Atlantic Council blogs

Tech Horror Film or American Renaissance?

By Mathew J. Burrows

“…Once it may have been hard to buy the swift collapse of order that is made palpably real in ‘Contagion,’ if Hurricane Katrina and its aftermath had not already set the stage. ..Yet what’s really scary in “Contagion” is how fast once-humming airports and offices, homes and cities empty out when push comes to shove comes to […]

An Economic Vision for the New Libya

By Nate Mason

Leaders of the new Libya have never articulated a way forward for the nation. In the absence of a unifying goal, the state is devolving into a zero-sum battle for oil wealth among tribal, religious, and municipally identified groups. This devolution is exacerbated by several factors, but primarily it is a fight over resources. Libyans […]

UN to Inspect Libya’s Uranium Stocks Amid Worsening Security

By Louis Charbonneau, Reuters

A U.N. nuclear team will visit Libya this month to assess the safety of thousands of barrels of milled uranium – known as yellowcake – amid concerns about the country’s deteriorating security situation, a U.N. official said on Monday.

Top News: Judges Recuse Themselves as Brotherhood Leaders Trials Begin

Giza’s criminal court on Monday postponed the trial of top Muslim Brotherhood leaders to February 11 so that it can study the case and declare witnesses. Earlier on Saturday, the Judges of Cairo Criminal Court recused themselves from the trial of Muslim Brotherhood leading figure Mohamed al-Beltagy and Islamist preacher Safwat Hegazy, saying it has felt unease over […]

Will US Seize Opportunities of the Third Industrial Revolution?

By Banning Garrett

The United States could emerge as one of the biggest winners from the Third Industrial Revolution (TIR). The US is the overall leader in the development and deployment of the new technologies and innovations of the TIR. Its other advantages include relatively cheap and available energy resulting from the unconventional gas revolution in the United […]

Europe Needs a Strong and United Military

By Julian Lindley-French

Last month I had the honor of chairing a superb conference in Amsterdam on behalf of the Commander of the Royal Netherlands Army Lieutenant-General Mart de Kruif. Two key messages came out of this conference. First, if we Europeans want to keep Americans engaged in NATO and, by extension, engaged in Europe’s security European armed […]

Will the Third Industrial Revolution Create More Jobs than It Kills?

By Banning Garrett

Is the Third Industrial Revolution likely to destroy more jobs than it creates, or will the new technology powering the this revolution lead to creation of more new jobs than those are eliminated, as technology has done throughout history? Will the trend toward increasing concentration of wealth at the top continue as well? There are […]

Ukraine, the EU, and Russia: Win, Don’t Whine

By Matthew Bryza

It is understandable that European leaders are angry with Russia for spoiling the EU’s Eastern Partnership Summit in Vilnius by pressuring Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych to “suspend” signing of Ukraine’s EU Association Agreement.  Moscow’s hardball tactics created a diplomatic debacle for the EU, as President Putin (yet again) violated his self-serving maxim of noninterference in […]

US Reluctant to Disclose to All NATO Allies that Russia is Violating INF Treaty

By Josh Rogin, Daily Beast

The Kremlin cheated on a nuclear pact it signed with the United States, the U.S. government believes—and Secretary Kerry was briefed on the violations almost a year ago.