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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 6, 2014

Gamal Abdel Nasser: Method Actor

By Maged Atiya

Marlon Brando, who saw his acting talent as an undesired gift, explained his method as inhabiting the character so thoroughly that all his actions were produced by its logic rather than his thinking. The intimate link between politics and theater has always been with us, Shakespeare wrote of it, the Greek dramatists never missed it, […]

North Africa
Sergei Glazyev, an adviser to President Vladimir Putin

NATOSource

Feb 6, 2014

Putin Aide Warns US on Ukraine, Says Russia Could Act

By Alastair Macdonald, Reuters

A senior Kremlin aide accused the United States on Thursday of arming Ukrainian “rebels” and, urging the Kiev government to put down what it called an attempted coup, warned it could intervene to maintain the security of its ex-Soviet neighbor.

Russia Ukraine

MENASource

Feb 6, 2014

Top News: Tunisia marks one year since opposition leader’s assassination

By MENASource

Thursday marks one year since the assassination of Chokri Belaid. Belaid was a prominent politician and critic of the Islamist government. His assassination triggered massive anti-government protests and a political crisis from which Tunisia has only recently started to emerge, with the adoption of a consensus constitution last month.

Canadian soldiers in Kabul, Sept. 11, 2011

NATOSource

Feb 6, 2014

After Afghanistan, How Will We Fight the Next Multination War?

By Stephen Saideman, Globe and Mail

As 2014 seems to be the year that we look back and ponder what the Afghanistan war means for the future, the question becomes: what of NATO?

Afghanistan International Security Assistance Force

MENASource

Feb 6, 2014

Top News: Al-Jazeera English Journalists Moved to Lower Security Detention

By EgyptSource

The family of detained Al-Jazeera English journalist Mohamed Fadel Fahmy said on Wednesday that he and his two colleagues were moved to a lower security section of the Tora prison complex.  “It is confirmed that Mohamed Fadel Fahmy, Peter Greste and Baher Mohamed are now in a lower security prison held together in the same cell,” said Fahmy’s […]

MENASource

Feb 6, 2014

EconSource Headlines- February 6, 2014

By EconSource

Follow the latest in economic news and developments about the Arab transition countries. 

MENASource

Feb 6, 2014

Is the Gulf Rethinking Egypt’s Presidency?

By MENASource

Gulf countries have thrown their weight enthusiastically behind Egypt’s military-backed government, but recent signals indicate hesitation over the new Egyptian Field Marshal General Abdel Fattah al-Sisi’s ascension to the presidency.

North Africa
French Air Force Mirage 2000N

NATOSource

Feb 5, 2014

French Hard Power: Living on the Strategic Edge

By Dorothée Fouchaux, AEI

According to the appropriations statute that follows and implements the white paper’s program, the French defense budget will flat line at €3.38 billion over the next two years and creep ever so slowly to €32.51 billion in 2019.

Economy & Business France

Congressional Relations

Feb 5, 2014

As US Seeks Trade Deals, It Should Include Energy

By New Atlanticist

As the White House scrambles to defend the big trade deals it is negotiating with Europe and Asia, the Atlantic Council’s David Koranyi underscores the benefits of including the energy sector in those talks. After President Obama asked Congress directly for broad authority to negotiate the deals in his State of the Union address last […]

Economy & Business Energy & Environment

MENASource

Feb 5, 2014

Egypt’s Presidential Elections: From the Outside Looking In [Part II]

By Nader Bakkar

Despite personal convictions about holding presidential elections first, mentioned in the first part of this article, the nomination of two military candidates, in Minister of Defense Abdel Fattah al-Sisi and former Chief of Staff Sami Anan, has become a foregone conclusion. (At least at the time of writing.) While some candidates may already have garnered […]

Elections North Africa