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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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MENASource

Oct 8, 2015

Top News: Sisi Tells Putin Regional ‘Political’ Settlement is Urgently Needed

By EgyptSource

 Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi discussed over the phone the latest security and political developments in the Middle East with his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin late Wednesday, according to state-affiliated MENA news agency.

MENASource

Oct 8, 2015

EconSource: Saudi Arabia said to order spending curbs amid oil price slump

By EconSource

Saudi Arabia is ordering a series of cost cutting measures as a global slide in oil prices weighs on the kingdom’s budget. The Saudi Finance Ministry told government departments not to contract any new projects and to freeze appointments and promotions in the fourth quarter of 2015, sources said.

New Atlanticist

Oct 7, 2015

Berlin Wall to be Displayed at the State Department

By Ashish Kumar Sen

Swapping stories about their experiences in an East Germany that was shut off from the West by the Berlin Wall, US Secretary of State John Kerry and German President Joachim Gauck on October 7 commemorated the arrival of a section of the barrier at the State Department in Washington. The Atlantic Council provided this segment […]

UkraineAlert

Oct 7, 2015

The Forgotten War: A View From Ukraine’s Frontlines

By Ihor Kozak

For a brief moment, it felt like déjà vu. As an officer with the Canadian Armed Forces, I visited several hot spots, witnessing my share of misery and destruction. Now I am in the Donbas, the war-torn region of eastern Ukraine. Since its independence in 1991, Ukraine has struggled to shed its Soviet colonial past […]

Russia Ukraine

New Atlanticist

Oct 7, 2015

The Rise of the Left in Britain

By Claire Yorke

The past six months have been highly eventful for British politics. After the elections in May, which saw the re-election of the Conservatives and the disastrous defeats of the Labour and Liberal Democrat parties, the country encountered yet another political surprise in September with the election of the Labour party’s new leader: Jeremy Corbyn. A […]

United Kingdom

MENASource

Oct 7, 2015

Libya’s Leadership Vacuum and its Impact

By Jason Pack

Speaking at the UN General Assembly in New York on Monday September 28, US President Barack Obama acknowledged the shortcomings of the 2011 NATO military intervention in Libya while simultaneously defending the initial logic of the mission, stating that a vacuum had been left behind after the toppling of the Qaddafi regime.

Libya

UkraineAlert

Oct 7, 2015

Evolution, Not Revolution, Is the Way to Save Ukraine, Says Leading Anti-Corruption Crusader

By Diane Francis

Russian President Vladimir Putin is pivoting and wants to withdraw from the Donbas but keep Crimea, according to Iegor Soboliev, the head of the Ukrainian parliament’s anti-corruption committee. “He wants to give it back to us right now. He doesn’t need the Donbas,” he said in an interview on October 5. “Unfortunately, he will try […]

Russia Ukraine
French Defense Minister Yves Le Drian and German Defense Minister Ursula von der Leyen, June 3, 2014

NATOSource

Oct 7, 2015

Letter from Strasbourg (Part Two): French Doubts about European Defense

By Leo Michel

Insights from the 13th annual “summer defense college,” in Strasbourg.

European Union France

MENASource

Oct 7, 2015

Top News: Emboldened by Russian Air Strikes, Syrian Regime Forces Mount Attacks

By MENASource

Syrian troops backed by Russian air strikes battled insurgents in Idlib and Hama provinces on Wednesday in the first major ground fighting since Moscow began launching air raids on militants last week, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.

MENASource

Oct 7, 2015

Top News: Sisi Issues Presidential Decree Amending Penal Code

By EgyptSource

President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi issued on Tuesday a decree amending the Penal Code.