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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

Feb 20, 2014

Top News: Case Against Twenty Journalists in Egypt Postponed To March 5

By MENASource

Twenty journalists working for the Qatari-based television network Al Jazeera are standing trial Thursday for the case widely known as the Marriott Cell, on charges of belonging to a terrorist organization, working without permission, and other accusations.

Tweet by SACEUR Gen. Philip Breedlove

NATOSource

Feb 20, 2014

NATO Chief Tweets Ukraine Military In a Plea for Peace

By Kevin Baron, Defense One

Call it a modern day battlefield demarche. Gen. Phil Breedlove, NATO supreme allied commander, took to Twitter and Facebook to reach Ukraine’s new military chiefs and request talks with toward ending the violent uprisings now drawing worldwide attention.

NATO NATO Partnerships

MENASource

Feb 20, 2014

Top News: “Marriott Cell” Case of Twenty Journalists Postponed to March 5

By EgyptSource

Twenty journalists, among them employees of the Qatari-based television network Al-Jazeera, are standing trial Thursday for the case widely known as the ‘Marriott Cell‘, on charges of belonging to a terrorist organization, working without permission, and other accusations. Police claim that the defendants were in possession of false videos of clashes that took place in Al-Azhar University, showing that […]

MENASource

Feb 20, 2014

EconSource Headlines- February 20, 2014

By EconSource

Follow the latest in economic news and developments about the Arab transitions. 

MENASource

Feb 20, 2014

Syria: There Is No Arm’s-Length Solution

By Frederic C. Hof

Geneva II was an attempt to fill that which nature abhors: a vacuum. Yet the vast emptiness of US policy toward Syria swallowed the effort itself, making it seem tiny, silly, and futile. President Bashar al-Assad’s regime calculated that it could treat the initiative with contempt. Although the opposition delegation in Geneva acted with competence […]

Syria

MENASource

Feb 20, 2014

A Holding Action in Lebanon

By Faysal Itani

After ten months of stalling and infighting, Lebanon’s political factions have formed a cabinet. This does not indicate a broader political compromise, a willingness to tackle intractable and divisive issues, or a plan to address the country’s serious socio-economic problems. Rather, the cabinet’s significance lies in its makeup and the interesting compromises that led to […]

Middle East Syria

New Atlanticist

Feb 20, 2014

Morocco’s Struggle Against Jihad in Africa

By Atlantic Council

By most accounts, French president Francois Hollande had a successful visit to Washington last week. From my perspective, one of the most promising public outcomes was an op-ed piece, signed by Hollande and President Obama in Washington Post, in which they conveyed together their hopes as well as their fears about the future of Africa.

Africa Extremism

New Atlanticist

Feb 19, 2014

Venezuela Must Avoid More Violence Over Protests

By New Atlanticist

The United States and its allies should press Venezuela’s government to avoid further violence following the street protests in which five people have been reported killed, the Atlantic Council’s Jason Marczak says. President Nicolas Maduro has seen three weeks of demonstrations intensify following his government’s arrest Tuesday of opposition leader Leopoldo Lopez. “The protests in […]

Venezuela
HMS Ark Royal

NATOSource

Feb 19, 2014

France Contributed $294 Million to Subsidize British Carriers

By John Lichfield, Independent

The French government’s public spending watchdog protested this week that a defence co-operation agreement signed by Jacques Chirac and Tony Blair in 2006 led to “a French contribution pure and simple to the financing of [two] British aircraft carriers in their early development phase.”

France United Kingdom

MENASource

Feb 19, 2014

YemenSource | Houthis, Socialists, Herak, Voice Opposition to Six-region Plan

By YemenSource

After last Monday’s decision to build a six-region state, several groups across Yemen have voiced their opposition to the federal model.

Yemen