Atlantic Council blogs

The Economics of Rebellion in Eastern Ukraine

By Yuri M. Zhukov

New research demonstrates why the conflict has not spread beyond Donetsk and Luhansk In April 2014, angry mobs and armed men stormed administrative buildings and police stations in eastern Ukraine, waving Russian flags and proclaiming the establishment of “Peoples’ Republics” in Donetsk and Luhansk. At the time, some observers predicted that the “pro-Russian” uprising would […]

After Paris, Will the United States and Europe Give Migrants the Cold Shoulder?

By Ashish Kumar Sen

Atlantic Council’s Fran Burwell and Faysal Itani say despite calls for stronger screening, some terrorists will inevitably get through The discovery of a Syrian passport near the scene of a suicide bombing in Paris on Nov. 13 and confirmation that one of the attackers had entered Europe as part of a wave of hundreds of […]

Winning Energy Battle Just as Important as Fight in Eastern Ukraine

By Andrian Prokip

The West has focused on Ukraine’s two existential crises: the war in the east and Ukraine’s troubled economy. It’s understandable, but now is the time for Ukraine to press hard on energy reform because Russia uses energy to exert influence over Ukraine and the energy sector has been a black hole of corruption in the […]

Vienna II: Civilian Protection Lite

By Frederic C. Hof

The countries and organizations attending the second round of Syria talks in Vienna, now calling themselves the International Syria Support Group (ISSG), gave short shrift in their written statement to those Syrians most in need of their support: the victims—past, present, and future—of the Assad regime’s relentless program of mass homicide. Buried in a pile […]

Top News: After Paris Attacks, French Jets Pound ISIS

By MENASource

French fighter jets struck areas controlled by ISIS in Syria on Sunday as European police widened investigations into a series of coordinated attacks in Paris. President Bashar al-Assad said in response to the Paris attacks, “We said, don’t take what is happening in Syria lightly. Unfortunately, European officials did not listen.”

Top News: Egyptian Injured in Paris Attacks Mistakenly Labeled a Suspect

By EgyptSource

Egypt’s Ambassador to France Ihab Badawi said that an Egyptian passport recovered following a series of coordinated terrorist attacks in Paris on Friday belongs to Egyptian national Walid Abdel Razek.

Slowly But Surely Kyiv Comes Around

By Alexander Motyl

How has Ukraine changed since the Euromaidan Revolution? In attempting to answer this question, I’ve used the governance-related categories in Freedom House’s Nations in Transit study, which tracks the reform record of post-Communist countries in Europe and Eurasia, and supplemented them with a few of my own. (Full disclosure: I’ve been involved in the Nations […]

EconSource: Turkey’s Erdogan Says Interest Rates Too High to Encourage Investment

By EconSource

Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan renewed his call for lower interest rates on Sunday, saying they were too high to encourage investment and entrepreneurship.

‘It is Time to Take the Diplomatic, Military, and Cyber Gloves Off’

Atlantic Council analysts react to ISIS’ attacks in Paris The Islamic State of Iraq and al-Sham (ISIS) has claimed responsibility for the terrorist attacks in Paris that killed more than 120 people on Nov. 13 — the deadliest attack in Europe since the 2004 train bombings in Madrid. French President François Hollande said the attack […]