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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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New Atlanticist

Apr 9, 2018

Five Questions for Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg

By Klara Jordan and Shaun Ee

In the coming week, Congress will turn its attention to someone who has until now managed to fly under its radar—Mark Zuckerberg, founder and chief executive officer of Facebook. On April 10, Zuckerberg will appear as the sole witness before a joint hearing of two Senate committees—the Judiciary Committee and the Commerce, Science, and Transportation […]

Cybersecurity Security & Defense

SyriaSource

Apr 9, 2018

Assad’s Chemical Attack: Why Now?

By Hossam Abouzahr & Tarek Radwan

World leaders once again accused the Syrian regime of resorting to a chemical weapons attack, killing dozens in Douma on April 8. While the regime regularly uses chlorine—a choking agent that causes respiratory problems, vomiting, and death—this attack involved something deadlier. Witnesses described symptoms that mirror those who fell victim to sarin gas, but this […]

Syria

Trade in Action

Apr 9, 2018

TRADE IN ACTION April 9, 2018

By Global Business & Economics Program

On the US side: President Trump revealed his intention to impose additional tariffs on Chinese imports Tuesday night. A few hours later, China struck back with an announcement of retaliatory tariffs on $50 billion worth of US goods imports, mainly concentrated on agricultural produce.

Economy & Business Trade and tariffs
JohnBoltonFeature

New Atlanticist

Apr 9, 2018

Syria: John Bolton’s First Crisis

By Ashish Kumar Sen

Syria presents newly minted US National Security Advisor John Bolton with his first foreign policy crisis. On April 9, hours after US President Donald J. Trump vowed Bashar al-Assad’s regime will pay a “big price” for an alleged chemical weapons attack on a rebel-held Damascus suburb, unidentified jets were reported flying over Lebanon and the […]

Israel Russia

New Atlanticist

Apr 8, 2018

Assad May Have Just Tested Trump’s Chemical Weapons Red Line

By Frederic C. Hof

If the reported Assad regime attack on civilians in a suburb of Damascus is as it appears to be—a chemical assault with something much stronger than chlorine—then it is more than the mass murder business-as-usual of a rogue government: it is a signal of utter contempt for the United States and a real challenge to […]

Syria

SyriaSource

Apr 6, 2018

From Bosnia to Syria: The Failure to Protect

By Majda Ruge

A year ago on April 4, a chemical attack on sleeping families in the Syrian province of Idlib killed 72 civilians and left 550 wounded. Yesterday was the 26th anniversary of the beginning of the siege of Sarajevo—the longest and the most brutal conflict in European post World War II history. Today is one year […]

Syria

SyriaSource

Apr 6, 2018

The Dangers of a US Withdrawal from Syria

By Feras Hanoush

At the end of March 2018, US President Donald Trump froze more than $200 million in pledged funds to restore stability and support reconstruction in Syria as the US administration reassesses its role in a number of protracted conflicts around the world. This measure suggests that US troops may withdraw from Syria in the near […]

Syria

New Atlanticist

Apr 6, 2018

US Sanctions on Oligarchs Send a Warning to Russia

By Daniel Fried

The Trump administration’s latest Russia sanctions package is solid and strong. It hits oligarchs tied to Russian President Vladimir Putin and their associated companies, two “golden children” (corrupt and privileged children of the Putin elite), Rosoboroneksport (the Russian arms firm), and selected officials. While leaving plenty of room for escalation, the new package also avoids […]

Russia

New Atlanticist

Apr 6, 2018

With New Sanctions the US Treasury Goes after Putin’s Inner Circle

By Anders Åslund

Sanctions imposed by the US Treasury on thirty-eight Russian individuals and entities on April 6 essentially correspond to Section 241 of the Countering America’s Adversaries Through Sanctions Act (CAATSA). Officially, the designations hit seven Russian oligarchs and twelve companies belonging to them, seventeen senior Russian government officials, and a state-owned Russian weapons trading company together […]

Russia

New Atlanticist

Apr 6, 2018

Trump Administration Targets Russian Oligarchs

By Ashish Kumar Sen

US President Donald J. Trump’s administration on April 6 slapped sanctions on seven oligarchs with close ties to Vladimir Putin, including the Russian president’s son-in-law and a businessman with ties to Trump’s former campaign chairman Paul Manafort. The sanctions are “in response to the totality of the Russian government’s ongoing and increasingly brazen pattern of […]

Russia