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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 29, 2014

ISIS Control Over Eastern Syria More Fragile Than You Might Think

By Mona Alami

Syria observers have balked at the rapid growth of capabilities and territory acquired by the Islamic State in Iraq al-Sham (ISIS, ISIL, or Islamic State) as it confronts global powers on many fronts. But ISIS’s successes in eastern Syria cannot be explained from a military and ideological standpoint alone.

Syria

MENASource

Oct 29, 2014

Top News: North Sinai Residents Near Rafah Border Begin Evacuation

By EgyptSource

North Sinai residents near the Rafah border crossing with the Gaza Strip are being evacuated, as Egypt’s army steps up its campaign in the area against militants, Al-Ahram’s Arabic news website reported on Tuesday.

MENASource

Oct 29, 2014

Top News: Libya Near ‘Point of No Return,’ Says UN

By MENASource

Factional warfare in Libya is pushing the oil producing North African country “very close to the point of no return,” UN Special Representative Bernardino Leon said, as efforts to bring about a ceasefire and political dialogue have yielded no results.

MENASource

Oct 29, 2014

EconSource: Fitch Ratings Confirm Morocco’s Investment Grade with Stable Outlook

By EconSource

According to the Moroccan economy and finance ministry, foreign currency debt and local currency debt are rated respectively ‘BBB-’ and ‘BBB’. These Fitch ratings reflect the country’s macroeconomic stability in an unstable international and regional environment and the resilience of its GDP growth, despite a drop in the foreign demand from Europe, Morocco’s top economic partner. […]

Sweden is a NATO partner and has a delegation at NATO headquarters

NATOSource

Oct 29, 2014

For First Time, More Swedes Favor Joining NATO than Against

By Richard Milne, Financial Times

More Swedes are in favour of joining Nato than are against for the first time in the Nordic country’s history, according to a poll just a week after a hunt for a suspected submarine in the waters outside Stockholm.

NATO Northern Europe

MENASource

Oct 29, 2014

Tunisia’s Long Road Ahead

By Karim Mezran and Lara Talverdian

When it comes to the narrative of Arab democracies, Sunday, October 26 marked a historic day. Tunisia, the country that sparked the so-called Arab Spring, held its first elections under a post-revolution constitution.

North Africa

Trade in Action

Oct 28, 2014

TTIP Action October 28

By Global Business & Economics Program

How NSA Spying, Google and Chlorinated Chickens Are Pitting Germans Against Americans – And What to Do About ItIn his excellent, in-depth opinion piece, Sigmar Gabriel, vice-chancellor of Germany, explains how the “chlorine chicken”  has come to symbolize German fears about TTIP. Instead of treating TTIP like a zero-sum game, the German public should be […]

Economy & Business Trade and tariffs

MENASource

Oct 28, 2014

Hariri Center Experts React to Tunisia’s Elections

By MENASource

Tunisia marked the begining of its final chapter by holding its first legislative elections under its new constitution on October 26. Despite concerns over insecurity and political apathy after a tumultuous three and a half year transition, initial figures regarding voter turnout suggest a high degree of Tunisian engagement with the process, surprising most analysts.

North Africa
Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg, October 28, 2014

NATOSource

Oct 28, 2014

Secretary General: NATO is a Unique Alliance With a Clear Course

By Jens Stoltenberg, NATO

I grew up in a world that felt at the time as dangerous as the world we live in today. As a child in Norway during the Cold War, I didn’t know much about Article 5 or the Washington Treaty. But I did know that NATO was there to protect us.

NATO NATO Partnerships

MENASource

Oct 28, 2014

Where Is Egypt’s Maspero Youth Union Now?

By Jayson Casper

Twenty-three Egyptian liberal activists were sentenced to three years in prison for demonstrating against the protest law on Sunday. Amid the ongoing clampdown on dissent, the common observer can sigh, but be forgiven for asking: Whatever happened to those Coptic youth activists?

North Africa