Considered a strategic NATO ally, Turkey has benefited from a U.S. policy that is long on military assistance and short on constructive criticism.
Regions / Europe & Central Asia
The collapse of the Soviet Union and the Warsaw Pact invalidated NATOs original mandate and prompted a search for a new approach to European security.
When the Soviet Union abruptly ceased to exist on December 25, 1991, it seemed that the West, particularly the U.S., finally had what it had always wanted--the opportunity to introduce quick, all-encompassing economic reform that would remake Russia in the West's own image.
U.S.-Russian security relations have slowly deteriorated since 1993.
India has developed its nuclear weapons program in reaction to local, regional, and global nuclear and political realities.
Small and relatively unknown, Macedonia (officially called the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, or FYROM) is the key to stability in the southern Balkans.
After the cold war, Albania became a country of strategic importance to the United States.
Expansion of the NATO military alliance is proceeding rapidly despite an overwhelming lack of public or congressional debate.
In promoting structural adjustment, the U.S. has concentrated on short-term profits for businesses and narrow diplomatic gain.
Over the past decade, nuclear weapons have been reduced from 70,000 to 40,000. The U.S. and Russia hold 97% of these remaining nuclear weapons.