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

MENASource

Mar 13, 2017

Priorities for Ending the Libyan Crisis

By Emily Burchfield

Former US Special Envoy to Libya, Ambassador Jonathan Winer spoke at a panel event on Libya at the Rafik Hariri Center on March 9, 2016 and gave a short interview afterwards describing the priorities for ending the Libyan crisis. Below is a summary of his comments and the Facebook Live interview. 

Libya

MENASource

Mar 13, 2017

Is Libya’s “Skhirat” Agreement Really Dead?

By Karim Mezran

The Benghazi Defense Brigades (BDB)’s recent successful offensive conducted against the Libyan National Army (LNA) in the Gulf of Sidra—in which it seized the oil ports and terminals of Ras Lanuf and Es Sider—leads one to consider its effects on the Skhirat agreement. This is the agreement that produced the Libyan Political Agreement (LPA) and […]

Libya

IranSource

Mar 13, 2017

Iran’s Presidential Election: Who Will Run Against Rouhani?

By Sina Azodi

Iran is set to hold its next presidential elections on May 19, when President Hassan Rouhani, who is being supported by pragmatists and reformists, will be running for a second term. HisOsulgarayan (Principalist) opponents have been working on plans to defeat him. They have two potential strategies but given current circumstances, it is likely that Rouhani […]

Iran

New Atlanticist

Mar 13, 2017

Africa Seen as Key to Addressing Global Challenges

By Rachel Ansley

An increase of investment and innovation in Africa has made the continent a rising power on the global stage and an essential partner for the United States in facing today’s myriad global challenges, Linda Thomas-Greenfield, assistant secretary for the Bureau of African Affairs, said at the Atlantic Council on March 9. “The truth is we […]

Africa

New Atlanticist

Mar 13, 2017

A Roadmap for Economic Growth in Europe

By Ashish Kumar Sen

A new Atlantic Council report provides a roadmap for the European Union to stimulate economic growth, and, by doing so, safeguard the European project and reinvigorate the transatlantic alliance. The report, Charting the Future Now: European Economic Growth and its Importance to American Prosperity, was launched by the Atlantic Council’s EuroGrowth Initiative in Washington on […]

Europe & Eurasia European Union

IranSource

Mar 13, 2017

Hardliners Criticize Iranian Director and Oscar Winner Asghar Farhadi

By Shahir Shahidsaless

Hard feelings between Iranian hardliners and film director Asghar Farhadi, who just won his second Oscar for “The Salesman” as the Best Foreign Language movie, date to 2012, when Farhadi’s movie, “A Separation,” won him his first Academy Award.  

New Atlanticist

Mar 10, 2017

Negotiating Peace in Libya

In order to end the civil war in Libya, those competing for power must meet, negotiate, and establish a path to free and fair elections early in 2018, Jonathan Winer, a former US State Department special envoy for Libya, said at the Atlantic Council on March 9. The three factions claiming sole legitimacy and authority […]

Libya

Trade in Action

Mar 10, 2017

TRADE in ACTION – March 10, 2017

By Global Business & Economics Program

As we commemorate International Women’s Day (Check out the story behind the “fearless girl” on Wall Street), EU Trade Commissioner Cecilia Malmström visits Singapore, Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin met with José Antonio Meade, Mexico’s Secretary of Finance and Public Credit, to talk economic ties between the two neighbors. On Tuesday, Trump administration officials levied a record-breaking $1.19 Billion fine […]

Economy & Business European Union

MENASource

Mar 10, 2017

Saudi’s Purist Salafi Drive into Southeast Asia

By H.A. Hellyer

Saudi Arabia’s King Salman bin Abdulaziz al-Saud is currently engaged in a tour in Asia, which will last about a month. Five out of six of the countries he is visiting are Muslim majority nations (the sixth, China, has a significant and ancient Muslim minority population). While there is undoubtedly a financial and economic aspect […]

Saudi Arabia

MENASource

Mar 10, 2017

US Strikes on Al-Qaeda in Yemen Not Separate from Ongoing Civil War

By Jillian Schwedler

The United States has launched more than 40 air strikes since March 3 on suspected al-Qaeda sites in Yemen, more air strikes than all of 2016. The Trump administration hopes to boast of progress in stopping the advance of al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP), which has seen significant gains since the outbreak of Yemen’s […]