Chinese hacking raises alarm in India;
Despite rapprochement, Taiwan seeks U.S. arms

Abkhazia flirts with Moscow; ...While Georgia discovers its own admirer; Iran, Hezbollah teach new tricks...; ... And open old wounds

McCain proposes new nuclear accord;
The Russian Academy of Sciences takes a stand

One step closer to CFE abrogation;
Celebrating Cold War era spies

A clear preference for a strong president;
Putting Prague on notice over missile defense

Moscow and Tbilisi let the recriminations fly;
The return of "punitive psychiatry"

Deripaska dips his toe in the U.S. auto industry;
Back to Cold War bomber patrols

Fatah resurgent?; A traitor in the ranks; A nuclear nightmare in the Caucasus; Reinforcements of for Al-Qaeda; A new vision of the Syrian military

Kazakhstan unviels new military strategy; Hamas' fractured future; Aliyev in the dock; Abu Dhabi and the demographic of decline...

In December 2001, a new Russian law laying the basis for the peaceful territorial expansion of the Russian Federation went into effect. The entire country of Belarus-as well as parts of Georgia, Kazakhstan, and Ukraine-are the most likely candidates to join Russia. Should this largely ethnically-based expansion occur, Russia would grow by more than 20 million people, and the resultant rise in Russian nationalism might encourage further Russian territorial ambitions-especially those directed at Ukraine. Even if Russian expansion stops with all, or part, of these territories, however, it could breathe new life into the ethnically based border problems of other countries. A timely and prescient work, made all the more relevant by Russia's invasion of Georgia in August 2008.