Atlantic Council blogs

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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New Atlanticist

Aug 24, 2016

Making Sense of Turkey’s Intervention in Syria

By Ashish Kumar Sen

Turkish-backed Syrian rebels on August 24 seized an Islamic State stronghold in Syria. The military operation marks a significant escalation of Turkey’s role in the war against the Islamic State and comes days after the Turkish government vowed to “cleanse” its borders of the militants. Aaron Stein and Faysal Itani, both senior resident fellows in […]

Syria Turkey

New Atlanticist

Aug 24, 2016

Winning the Peace in Colombia

By Ashish Kumar Sen

Colombia’s president must focus on shoring up support for peace and reintegration, says Atlantic Council’s Peter Schechter On the brink of ending Latin America’s longest-running armed conflict, Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos must now make a concerted effort to convince Colombians that the peace deal he struck with the leftist guerrillas is worthy of their […]

Colombia

MENASource

Aug 24, 2016

Libya and the HoR Vote: What May Come Next

By Fadel Lamen and Karim Mezran

After many failed attempts to meet and reach a quorum, Libya’s House of Representatives (HoR) seated in Tobruk met on August 22 and voted on the cabinet of the Government of National Accord (GNA) proposed by the Presidential Council (PC) led by Fayez Serraj. With the legal quorum of 101 members, 61 members voted no […]

Libya

SyriaSource

Aug 24, 2016

The SDF takes Manbij but Life is Slow to Return

By Aleppo 24

Local factions in Manbij, in cooperation with Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), a coalition of local forces dominated by Kurdish forces, succeeded on August 11 in ousting the Islamic State (ISIS) from the city after intense fighting that began on May 28 and forced the group to withdraw from the last areas it controlled in al-Sirb, […]

Syria

FutureSource

Aug 23, 2016

Human Enhancements: What the Public and National Security Experts Worry About

By Kevin Fulgham

As medical enhancement technology develops at an ever-increasing rate, the American public is more concerned about the future ethical implications of these new discoveries. Which medical enhancements provoke the strongest reaction, and are bioethicists prepared to respond to emerging ethical questions?

Vice President Joe Biden

NATOSource

Aug 23, 2016

Biden Assures Allies and Criticizes Trump’s Ignorance of NATO

By Washington Post, Politico, and Reuters

From Karen De Young, Washington Post:  In Riga on Tuesday, [Vice President Joe] Biden reiterated U.S. and NATO determination to stand against Russian aggression in the Baltic region,

NATO Northern Europe

New Atlanticist

Aug 23, 2016

Ukraine at Twenty-Five

By John E. Herbst, Steven Pifer, and William Taylor

Twenty-five years ago, after seventy years of Soviet dominance and over three hundred years of rule by Russia, Ukraine declared its independence. This occurred after a national referendum in which over 90 percent of Ukraine’s voters chose independence. Every part of the country, including Crimea—which at that time had a population that was over 60 […]

Russia Ukraine

UkraineAlert

Aug 23, 2016

Russia is Surrounding Ukraine, but Where’s the West?

By Aaron Korewa

In recent weeks, Russian President Vladimir Putin has been doing what he is best at: war mongering. It began with the Kremlin’s accusation that Ukrainian leaders had “chosen terror over peace,” despite the fact Russia has not been able to produce any credible evidence of the alleged “sabotage plot” in Crimea. Additionally, neither the OSCE’s […]

Russia Ukraine
Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg and Swedish Prime Minister Stefan Löfven, Nov. 9, 2015

NATOSource

Aug 22, 2016

Inching Closer: The Impact of Sweden’s Growing Relationship with NATO

By Rahul Krishna

At the NATO Summit in Warsaw, the Prime Minister of Sweden participated, for the first time, in a meeting of the heads of state of the Alliance.

NATO NATO Partnerships

SyriaSource

Aug 22, 2016

The Nusra Front’s Trap for the Syrian Opposition

By Abdullah al-Ghadawi

On July 31, Jabhat Fateh al-Sham (formerly known as the Nusra Front) launched the battle to break the siege on Aleppo with two suicide bomb operations, a common tactic for the extremist group that, though costly, has won it many battles and the support of other groups. That same day, Abu Yusif al-Muhajir, Ahrar al-Sham’s […]

Syria