Category: weaponry

China’s ‘One-and-Done’ Arms Buyers

Commentary What is the secret to success as an arms exporter? Repeat business. Countries buy arms from certain suppliers for specific reasons: performance, reliability, cost, alliance politics, and so on. An important sign of success as an arms producer is building up a large and reliable overseas customer base—countries that return, year upon year, to…


Armed and Beltway-ish: More Federal Bureaucrats Than US Marines Authorized to Pack Heat

When Congress authorized $80 billion this year to beef up Internal Revenue Service enforcement and staffing, Republican House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy invoked the language of war to warn that “Democrats’ new army of 87,000 IRS agents will be coming for you.” A video quickly went viral racking up millions of views, purporting to show…


Don’t Expect a Sino-Russian Alliance Anytime Soon

News Analysis There is a growing belief among some Western analysts that increasingly closer relations between Beijing and Moscow—driven by economics or great-power politics—could eventually blossom into a military alliance. Most, however, are more doubtful that the countries will be able to build, in Joseph Nye’s words, “a serious partnership to challenge the West.” Alliances…