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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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UkraineAlert

Sep 17, 2018

Six Steps to Move Ukraine Forward Before the 2019 Elections

By Olena Prokopenko

Ukraine has less than four months before the presidential campaign season begins in earnest on December 31. The media is already full of populist promises and ads defaming political competitors. Outdoor advertising is dominated by catchy slogans and the old faces of party leaders. TV channels are being redistributed between their oligarch owners. What can […]

Ukraine

MENASource

Sep 17, 2018

One year later, the UN Action Plan for Libya is dead

By Elissa Miller

In September 2017, on the sidelines of a gathering of global leaders at the UN General Assembly (UNGA), Special Representative of the UN Secretary General to Libya Ghassan Salame presented an “action plan” for Libya that aimed to surmount Libya’s political stalemate and address persistent instability.

Libya

New Atlanticist

Sep 17, 2018

At Three Seas Initiative’s Bucharest summit, Central European leaders seek to transform region

By David Wemer

The initiative brings together twelve European Union (EU) member states from the area that borders the Baltic, Adriatic, and Black Seas, to discuss common infrastructure and development programs to jumpstart the region’s economy.

Central Europe Poland

New Atlanticist

Sep 17, 2018

Macedonia’s high-stakes referendum

By Evelyn Farkas

A failed referendum will be a loss for stability, exacerbating and creating new tension in light of the ethnic Albanian position on NATO.  A no vote would be a defeat for democracy—it is after all democracy NATO collective security aims to defend.

Elections The Balkans

UkraineAlert

Sep 17, 2018

Deep Dive: How Ukraine’s Presidential Candidates Plan to Win

By Olexiy Minakov

Ukraine’s presidential campaign season has unofficially begun. Almost half a year before the presidential race in March 2019, candidates have already settled on basic strategies. Let’s analyze their messages—how they separate themselves from their competitors and try to create an attractive image, what ideas “sell,” how they struggle with criticism, negativity, compromise, and ultimately, how […]

Russia Ukraine

New Atlanticist

Sep 17, 2018

‘It is now or never’

By George Robertson

In today’s world there may be more tinder-box regions than the Balkans capturing the headlines but complacency in the face of danger is the gravest crime politicians can commit.

Peacekeeping and Peacebuilding Security & Defense

IranSource

Sep 17, 2018

Trump’s Iran Endgame Undermines Major US Security Interests

By Sina Toossi

The logical conclusion of the Trump administration’s Iran policy seems not to be regime change but regime collapse. Though Secretary of Defense James Mattis has denied that either are on the agenda, the White House’s rhetoric and actions betray a different motive. The US president himself has trumpeted the harsh impact of reinstated sanctions and […]

Iran

EconoGraphics

Sep 17, 2018

Turkish Outbreak: Risk of Emerging Market Contagion?

By Christina Gay and Ole Moehr

With the strengthening of the US dollar in the wake of continued interest rate increases by the US Federal Reserve and brewing pressures in a number of emerging market (EM), portfolio flows into EM countries slowed from $13.7 billion in July to just $2.2 billion in August. Companies and banks in both Argentina and Turkey borrowed heavily in dollar denominated debt while interest rates were low and are now faced with mounting debt burdens, which, if not backed by sufficient reserves puts them at risk for default if investors lose confidence. The Turkish lira has fallen over 40 percent in 2018. Its sharp decline in August raised concern of contagion to other markets, as the Indonesian rupiah, the South African rand, and the Indian rupee have also come under pressure. This edition of the Econographic compares situation in Turkey with the Asian financial crisis in 1997, analyzes root causes of the current pressures in Turkey, and assesses the broader implications for EM economies.

Economy & Business European Union

EnergySource

Sep 14, 2018

The Three Seas Initiative’s Bucharest summit: Focusing on energy

By Fanni Virág

On September 17, 2018, the leaders of the twelve member countries of the Three Seas Initiative (3SI) will gather in Bucharest for the third Three Seas Summit, in the hopes of achieving concrete progress on some of the initiative’s projects. Launched in 2016 by the countries bordering the Adriatic, the Baltic, and the Black Seas, […]

Central Europe Eastern Europe

New Atlanticist

Sep 14, 2018

Three Seas leaders must overcome external influence and internal disunity to achieve prosperity

By Zsofia Bajnai

The many external and internal obstacles facing the Three Seas Initiative must be confronted at upcoming Bucharest Summit, if the project is to develop into a serious economic program.

Central Europe Eastern Europe