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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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New Atlanticist

Aug 10, 2018

Atlantic Council Looks Back on 2008 Russia-Georgia War

By Atlantic Council

The Atlantic Council commemorated the ten-year anniversary of the 2008 Russia-Georgia war with a series of pieces looking at the impact of the war and the unsettled geopolitical situation today. Here is a look back at the pieces which ran from August 7 until August 9:

Russia The Caucasus

New Atlanticist

Aug 10, 2018

The Russo-Georgian War’s lesson: Russia will strike again

By Ariel Cohen

Let the tenth anniversary of the Russo-Georgian conflict serve as a somber warning both to us and to our European allies: Si vis pacem, para bellum — “if you want peace, prepare for war”.

Conflict Peacekeeping and Peacebuilding

New Atlanticist

Aug 10, 2018

Trump’s Iran Sanctions Are Back: Will They Work?

By Brian O’Toole

On Monday, US President Donald J. Trump signed an executive order detailing the framework for re-imposing sanctions on Iran, which were lifted under the JCPOA (Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action) nuclear deal, with the goal of getting Iran back to the table to negotiate a deal covering not just Iran’s nuclear weapons program, but also […]

Iran

IranSource

Aug 10, 2018

How US Sanctions Impede the Women’s Movement in Iran

By Sussan Tahmasebi

While the world’s attention was on US President Donald Trump’s Twitter war with Tehran the other week, some good news in Iran escaped notice. A group of women’s rights activists arrested in front of the Ministry of Labor and Social Affairs on International Women’s Day were acquitted, after initially being charged for planning and participating […]

Iran

UkraineAlert

Aug 10, 2018

The Forgotten Story Behind Crimea’s Only Displaced University

By Madeline Roache

“We could hear explosions during classes and the sound of helicopters flying overhead. But no one understood what was happening or how long it would last,” recalls Anna Gladchenko, a 23-year-old student at the Donetsk National Medical University in Ukraine. When war broke out in eastern Ukraine in 2014, 150,000 college students and 10,000 faculty […]

Russia Ukraine

New Atlanticist

Aug 9, 2018

The West Should Stand Stronger With Georgia

By Mamuka Tsereteli

Ten years ago, Russia invaded Georgia, burning and ethnically cleansing the villages of the Tskhinvali region and occupying and recognizing the regions Abkhazia and South Ossetia. Moscow’s immediate objective was to limit the sovereign right of Georgia to resist the corrupt, backward, and technologically obsolete Russian political and economic system, and, instead, join the transatlantic political, military, and […]

Russia The Caucasus

IranSource

Aug 9, 2018

Iran’s Turbulent Future

By Nader Uskowi

The news coming out of Iran these days tells the story of a country in crisis. The economy is sliding towards collapse, even before the first round of US sanctions were reinstated on August 6. Nationwide protests are calling for regime change—a dirty word in Tehran up until recently. The Iranian government and its military […]

Iran

New Atlanticist

Aug 9, 2018

The Saudi Arabia-Canada Feud, Explained

By David Wemer

Saudi Arabia and Canada have found themselves in the middle of a diplomatic crisis, which threatens to end all diplomatic and economic contacts between the two countries. Saudi Arabia expelled the Canadian Ambassador in Riyadh on August 6, after Canada’s Foreign Minister, Chrystia Freeland, called for the release of Saudi human rights activist Samar Badawi […]

Saudi Arabia United States and Canada

UkraineAlert

Aug 9, 2018

Q&A: Will Ukraine Face a Serious Financial Crisis If It Doesn’t Get IMF Money Before November?

By Melinda Haring

Central bankers and economists are sounding the alarm in Kyiv, Ukraine. The Finance Ministry’s account balance has fallen to its lowest level in four years. The hryvnia is falling fast now, and fell nearly 4 percent over the last three weeks. Eurobond sales and foreign aid could remedy the cash-flow problem, but the International Monetary […]

Ukraine

IranSource

Aug 9, 2018

Is Syria Lost to Iran?

By Frederic C. Hof

The short answer is “No.” A family and an entourage that placed itself at the disposal of Iran while burning much of Syria to the ground will not prevail, provided the United States and its partners begin to push back. Yet termites are at work, and the fulfillment of this proviso is far from certain. […]

Iran Syria