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.
View all
of our blogs
Subscribe to our
newsletters

Latest from across our blogs

Soldiers from Lithuanian Grand Duke Algirdas Motorised Infantry Battalion, Dec. 31, 2001

NATOSource

Feb 24, 2015

Worried About Russia, Lithuania Reinstates Military Conscription

By Liudas Dapkus, AP

Lithuania will restore compulsory military service for young men as tensions in Ukraine continue to worry the small Baltic nation, the government said Tuesday.

Northern Europe Russia

MENASource

Feb 24, 2015

Egypt’s War on ISIS: A Brief History

By Joel Gulhane

“How could I go to the Coptic Cathedral to extend my condolences when the Egyptian army hasn’t avenged the attacks?” asked Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi in a pre-recorded speech broadcast Sunday night.

North Africa

New Atlanticist

Feb 24, 2015

Can al-Shabaab Strike the United States?

By Ashish Kumar Sen

Somali terror group has sympathizers, but no active sleeper cell in United States, says Atlantic Council’s Pham Al-Shabaab, the al Qaeda-linked militant group in Somalia, has sympathizers in the United States, but likely does not have the ability to strike targets in the West, despite its recent threat to do so, according to Atlantic Council […]

Africa East Africa

MENASource

Feb 24, 2015

Top News: Libya’s elected parliament suspends participation in UN-backed talks

By MENASource

The Tobruk-based House of Representatives (House) voted to suspend its participation in the UN-sponsored dialogue with its rival, the Tripoli-based General National Congress (GNC).

MENASource

Feb 24, 2015

Top News: Egypt’s Sisi Issues Decree Widening Scope of Security Crackdown

By EgyptSource

Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi has signed off on an anti-terrorism law that gives authorities more sweeping powers to ban groups on charges ranging from harming national unity to disrupting public order. The law’s ten articles focus on defining terrorist entities, listing such groups and bodies, and stipulating the legal processes for appealing these lists. 

MENASource

Feb 24, 2015

Egyptian Christians and Power Politics

By MENASource

The murder of twenty Coptic Christians by Islamic State (ISIS or ISIL) militants in Libya and the release of a video of their execution on February 14 sent shockwaves through Egyptian communities. The Egyptian government’s response was swift.

North Africa

New Atlanticist

Feb 24, 2015

US-Cuba Round 2: Tough Talks Ahead

By Ashish Kumar Sen

Atlantic Council analysts say both Washington and Havana have incentives to see progress The second round of talks between the United States and Cuba on February 27 will be marked by tough negotiations, but both sides have incentives to work toward a breakthrough, according to Atlantic Council analysts. “The United States wants to do a […]

Cuba

EconoGraphics

Feb 24, 2015

Is the US Still Leading in Global Trade?

By Global Business & Economics Program

In the last two decades, the Asia Pacific region has signed sixty-five free trade agreements. South America, Eurasia, and Europe combined have signed over one-hundred and fifty agreements. Over the same period, the US has signed twelve agreements.

Americas East Asia

New Atlanticist

Feb 24, 2015

Moldova’s Weakened Leadership Vows to Stay on Course Toward Europe

By New Atlanticist

But Political Squabbling Yields a Minority Government, Strengthens Russia’s Hand Moldova’s three-month-long political last week produced a surprise prime minister, Chiril Gaburici, who promised every effort “to ensure that by 2018 the country can qualify to sign an agreement on associate membership” in the European Union. But as Gaburici, a cellular telephone company executive, takes […]

Eastern Europe Moldova

MENASource

Feb 23, 2015

Egypt’s Government Assuages Minya Families after Weeks of Silence

By Ishak Ibrahim

Over the past week, the village of al-Aour in the governorate of Minya—home to thirteen of the twenty Coptic Egyptian victims killed by the Islamic State (ISIS) in Libya—has been transformed. The once obscure village has become a site for official delegations and mourners to visit, and offer condolences and support to the bereaved families […]

North Africa