Atlantic Council blogs

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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Barack Obama

New Atlanticist

Aug 1, 2012

Keeping America Great By Keeping Our Heads

By Harlan Ullman

For good or ill, myths are endemic to the human condition. We develop mythologies around our leaders and our foes to fit expectations, emotions and egos. George Washington, for example, never told a lie and hurled a dollar coin across the Potomac.

United States and Canada

MENASource

Aug 1, 2012

The Thank You Letter that Never Was: A Brief Breakdown

By Tarek Radwan

The debate over a letter allegedly sent to President Shimon Peres of Israel from President Mohamed Morsi has recently emerged as one of the more frustrating discussions to receive media attention. Journalists have traced the letter’s path from a fax machine at the Egyptian embassy in Tel Aviv to the Israeli President’s office, published confirmation […]

NATOSource

Aug 1, 2012

Professionals in Russian Airborne Forces to Double by 2017

By RIA Novosti

From RIA Novosti:  The number of professional servicemen in the Russian Airborne Forces is expected to reach 20,000 in the next five or seven years, more than double the current 9,500 troops, the airborne troops chief commander, Colonel General Vladimir Shamanov, has said. The Russian Airborne Forces currently have some 35,000 servicemen, and less than […]

MENASource

Aug 1, 2012

Practicing the Virtues of Patience with Egypt’s New President / الصبر على حر الصيف في رمضان وعلى “مرسي” أيضا

By Magdy Samaan

Ramadan is often a time for Muslims to practice the virtue of patience. This year, however, not only do they have to practice patience while refraining from food and water, they must also learn to observe the same virtue when it comes to their newly-elected, slow-moving and bureaucratic president, Mohamed Morsi. This has proven to […]

NATOSource

Aug 1, 2012

Putin says NATO should stay in Afghanistan

By RT

From RT:  With NATO-led coalition looking to exit the Central Asian hotspot in 2014, President Vladimir Putin said the international forces should stay in Afghanistan until their job is finished.

MENASource

Aug 1, 2012

Top News: Egypt’s New Cabinet: Bureaucrats, Technocrats and Islamocrats

By Egypt Source

Egypt’s ministers of finance and foreign affairs said on Wednesday they were keeping their posts in a new government being formed by Prime Minister-designate Hesham Qandil, Reuters reported. Foreign Minister Mohamed Kamel Amr and Finance Minister Momtaz al-Saeed confirmed they would stay on after a meeting with Qandil, who is due to formally announce his […]

MENASource

Aug 1, 2012

As Egypt’s Labor Protests Increase, is an Organized Labor Movement the Solution?

By Nadine Abdalla

Following the evolution of socio-economic conditions in Egypt, it is evident that the situation has become critical, with social and labor protests increasing significantly over the past year. According to the Children of Earth Foundation for Human Rights  (Moaa’saset Awelad El-Ard le Hokok El-insan), Egypt has witnessed 1,370 protests in the period from May 2011 […]

David Cameron and Jose Barosso

New Atlanticist

Aug 1, 2012

Britain Adrift

By Fran Burwell

The country most at risk in the eurozone economic crisis is not Spain, Italy, or even Greece, but Britain. While attention has focused on countries that seem perpetually on the brink of sovereign default or banking collapses, the British government has embarked on a path that could lead it out of Europe, with profound consequences […]

European Union International Organizations

NATOSource

Jul 31, 2012

Top Belarus Military Officials Fired Over Teddy Bear Incident

By Reuters

From Reuters:  Belarussian President Alexander Lukashenko on Tuesday sacked his air defence chief and the head of the border guards for failing to stop a Swedish plane drop hundreds of teddy bears over the hardline state in a pro-democracy stunt.

New Atlanticist

Jul 31, 2012

The United States and the Moroccan Status Quo

By Alec Simantov

The Pentagon attracted quite a bit of attention recently when it announced new military assistance programs in controversial places like Yemen, Somalia, and Pakistan, raising questions about the balance between US national security interests and promotion of human rights and democracy.

National Security Security & Defense