Articles and analysis

At the business end of defence management in the United Kingdom there is, from time to time, a period when a number of senior departures fundamentally affect the nuance in which the long-term plans for the Department are thought through.

Either by accident or design, Sir Bill Jeffrey also has a (literally) once in a lifetime opportunity to overhaul the MoD's management style because there are so many almost-simultaneous changes in the top management team. But observers fear that he won't, either because of timidity or because civil service leopards can't change their spots, whatever they might say.

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As part of the Borders hotspots series, Defence Viewpoints had been monitoring the growing tension between Russia and Georgia over the South Ossetia region and has been spurred into writing due to the action today from Russia.

Russian tanks have entered the capital of Georgia's breakaway region of South Ossetia, says Georgian President Mikhail Saakashvili. Georgia has been fighting separatists with ties to Russia in order to regain control of the province, which has been effectively independent since the 1990s.

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By Nick Cranston, B.A, Research Associate, U.K. Defence Forum

Viewpoints has been following the Cambodian-Thai standoff recently as the latest round of a century long dispute involving the Preah Vihear Temple in Preah Vihear Province. This temple, built during the 9th and 10th centuries, has been at the centre of conflict and debate between the two nations goes back to the early 1900s but the ownership dispute has reappeared in recent years Cambodia submitted an application to UNESCO requesting that the site be designated as a World Heritage site after the 46 years of disputes. Thailand contended that the land surrounding the site belonged to them. The Cambodians withdrew the application, and in 2008, after winning support, resubmitted a modified request requesting the designation just for the temple, not surrounding land. The World Court now has ruled that it belongs to Cambodia, was listed as a UN heritage site, angering nationalists in Thailand who still regard it as Thai.

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