Atlantic Council blogs

Gambella Attack Exposes Ethnic Tensions between Ethiopia, South Sudan

On Friday, April 15, South Sudanese raiders crossed the border into Ethiopia to attack thirteen villages in the country’s Gambella region. Violence and carnage ensued, and the assailants escaped with 108 women and children and nearly 2,000 stolen cattle, according to Ethiopian government estimates. On Monday, the government announced that the death toll rose to […]

Former US Ambassador to Afghanistan and Iraq Offers a Prescription for Success

By Mitch Hulse

The “integration of civil-military forces” and “sustainable economic development” are critical to the success of state-building efforts, Zalmay Khalilzad, a former US Ambassador to Afghanistan, Iraq, and the United Nations, said at the Atlantic Council on April 20. “There was a clear road map for political transition [in Afghanistan], but we never knew what the […]

Russia Bolsters Its Submarine Fleet, and Tensions With US Rise

By Eric Schmitt, New York Times

Russian attack submarines, the most in two decades, are prowling the coastlines of Scandinavia and Scotland, the Mediterranean Sea and the North Atlantic

Is the Taliban Winning?

By Ashish Kumar Sen

Deadly suicide bombing in Kabul points to need for Pakistan to end support for terrorists, says Atlantic Council’s James B. Cunningham A deadly suicide bombing in Kabul shows that the Taliban are determined to drag out the conflict, but it also adds a sense of urgency for Pakistan to end its support for the militants, […]

From Reassurance to Shared Interests: Bridging the Gulf at the Riyadh Summit

By Muath Al Wari and Elisa Catalano Ewers

President Barack Obama’s meeting with the leaders of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) in Saudi Arabia this week is a previously scheduled follow-up to last year’s Camp David meeting, which notably secured the Gulf states’ passive endorsement of the Iran nuclear deal. There is no comparable deliverable expected this week, and the case for low […]

Keeping the Possibility of Peace in Yemen Alive

By Jillian Schwedler

The talks at the GCC summit this week provide an opportunity for President Barack Obama to address the war and humanitarian crisis in Yemen. The delegation representing the Houthis and ousted president Ali Abdullah Saleh’s General People’s Congress (GPC) delegations finally turned up today for peace talks in Kuwait, but the prospects for ending the […]

Why I’m Pessimistic about Ukraine’s New Government

By Sergii Leshchenko

President Petro Poroshenko’s passivity in the fight against corruption has restored the old rules of Ukrainian politics and renewed the significance of the oligarchs. They’re his main partners now. The search for a new prime minister is only part of this ignoble process. Over the last two months, Poroshenko has managed to back himself into […]

The Future of US Competitiveness

By Robert A. Manning

  The world is on the cusp of a new industrial revolution, the convergence and synergy of emerging technologies—artificial intelligence, robotics, big data, 3D printing, sensing technology, advanced manufacturing, new materials, biotech—all built on a digital information technology platform, transforming how we work and live. The United States has been on the cutting edge of […]

Assad: Impunity and Defiance

By Frederic C. Hof

Assad regime air strikes on vegetable markets in the towns of Maarat al-Numan and Kafr Nubl in northwestern Syria fully resumed the all-out war against Syrian civilians. The supremely confident Bashar al-Assad, having been carried to a military comfort zone by foreign fighters in the air and on the ground, accomplished something of note in […]

Countering Iran’s malign influence in the Gulf

By Matthew Kroenig

At the Gulf Cooperation Council summit in Riyadh on April 21, US President Barack Obama will be looking to provide reassurances that the United States remains committed to the security of the region, even as his administration upholds the Iran nuclear agreement, which many of the United States’ Gulf partners see as undermining their interests […]