The Russian Military Today and Tomorrow: Essays in Memory of Mary Fitzgerald - Tapa blanda

Given the stakes involved in achieving a correct understanding of Russian and Chinese defense policies and military developments, the magnitude of Mary Fitzgerald’s enlightening accomplishments in this regard becomes clear. However, the problems that we have outlined in this volume were not unfamiliar to students of the Soviet Union. Indeed, they are enduring strategic issues for Russian policymakers as well as those who analyze or contribute to foreign policies toward the Russian military, despite the magnitude of the tremendous changes that have occurred since 1989 when the Soviet empire began to collapse. Even more importantly, Mary and her colleagues recognized that the issues outlined here are not just tasks relevant for the general study of Russia, but by addressing these strategic issues, and their underlying implications, policymakers will engage in the essential tasks necessary for the creation of an enduring structure of peace. Mary Fitzgerald made many contributions to the national security field over the course of the years through her close reading of the writings of Soviet and Russian military officers. Particularly useful was her focus on those of Soviet military theorists who put forward forecasts of future warfare and the impact of technology on warfare. These Russian reviews deserved respect and study; Mary’s work made this possible. After the collapse of the Soviet Union, it became easier to meet with and talk with a number of these Soviet officers so as to explore more fully their thinking and the continuing development of their ideas about future warfare, and the likely direction of the military revolution they had begun writing about in the late 1970s. Organizing meetings with them was greatly aided by Mary because of the good relations she had developed with several of these officers, who liked her as a person and were flattered that she had been so careful a reader of their writings. Strategic Studies Institute.

STEPHEN J. BLANK has served as the Strategic Studies Institute’s expert on the Soviet bloc and the post-Soviet world since 1989. Dr. Blank is the editor of Imperial Decline: Russia’s Changing Position in Asia, coeditor of Soviet Military and the Future, and author of The Sorcerer as Apprentice: Stalin’s Commissariat of Nationalities, 1917-1924. He has also written many articles and conference papers on Russia, the Commonwealth of Independent States, and Eastern European security is¬sues. Dr. Blank’s current research deals with proliferation and the revolution in military affairs, and energy and security in Eurasia. His two most recent books are Russo-Chinese Energy Relations: Politics in Command, London, UK: Global Markets Briefing, 2006; and Natural Allies?: Regional Security in Asia and Prospects for Indo-American Strategic Cooperation, Carlisle, PA: Strategic Studies Institute, U.S. Army War College, 2005. Dr. Blank holds a B.A. in history from the University of Pennsylvania, and an M.A. and Ph.D. in history from the University of Chicago. RICHARD WEITZ is Senior Fellow and Director of the Center for Political-Military Analysis at the Hud¬son Institute. His current research includes regional security developments relating to Europe, Eurasia, and East Asia as well as U.S. foreign, defense, homeland security, and weapons of mass destruction (WMD) nonproliferation policies. Dr. Weitz has published or edited several books and monographs, including Global Security Watch-Russia (Praeger Security International, 2009); a volume of National Security Case Studies (Project on National Security Reform, 2008); China-Russia Security Relations (Strategic Studies Institute, U.S. Army War College, 2008); Kazakhstan and the New International Politics of Eurasia (Central Asia-Caucasus Institute, 2008); Mismanaging Mayhem: How Washington Responds to Crisis (Praeger Security International, 2008); The Reserve Policies of Nations: A Comparative Analysis (Strategic Studies Institute, U.S. Army War College, 2007); and Revitalising US–Russian Security Cooperation: Practical Measures (The International Institute for Strategic Studies, 2005). Dr. Weitz holds a B.A. in government from Harvard College, an M.Sc. in international relations from the London School of Economics, an M.Phil. in politics from Oxford University, and a Ph.D. in political science from Harvard University.