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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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UkraineAlert

Jan 10, 2017

Russia’s Crimea Bridge Could Collapse Anytime

By Halya Coynash

Russian President Vladimir Putin has called construction of a bridge between Russia and occupied Crimea a “historic mission.” He should pay better attention to history. This mission is doomed to failure, and not only because of sanctions. Experts warn that even if the bridge now under construction can be finished, its chances of standing for […]

Russia Ukraine

UkraineAlert

Jan 10, 2017

Negotiating with Russia: A Scenario for Success

By Stephen Blank

Despite the flood of post-election pundits advising President-elect Donald Trump on how to approach Russia, few have offered any understanding of Moscow’s aims. But Russian President Vladimir Putin’s government has not hidden what it wants. It seeks an end to sanctions, recognition of Crimea as part of Russia, demilitarization of NATO in the Baltic and […]

Russia Ukraine

UkraineAlert

Jan 9, 2017

Walk Down My Block in Kyiv and Take Ukraine’s Economic Pulse

By James Brooke

When assessing Ukraine, armchair economists love the macro perspective: sweeping views based on large data sets. Let’s look at the micro. Despite the fresh snow, let’s walk my 150-meter long block on Rohnidynska Street and take the pulse of Ukraine’s economy. One year after I signed my apartment lease, six original businesses survive on my […]

Ukraine

New Atlanticist

Jan 9, 2017

Donald Trump: A Bull in a China Shop?

By Ashish Kumar Sen

China could retaliate in several ways that would cause serious damage to the United States if President-elect Donald Trump were to overplay his hand with the Asian nation, according to an Asia expert at the Atlantic Council. Noting that Trump has a “grotesquely inflated sense of American leverage,” Robert A. Manning, a senior fellow with […]

China

New Atlanticist

Jan 9, 2017

The Top Risks of 2017

By Fred Kempe and Mat Burrows

  Dear Friend, At the best of times, the first year of an untested US presidency is fraught with risk. Adversaries test limits, allies hedge bets, and newly installed cabinet members and their partially constructed national security teams wrestle with the rush of events. What comes immediately to mind is the election of John F. […]

French Defense Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian, Oct., 18, 2016

NATOSource

Jan 9, 2017

French Military to Boost Defenses Against Cyber Attacks: Minister

By Reuters and France24

From Geert De Clercq, Reuters:  In an interview with French weekly Le Journal du Dimanche Defence Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian said there is a real risk of cyber attacks on French civil infrastructure

Cybersecurity France

AfricaSource

Jan 9, 2017

Africa’s economic prospects in 2017: Ten countries to watch

By J. Peter Pham

The continued failure of commodity prices to recover significantly and the global slowdown of economic growth, especially in China and other emerging markets, made 2016 a tumultuous year for many African economies, indeed, “the worst year for average economic growth” in the region in over twenty years, according to a report from Ernst & Young. […]

Africa Angola

UkraineAlert

Jan 9, 2017

Onyshchenko’s Charges against Poroshenko Are Thin, but Case Unlikely to Fade

By John E. Herbst

Over the past six months, the case of Oleksandr Onyshchenko has gripped Ukraine. It is an important case, touching on the country’s hopes and disappointments concerning the scourge of corruption. The case burst on the political scene in the spring, when the National Anti-Corruption Bureau (NABU) brought charges against Onyshchenko, a businessman and Rada member. […]

Ukraine
Former Iranian president Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani attends Iran's Assembly of Experts' biannual meeting in Tehran March 8, 2011. Rafsanjani lost his position on Tuesday as head of an important state clerical body after hardliners criticised him for being too close to the reformist opposition. REUTERS/Raheb Homavandi (IRAN - Tags: POLITICS)

IranSource

Jan 9, 2017

What does the death of Rafsanjani mean for Iran’s political landscape?

By SHAHIR SHAHIDSALESS

Iran’s former president, Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, died on January 8. (Reuters/Raheb Homavandi) Ayatollah Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, the pragmatic centrist former president of Iran, who died Jan. 8 after a heart attack, was one of the pillars of Iran’s 1979 Islamic Revolution and the establishment of the Islamic Republic.

SyriaSource

Jan 9, 2017

The Water War in Damascus

By Youssef Sadaki

Battles have erupted in recent weeks between regime forces and rebels in the area of Ain al-Fijah and neighboring villages, causing the water pumps and the area’s main Ain al-Fijah water facility to cease operation.

Syria