New Atlanticist
A Crisis Index by Atlantic Council’s UkraineAlert
Throughout Russia’s assault this year on Ukraine, one of Europe’s most dangerous wars since the close of World War II, the Atlantic Council has analyzed the conflict for ways to sustain Europe’s stability and the right of 43 million Ukrainians to the independent, democratic future they have chosen. The Council's initiative includes UkraineAlert, our e-mail newsletter on the crisis. As 2014 closes, we’ve gathered an index of key articles from UkraineAlert (and our website) this year. They are grouped below under six headings that Council analysts say reflect ideas basic to meeting this challenge:
Still, Ukrainians Wait to See Concrete Steps to End a System of Graft
Ukraine’s new government is on track to pass a painfully austere budget by the end of the year, according to the Atlantic Council’s Kyiv-based senior fellow, Brian Mefford. The other center of attention is the government’s establishment of a National Anti-Corruption Bureau, Mefford writes in his blog this week.
Kremlin Quietly Supports Network That Sends Thousands of Russian Veterans to Donbas War
In Yekaterinburg, the main city of Russia’s Ural region, retired army officer Vladimir Yefimov organizes army veterans to fight for Russia in southeastern Ukraine, more than 1,000 miles away. While Russia’s deployment of army troops and non-official Russian “volunteer” fighters in Ukraine is not news, Yefimov describes in new detail how Russian army vets are selected, organized and paid to join the war. His account underscores that the army of Russian "volunteers" is run with at least the tacit help of the Kremlin.
Atlantic Council Analysts Say No Easy Response for US to Sony Cyber Attack
North Korea’s Internet outage this week could be the work of “good ol' American patriotic hackers,” according to Jason Healey, director of the Atlantic Council’s Cyber Statecraft Initiative.
North Korea’s Internet service appeared to be working again on December 23 following a nearly ten-hour shutdown that came hours after US President Barack Obama promised a “proportional response” to a cyber attack on Sony Pictures. Washington has blamed the North Korean government for the Sony hack, an accusation Pyongyang denies.
Far From Kyiv and Next to Donetsk, the Elderly of Pisky Get Daily Shelling, But No Pensions
Before this year’s war in southeast Ukraine, the town of Pisky, at the edge of the city of Donetsk, was home to about 3,000 people. Many were academics who worked at the local Donetsk Institute of Agricultural Production.
Now, Pisky is a debris-strewn combat zone, its homes and office buildings empty, with roofs blown off, windows smashed, and the few remaining inhabitants hunkered in frigid basements. Recent video reports, plus social media posts by soldiers in the area depict a desperate scene as winter sets in. Ukrainian government troops, national guard fighters, and militiamen of the ultranationalist Pravyi Sektor (Right Sector) defend Pisky from the Russian-armed forces of the Donetsk People’s Republic, as little as 350 meters away.
The Ukrainian Project to Keep Europe Whole and Free Needs Adequate Financing—and Quickly
Ukraine's new government has unleashed a “tiger team” of ministers committed to quick and comprehensive reforms—but as that work begins, the costs of war and recession have pushed Ukraine to the edge of default. Ukraine has begun to take steps to slash corruption, improve governance, and open up the economy, but its friends in the European Union and the United States have been much slower at assembling the $32 billion or more in loans now needed to keep Ukraine solvent through the difficult first years of its transformation. Ukraine’s allies act like they don’t realize that the reform of Ukraine’s could be undermined by an economic meltdown as easily as by Russian aggression or obstruction by corrupt local interest groups.
Three recent events in and around Turkey raise concerns about this country's direction for the United States and its European allies.
‘Proportionate’ Response Will Be Hard to Shape, Atlantic Council’s Jason Healey Says
The US government faces a tough challenge in determining how to fulfil President Obama’s promise to “respond proportionately” to North Korea’s cyber attack on Sony Pictures, according to Atlantic Council analyst Jason Healey.
“What this really means for now is that the administration will keep the issue quiet, continue the focus on Cuba, and allow DC to take a year-end vacation,” Healey wrote today in an essay for the Christian Science Monitor.
