Atlantic Council blogs

Multiculturalism Is the Answer to Ukraine’s Identity Crisis

By Peter Dickinson

Celebrating diversity: that’s the official theme of the 2017 Eurovision Song Contest, which will take place in Kyiv this May. This is an inspired choice; Ukraine has been one of Europe’s most diverse and multicultural lands for centuries. Since the Soviet collapse, this organic multiculturalism has played a disappointingly minor role in Ukraine’s nation-building efforts. […]

Arm Ukraine Now

By Alexander J. Motyl

The case against providing lethal weapons to Ukraine has rested on a simple argument: If the United States provides arms to Kyiv, Moscow will escalate the war in eastern Ukraine. The Kremlin would up the ante with even more arms or intensify its military pressure on Ukraine. According to this logic, since escalation benefits no […]

Washington must respond to Russia’s new nuclear missile

By Matthew Kroenig

The New York Times reported on February 14 that Russia has secretly deployed two batteries of a new nuclear-capable cruise missile in violation of its international treaty obligations. The news is disturbing, but hardly surprising. Unless the United States and its allies respond promptly, the situation is likely only to deteriorate further. Russia’s missile deployments […]

A New Deal for NATO? Making the Alliance Indispensable in the Trump Era

By Alexander Vershbow

America’s NATO allies have been breathing easier in recent weeks.

Report Summary: “Human Slaughterhouse: Mass Hangings and Extermination at Saydnaya Prison, Syria”

By Rachel Kreisman

On February 6, 2017, Amnesty International published a report titled “Human Slaughterhouse: Mass Hangings and Extermination at Saydnaya Prison, Syria,” which examines the violations committed by prison authorities against Syrian citizens. The report assesses that the Syrian government has likely sanctioned violations against detainees of Saydnaya Prison as part of a widespread and systematic attack […]

Atlantic Council Report Exposes Russia’s Lies in Aleppo

A new Atlantic Council report—Breaking Aleppo—uses satellite images, TV footage, social media, and security camera videos to debunk Russia’s claims that no civilians were killed in its airstrikes on the city of Aleppo in support of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s regime. “In an era where we’re facing a mixture of falsehoods and truths, the report […]

Russian Cruise Missile, Deployed Secretly, Violates Treaty, Officials Say

By Michael R. Gordon, New York Times

Russia has secretly deployed a new cruise missile despite complaints from American officials that it violates a landmark arms control treaty

Jordan Steps Up its War on ISIS in Syria

By Shehab al-Makahleh

On February 5, Jordan launched airstrikes in southern Syria, directed at the Islamic State of Iraq and al-Sham (ISIS) and Jaysh Khalid bin Al Waleed. Occurring shortly after King Abdullah II’s meetings with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Moscow in late January and with US President Donald Trump in Washington at the beginning of February, […]

What Trump Doesn’t Get About NATO and Putin

By By Sohrab Ahmari, Wall Street Journal

So how will the West weather an American commander-in-chief who takes everything personally?

Germany Says US Demand for More NATO Burden-Sharing is ‘Fair’

By Sabine Siebold, Reuters

The U.S. call for NATO partners to step up funding for the transatlantic alliance is “a fair demand,” German Defense Minister Ursula von der Leyen said on Friday