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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

Jun 4, 2015

Turkish Stream’s Implications for EU Gas Infrastructure Development

By Nolan Theisen

Since South Stream’s termination in early December 2014, governments in Central and Southeast Europe (CSEE) have championed a litany of pan-regional pipeline proposals to carry gas from Russia’s planned delivery point in Ipsala, Turkey via the Balkans to Baumgarten, Austria, while meeting local consumption along the way. The underlying assumptions for these dedicated pipelines are […]

Energy & Environment Energy Markets & Governance
New Finnish government plans to study possibility of NATO membership

NATOSource

Jun 3, 2015

Finland’s Exploration of NATO Membership: The Benefits of Joining the Alliance

By Mark Seip

Last week, Finland’s new government announced that they will explore the possibility of NATO membership.

NATO NATO Partnerships

MENASource

Jun 3, 2015

Factbox: Sisi in Germany

By EgyptSource

Egypt’s President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi flew to Germany Tuesday for a four-day visit in Europe. During his stay, Sisi is scheduled to meet with German Chancellor Angela Merkel, President Joachim Gauck, and speak at the Egyptian-German Economic forum on Wednesday.  

North Africa

UkraineAlert

Jun 3, 2015

Why Saakashvili’s Appointment as Odesa’s Governor Actually Makes Perfect Sense

By Brian Mefford

On May 30, Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko named former Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili Governor of the Odesa region. There are a number of ways to interpret the bold move, but two historical analogies may be more apt: Saakashvili is either following in Duke of Richelieu’s footsteps as an outside Governor of Odesa or the late […]

The Caucasus Ukraine
ArielCohenTopGraph

New Atlanticist

Jun 3, 2015

Systemic Violence Threatens Middle East Oil Outlook

By Ariel Cohen

When oil ministers from the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) meet in Vienna on June 5, they’ll face a strategic dilemma. Political instability in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) is discouraging capital investment in local oil and gas projects, and shifting interest to North American shale—despite MENA’s cheap, abundant and easy-to-extract hydrocarbon […]

Energy & Environment Energy Markets & Governance

MENASource

Jun 3, 2015

A Ruling to Deport Gay Foreigners: The View from Egypt

By Sonia Farid

The Egyptian Ministry of Interior now has the right to deport homosexual foreigners and ban them from entering Egypt according to a ruling issued by the Administrative Court in April. This is the final ending to a story that began in 2008 when a Libyan graduate student was deported from Egypt and banned from re-entering […]

North Africa

UkraineAlert

Jun 3, 2015

Mutual Deterrence? Think Again. Russia Seeks to Intimidate the West

By Stephen Blank

Moscow recently announced that it will procure fifty new nuclear-capable bombers, the Tupolev TU-160 or Blackjacks, which are the world’s largest combat aircraft. This seemingly anodyne announcement points to a critically important element of Russian strategy that we overlook at our and our allies’ peril. The procurement is the latest in a continuing series of […]

Russia Ukraine

MENASource

Jun 3, 2015

Top News: Egypt is Trying to ‘Protect’ Human Rights Says Germany’s Merkel

By MENASource

Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah al-Sisi defended Egypt’s human rights record during a visit to Germany, amid concerns over death sentences handed to dozens of Islamist figures. “We are keen on lives and on human beings,” Sisi said during a joint press conference with Chancellor Angela Merkel Wednesday in Berlin.

President Barack Obama in Warsaw, June 3, 2014

NATOSource

Jun 3, 2015

The European Reassurance Initiative’s One Year Anniversary: Mixed Results

By Ian Brzezinski

On June 3, 2014, President Barack Obama announced the European Reassurance Initiative, ERI, a key element of his Administration’s strategy to counter Moscow’s provocative military actions, including Russia’ invasion of Ukraine, launched just three months earlier.

NATO Northern Europe

MENASource

Jun 3, 2015

Top News: Congress Seeks to Lift Last Restrictions on Aid to Egypt

By EgyptSource

The US House Appropriations Committee released a foreign aid bill June 2 that removes human rights restrictions on assistance to Egypt.