Atlantic Council blogs

Egypt’s Protest Law: An Ongoing Battle

By Khaled Dawoud

Several political parties and youth movements said on Tuesday they would renew a campaign aimed at amending Egypt’s repressive protest law. The decision comes in the wake of a Cairo court issuing a surprisingly harsh fifteen-year sentence in absentia against activist and blogger, Alaa Abdel-Fattah, and twenty-four others for protesting in November against the military […]

EconSource: Egypt’s natural gas exports fell by 81 percent Y-o-Y in April

By EconSource

Follow the latest economic news and developments about the Arab transition countries. 

German Defense Minister: ‘Russia Has Destroyed a Massive Amount of Trust’

SPIEGEL: So is the Ukraine crisis a case for defense policy?

Meet Egypt’s New Cabinet Under Sisi

By EgyptSource

The first cabinet under Egypt’s new President Abdel-Fattah al-Sisi was sworn in on Tuesday morning, headed by Prime Minister Ibrahim Mahlab. The new government is made up of thirty-four ministers. Twenty-one ministers are holdovers from the previous cabinet under the interim government, one of whom has been reassigned to a different ministry. Only thirteen new […]

Jamal Benomar and the Fine Art of Making Peace in Yemen

By Tik Root and Peter Salisbury

Jamal Benomar, the UN special adviser on Yemen who in April started his fourth year on the job, isn’t keen on talking about himself. He “hates” being profiled by the press, a colleague says. He seems far happier talking about the minutiae of the political transition he is overseeing. Yet with the departure of his […]

Putin Has Exposed Divisions in Europe

By Matthew Kaminski, Wall Street Journal

To the east Russia is on the march. After a spike in violence over the weekend in eastern Ukraine, the Kremlin on Monday cut gas exports to the country, using an economic cudgel to go with the military one.

Is Germany’s Framework Nations Concept a ‘Substantial NATO Compromise?’

By Jan Techau, Carnegie Europe

Something is sprouting in Germany.

ISIS Terrorists: Should Tehran and Washington Cooperate?

By Frederic C. Hof

Military success in Iraq by the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS) has concentrated the minds of political leaders in Washington and Tehran.  Neither the United States nor Iran wishes to see ISIS or any Al-Qaeda franchise prosper or even exist in Iraq.  Neither Washington nor Tehran wishes to see Iraq splinter into multiple […]