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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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SyriaSource

Sep 12, 2018

The Syrian detainee that saved a German journalist: The dangers of being a foreign correspondent in Syria

By Mansour Omari

Syria ranks as one of the most dangerous countries in the world for journalists, with arrests, kidnappings, executions, bombings, and shelling the leading causes of death for journalists in the country. While local Syrian journalists bare the brunt of the regime’s violence, many foreign journalists are targeted by the regime while reporting during battles and otherwise due to their role in shaping international coverage of the conflict.

Syria

New Atlanticist

Sep 12, 2018

Putin critic Litvinenko’s widow says Russia using disinformation to discredit Skripal poisoning

By David Wemer

Russian authorities are now “trying to use a case of Alexander Litvinenko to destroy the future case of Yulia and Sergei Skripal,” Marina Litvinenko said.

Disinformation Non-Traditional Threats

IranSource

Sep 12, 2018

Iran Through the Lens of al-Qaeda

By Nelly Lahoud

As the United States solemnly commemorates the seventeenth anniversary of the September 11, 2001 attacks, questions about the relationship of Iran and al-Qaeda linger. Over the years, US courts have ruled that Iran provided al-Qaeda support to carry out its signature attacks, namely the 1998 East Africa bombings, the USS Cole in Yemen, and the […]

Iran

New Atlanticist

Sep 11, 2018

Can peace be won in Afghanistan?

By Omar Samad

How will key regional stakeholders—Pakistan, Russia, Iran, China, and India—manage shifting interests and threat perceptions at a time when the United States is pushing for a peace deal, and is there a contingency plan if talks fail?

Afghanistan Conflict

New Atlanticist

Sep 11, 2018

Eritrea and Ethiopia: Troops remain, but is peace closer?

By Bronwyn Bruton

Events on September 11 suggest that the troop withdrawal—and with it, the normalization of politics on both sides of the border—is getting much closer.

Conflict Eritrea

New Atlanticist

Sep 11, 2018

#StrongerWithAllies: The day NATO stood with the United States

By Ashish Kumar Sen

Since 2001, US NATO allies have lost more than 1,000 troops in Afghanistan. “They died in solidarity with us, for the Alliance and the values it defends,” said Daniel Fried, distinguished fellow at the Atlantic Council's Future Europe Initiative and Eurasia Center.

Afghanistan NATO

New Atlanticist

Sep 11, 2018

Assad still standing in Syria: What went wrong?

By David Wemer

Now, Washington must face the reality that Assad is here to stay and that Syria will continue to be a source of instability in the region for years to come.

Conflict Syria

UkraineAlert

Sep 11, 2018

Why We Must Speak Out about Oleg Sentsov Now

By Natalia Arno

Oleg Sentsov, a Ukrainian filmmaker imprisoned by Russian forces in 2014, is on the verge of death. More than one hundred days ago, he began a hunger strike to demand that Russian President Vladimir Putin free sixty-four Ukrainian political prisoners being held in Russia.  Since then, Sentsov has lost almost 70 pounds and suffered cardiac complications. In early August, he confided to his lawyer that “the end was near” and this […]

MENASource

Sep 11, 2018

Saudi’s Vision 2030 continues to solicit concerns

By Stephen Grand

The Saudi government shelved plans in late August for an initial public offering (IPO) of shares in Saudi Aramco, the state’s mammoth oil company. King Salman and his son, Crown Prince Mohamed bin Salman had intended the proceeds from the sale of a portion of the company’s stock to underwrite their “Vision 2030” program, an ambitious roadmap […]

Saudi Arabia

IranSource

Sep 11, 2018

Iran’s Political Debate Over Negotiating With the Trump Administration

By Farhad Rezaei

President Donald Trump’s offer to “meet with the Iranian president without preconditions if they wanted to meet” has been roundly rejected by Iran’s hardline establishment but has sparked a lively debate over the wisdom and efficacy of such a move in alleviating pressure on Iran’s economy. During a recent meeting with President Hassan Rouhani and […]

Iran