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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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MENASource

Nov 25, 2014

EconSource: Morocco spends $8 billion dollars to face military and terrorism threats

By EconSource

According to a report from the Institute for Economics and Peace (IEP) on the economic cost of violence to the world economy, Morocco’s violence-related costs constitute 4.6 percent of the country’s GDP, equivalent to $8.375 billion dollars. Morocco was ranked 81 out of 152 countries in terms of expenditure on violence.

MENASource

Nov 25, 2014

Political Islam’s Fate in Egypt Lies in the Hands of the Courts

By Yussef Auf

The events of July 3, 2013 that ended with former President Mohamed Morsi’s ouster, brought with them a concerted effort to remove Islamists not just from rule but from political life altogether. This stands in stark contrast with the opening of Egypt’s political space to many new political currents and groups in 2011, arguably the […]

North Africa
500 British armored vehicles are participating in exercise Black Eagle

NATOSource

Nov 24, 2014

UK’s Show Of Force Against Russian Aggression

By SKY News and BBC

From SKY News:  More than 1,000 British troops and 500 armoured vehicles have been taking part in a military exercise in Poland, in a display of force not been seen since the Cold War.

Poland Russia

New Atlanticist

Nov 24, 2014

An Iran Nuclear Deal: Better Than Nothing if We Get It, But Not a Resolution

By Ashish Kumar Sen

Atlantic Council’s Matthew Kroenig on the Extension of Nonproliferation Talks As Iran and six other nations announced a seven-month extension of their effort to reach a deal to limit the Iranian nuclear program, the Atlantic Council’s Matthew Kroenig said Iran will pose a nonproliferation threat even if a deal is struck. Kroenig, a nonresident senior […]

Iran
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and Finnish Foreign Minister Erkki Tuomioja, June 9, 2014

NATOSource

Nov 24, 2014

Finland’s leaders see peril in standoff between Russia and the West

By Washington Post

Excerpts from interview by Washington Post London Bureau Chief Griff Witte with Finnish President Sauli Niinisto and Finnish Foreign Minister Erkki Tuomioja in Helsinki.

European Union International Organizations

MENASource

Nov 24, 2014

Top News: Tunisians Hold First Post-Revolution Presidential Elections

By MENASource

Tunisians voted on Sunday to pick their first directly elected president, with Interim president Moncef Marzouki and Nidaa Tounes party leader Beji Caid Essebsi touted as the favorites in a field of more than twenty-five candidates. Official results were yet to be announced, but shortly after polls closed, Nidaa Tounes and Ennahda party officials said […]

MENASource

Nov 24, 2014

Getting the Houthi Perspective in Washington

By Danya Greenfield and Owen Daniels

A roundtable discussion about Yemen’s fragile state of affairs in Washington is perhaps not all that notable, but this one marked a historic moment. Cohosted by the Atlantic Council and the Center for International Private Enterprise on November 19, a representative from the Houthi movement—a Shia-Zaydi revivalist group with an armed militia—spoke publicly in the […]

Yemen

MENASource

Nov 24, 2014

Tunisia’s Post-Parliamentary Election Hangover

By Danya Greenfield

It has long been a truism of democratic transitions that it is the second election, not the first, that determines whether a new democratic regime has been consolidated.

North Africa
Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg at NATO Parliamentary Assembly, November 24, 2014

NATOSource

Nov 24, 2014

Stoltenberg Asks NATO Legislators to Increase Spending on Defense

By Jens Stoltenberg, NATO

Today, NATO needs your support more than ever.

NATO Security & Defense

MENASource

Nov 24, 2014

Hariri Center Experts on Tunisia’s Presidential Elections

By MENASource

Tunisia had a momentous weekend, holding its first free and fair election for its head of state in its modern history. Sunday’s vote brings the country one step closer to consolidating its long-in-the-making democracy.

North Africa