half a decade. Hundreds of thousands have died, entire cities and towns have been destroyed, and billions of dollars in infrastructure have been decimated.

As Russia's annual strategic exercise, titled Zapad-2017, approaches, media reports have contended that Moscow is engaged in a military buildup along NATO's borders, with particular trepidation over security considerations in the Baltics. Ironically, Russia's military modernization and force structure expansion had been ignoring the Baltic region until only recently.

Numerous international competitors see the use of force as a solution to their challenges. In relations between Russia and NATO, China and Japan, Iran and Saudi Arabia, power plays unfold with unpredictable repercussions.