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.
View all
of our blogs
Subscribe to our
newsletters

Latest from across our blogs

https://www.flickr.com/photos/nato/43295441252/

NATOSource

Jul 12, 2018

Trump Believes US ‘Paying a Lot of Money to Protect’ NATO Allies

By Donald Trump and Jens Stoltenberg, White House

[Excerpts from remarks by President Donald Trump and Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg, June 11, 2018.]

NATO Security & Defense

New Atlanticist

Jul 11, 2018

The Trump-Merkel Showdown

By Mark Fischer and Mark Simakovsky

Managing a growing rift within NATO US President Donald J. Trump traveled to Europe this week with his rhetorical guns loaded, taking aim at NATO allies for failing to adequately pay for their own defense. The primary target of Trump’s ire is German Chancellor Angela Merkel. Despite positive trajectories in both German and NATO allies’ […]

Germany NATO

Rebuilding Syria

Jul 11, 2018

Here’s Why Syrian Women Need to be Included More in Peacebuilding

By Renee Coulouris

Since the start of the Syrian war in 2011, Syrian women have been involved in all aspects of the conflict: from fighting, demonstrating and documenting war crimes to providing humanitarian relief and local politics. Syrian women, who make up more than 50 percent of the Syrian population, are also taking on a more active role […]

Syria

New Atlanticist

Jul 11, 2018

NATO’s Jamie Shea Signs Off On a Positive Note… And With Some Advice

By Ashish Kumar Sen

At a time where there are so many doubts about NATO at the political level, the paradox is that the Alliance on July 11 came out with a communique—agreed to by all member states—that is “the most substantive… the most complete, the most consensual,” notes Jamie Shea, NATO’s outgoing deputy assistant secretary general for emerging […]

NATO Security & Defense

UkraineAlert

Jul 11, 2018

Another Way to Kill Nord Stream 2

By Oleksandr Kharchenko

Europe faces a looming choice with serious geopolitical consequences. It can continue to receive its natural gas through Ukraine or bypass Ukraine altogether and receive its gas through Russia’s Nord Stream 2 pipeline. Option one—preserving Ukraine’s gas transportation system—helps diversify fuel supplies and means that Europe’s gas supplies can be expanded if needed. Option two […]

Ukraine

MENASource

Jul 11, 2018

Can Sadr fulfill his campaign promise to reform the Iraq energy sector?

By Andrea Taylor

The trajectory of Iraq remains uncertain two months after the May 2018 Parliamentary elections in which the political bloc led by Muqtada al-Sadr won the greatest number of seats. Given that the Alliance Revolutionaries for Reform, or Sairoon, fell well short of a majority, Sadr must develop a coalition with other parties to elect a […]

Energy Markets & Governance Iraq

New Atlanticist

Jul 11, 2018

NATO Engages: Shoring Up the Alliance

By Ashish Kumar Sen

The opening day of NATO Engages: The Brussels Summit Dialogue was marked by passionate endorsements of the transatlantic military alliance that has been credited with giving the West its longest period of peace without a major power conflict in centuries. It also produced an attempt by NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg to ease the Alliance’s […]

Cybersecurity European Union

New Atlanticist

Jul 11, 2018

Macedonian Prime Minister Celebrates NATO Invitation

By David Wemer

Zoran Zaev, the prime minister of the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia (FYROM), celebrated his country’s potential NATO membership in Brussels on July 11 just minutes after it was announced that the bloc would invite FYROM to begin accession talks.

NATO Security & Defense

UkraineAlert

Jul 11, 2018

What the West Conveniently Forgets When It Talks about Ukraine

By Taras Kuzio

Some in the West like to beat up on Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko and portray him as the chief obstacle to reform. However, if Poroshenko is holding the country back, how did parliament, which is governed by Poroshenko’s party and Popular Front, manage to adopt so many reforms in four short years?

Ukraine

New Atlanticist

Jul 11, 2018

NATO Ministers Preach Unity, But Divisions Persist

By David Wemer

Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu, Polish Foreign Minister Jacek Czaputowicz, and German Defense Minister Ursula von der Leyen stressed the importance of unity in the Alliance during a panel discussion in Brussels on July 11. Although each of the ministers implored the Alliance to find common ground on the challenges facing the bloc, divergent views […]

Germany NATO