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Atlantic Council blogs provide short-form analyses from Council experts and a wider community of global voices on the world’s most important news stories.
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UkraineAlert

Jun 12, 2017

Ukrainians Resolute in Desire to Keep Country United, New Poll Reveals

By Katie LaRoque

On May 10, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and Ukrainian Foreign Minister Pavlo Klimkin separately met with President Donald J. Trump, who later tweeted his desire for the two countries to make peace. Most would like to see this war come to a close—with more than 10,000 lives lost and over 1.7 million internally displaced […]

Russia Ukraine

NATOSource

Jun 9, 2017

Trump Discovers Article 5 After Disastrous NATO Visit

By Robbie Gramer, Foreign Policy

At long last, U.S. President Donald Trump endorsed NATO’s bedrock collective defense clause, Article 5, in a press conference Friday. “Absolutely, I’d be committed to Article 5,” he said Friday

NATO Security & Defense

New Atlanticist

Jun 9, 2017

Elections Key to Brazil’s Recovery

By Roberta Braga

A good-humored people by nature, Brazilians know how to take misfortune in stride. On social media, memes and videos poke fun at the widespread corruption allegations that have mired the nation. Almost every politician and the most prominent businessmen have been tainted, leading to one of Brazil’s worst democratic crises since the fall of the […]

Brazil

SyriaSource

Jun 9, 2017

Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham is Evolving into a ‘Neo-Qaeda’

By Mona Alami

In the past year, the Nusra Front, the former al-Qaeda affiliate and now known as Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), has gone through a fast, complex evolution. This has paved the way for the emergence of a ‘neo-Qaeda,’ one that is specific to Syria, pragmatic and aggressive, and struggling between its political ambitions and jihadist identity.

Syria

New Atlanticist

Jun 9, 2017

May’s Humiliation Could Make Brexit Easier

By Reginald Dale

The Conservative government’s surprise loss of its parliamentary majority in the United Kingdom’s June 8 general election will greatly complicate the task of withdrawing the country from the European Union (EU), on which negotiations are due to start June 19. But it might conceivably lead to a better outcome in the end. Prime Minister Theresa […]

European Union International Organizations

EconoGraphics

Jun 9, 2017

A Vital Foreign Policy Tool

By Ole Moehr

This is the first EconoGraphic as part of our recently launched Economic Sanctions Initiative. The initiative aims to promote dialogue between the public and the private sector to investigate how to improve the design and implementation process of economic sanctions.

Economy & Business European Union

New Atlanticist

Jun 9, 2017

Theresa May’s Failed Election Gamble

By Ashish Kumar Sen

British Prime Minister Theresa May made a gamble when she decided to call early elections with the hope of shoring up political support ahead of difficult Brexit negotiations. That gamble did not pay off. May’s Conservative Party, while still the largest in Parliament following the June 8 election, failed to secure the 326 seats necessary […]

European Union International Organizations

New Atlanticist

Jun 9, 2017

From Huguenots to Gay Refugees: The Cost of Expulsion

By Philip Cornell

With the revocation of the Edict of Nantes in 1685, Louis XIV famously empowered national prejudice, initiating widespread persecution and driving the mass exodus of French protestants. Many of those within this highly skilled and industrious group fled to London, where they had no small part in the blossoming of English economic life which would […]

IranSource

Jun 9, 2017

The Trump Administration Should Ease Its Policy of Isolating Iran

By Amir Handjani

The Trump administration’s attempts to isolate and demonize Iran for all the ills of the Middle East will do far more harm than good to long-term US interests. Instead of seeking to isolate and confront Iran, the administration should build on the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) to ease the region’s sectarian and other […]

IranSource

Jun 9, 2017

Terrorist Attacks in Iran Could Strengthen Hardliners

By Farhad Rezaei

Terrorists attacked two key sites in Tehran on June 7 — the Parliament building, a symbol of the republic, and the tomb of the Islamic Republic’s revolutionary founder, Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, a symbol of the revolution. Sixteen people died and 45 were wounded. The group that calls itself the Islamic State (ISIS) took responsibility and […]