We are trying something a little new with our podcast series. Segments! And music! In the first segment of our new podcast, Ryan Evans sits down with Claude Berube to talk about his new novel, Syren’s Song. Ryan then joins Gen. Bob Scales to talk about his recent trip to Europe where he looked at the …

The young man across from me is leaning back in his chair, stretching his chest. “After all these years, we’ve shot down a plane.” His eyes widen. “And brother, it’s a Moskof plane!” He looks up to the blue sky, smiling, letting the thought sink in. In the Turkish public consciousness, using the term “Moskof” …

Of Turkey’s near-dozen neighbors, there is just one that Ankara really fears: Russia. This is rooted in history stretching back to the Ottoman Empire. At some point in the past, the Ottoman Turks ruled over or defeated all of modern Turkey’s neighbors from Greece to Syria. The exception is Russia. Between the 15th century, when …

Since Tuesday, policymakers and pundits from NATO member states have voiced concerns about the escalation that could result from Turkey’s downing of a Russian military jet. But what actions might Moscow actually take in response? Putin faces domestic pressure to retaliate, but Moscow’s responses will likely be limited to avoid triggering a broader NATO response …

NATO entered uncharted territory on Tuesday when one of its members, Turkey, shot down a Russian warplane. There is an urgent need for Washington to bring both sides together to avoid World War Three. Read this article at Reuters. Joshua W. Walker, Ph.D. (@drjwalk) leads the Japan work of the Asia Program at the German …

The shootdown yesterday of a Russian aircraft by a Turkish F-16 is a worrisome development, but historically speaking, incidents involving the United States or NATO countries and Soviet or Russian forces have been fairly common. These include ground, naval, and air incidents. Indeed, there was a long tradition of the Soviet Union shooting at aircraft …

News broke this morning that a Turkish F-16 shot down a Russian Su-24 fighter jet allegedly violating Turkish airspace near the Syrian border. The Russian jet crashed into Syrian territory and both pilots ejected into Syrian rebel-controlled areas (one was shot and killed on his way down; the other is reportedly in custody of a …

This week, Russia expanded on its campaign in Syria with a series of 34 air-launched cruise missile strikes, perhaps even eclipsing the October 7 cruise missile launches from Russia’s Caspian Flotilla. Just as with the ship-based missile strikes, the United States should pay attention to this air vector of attack from Russia’s mainland, and the …

In my house, in my cousin’s house, in my grandfather’s house in Moscow, and even in my sister’s one-room apartment in Bed-Stuy sits a sealed bottle of vodka. Unlike the vodka spoiling countless quantities of juice, cocktails, and brain cells on a weekend in Washington, D.C., this vodka defines luxury and exclusivity. Moreover, this vodka …

Editor’s Note: This piece on the War on the Rocks Hasty Ambush blog is published in partnership with the Hoover Institution’s Military History in the News. On November 1, 1911, Italian Second Lieutenant Guilio Gavotti, flying an Etrich Taube water-cooled monoplane took a 1.5 kilo bomb from his lap and dropped it onto the Ottoman-held Ain Zara …

The announcement of a major Russian surge in its support for Syria still has Washington reeling. Combined with the announcement that Russia, Iraq, and Iran have entered an agreement to enhance intelligence-sharing to combat the self-proclaimed Islamic State, this confluence of events raised blood pressures among the Western press. Looking at these developments from a …

Russia’s air campaign in Syria, along with a ground offensive led by the regime of Bashar al-Assad, are shedding light on Moscow’s military and political objectives. Where earlier there was only room for informed speculation we can now make firmer judgments. In Syria, as in Ukraine, the Western perception of Russia’s approach is often divorced …

Russia’s campaign in Syria is about saving the Syrian regime by recapturing as much of the territory lost this spring as possible and translating those military gains into a much stronger negotiating hand. These strikes target the Army of Conquest and Free Syrian Army forces surrounding and inside the regime’s territory. A combined Russian, Iranian, …

As a Russian, there are certain — shall we say — “nuances” when family from overseas visits. In my family, that nuance (up until recently) revolved around the purchase of iPads, which are cheap in the states compared to their price in rubles. However, over the last year, that dynamic changed. Instead of taking my …

Once again, Russia has turned to the counterterrorism card to seek a way out of its precarious situation at home and in the international arena. During his address to the UN General Assembly, President Vladimir Putin stressed the importance of fighting against terrorism: “Relying on international law, we must join efforts to address the problems that all of us …