Atlantic Council blogs

Sequestration’s Credibility Costs

By Jeffrey Lightfoot

The debate over sequestration is focused nearly entirely on the impact of spending reductions on the U.S. economy. Far less attention is given to how the automatic spending cuts would undermine the credibility of American power abroad. As sequestration comes into force, the White House and Congress signal a dangerous lack of resolve to both […]

Russia Plans to Keep 10 Warships in Mediterranean

By RIA Novosti

From RIA Novosti:  A proposed Russian permanent naval task force in the Mediterranean Sea may consist of up to 10 combat and auxiliary ships, a high-ranking military source said.

Intelligence officials: Iran greater cyber threat to US infrastructure than China

By Nicole Perloroth, David E. Sanger, and Michael S. Schmidt, New York Times

From Nicole Perloroth, David E. Sanger, and Michael S. Schmidt, New York Times:  American intelligence officials believe that the greater danger to the nation’s infrastructure may not even be China, but Iran

Top News: US to Give Egypt US$190 mn, Need for Consensus for IMF Deal

By Egypt Source

President Mohamed Morsi met with US Secretary of State John Kerry at Ettehadiya Palace in Cairo Sunday. The American official said the US would give Egypt US$190 million to support the government’s budget, according to Reuters.  GOVERNMENT & OPPOSITION Opposition groups in Egypt’s Mahalla to launch ‘popular parliament’ Opposition groups in Mahalla, an industrial city […]

Egypt’s Elections: Practiced, But Still Imperfect

By Sarah Grebowski

Egypt’s parliamentary elections in 2012- the first in the wake of Egypt’s democratic uprising- were understandably messy. They were held on a condensed timeline, under intense political pressure and using an untested electoral system.  Members of the High Elections Commission (HEC) were clearly improvising the electoral timeline as the process was unfolding.  The allocation of […]

NATO expects decision on post-2014 Afghan force by mid-year

By Amie Ferris-Rotman, Reuters

From Amie Ferris-Rotman, Reuters: NATO expects a decision by the middle of this year on the size of a training force to be kept in Afghanistan once most foreign troops leave in 2014, alliance Secretary-General Anders Fogh Rasmussen said on Monday.

Toward Stability in Mali

By Dustin Dehez

The current crisis in Mali came largely as a shock to the international community. Yet, with the conflict having gone from local insurgency to full scale war and back, plenty of analyses have begun to formulate an early consensus among analysts: the conflict, it is argued, is a direct result of the 2011 civil war […]

This Week in Egypt – March 2, 2013

Catch up on the latest out of Egypt every week, with analysis, news updates, photos, videos, and more.