New Atlanticist

Fiji’s COP23 presidency highlights climate struggles of small island nations

By Gray Johnson, Becca Hunziker

Despite all eyes on the United States in the wake of US President Donald J. Trump’s decision to withdraw from the Paris Agreement, Fiji, the host of the twenty-third Conference of the Parties (COP23), framed the conversation in Bonn around the challenges climate change poses to small island nations and how larger, wealthier nations can help.

How is India Faring with its Clean Energy Goals?

By Robert F. Ichord, Jr.

As signatories to the Paris Climate Agreement meet in Bonn for COP23—and new forecasts show an increase in CO2 emissions after three flat years—India’s efforts to transform its energy system are a key focus of attention.  As the world’s second-largest coal consumer and third-largest carbon emitter, India’s policies and actions are critical to the future […]

NATO Takes Another Square on the Cyber Chessboard

By Kenneth Geers

The most effective solutions to persistent threats from cyberspace will come from international alliances such as the European Union (EU) and NATO, both of which have begun to take steps to bolster members’ resistance to cyberattacks from governments and non-state actors, a complex issue with a long history.  Last week, on November 10, NATO defense […]

The End of the Mugabe Era

By Ashish Kumar Sen

The ongoing military intervention in Zimbabwe effectively marks the end of Robert Mugabe’s thirty-seven-year hold on power, according to J. Peter Pham, director of the Atlantic Council’s Africa Center. “In whatever way the developments of the last twenty-four to forty-eight hours play out, it is quite clear that the near-absolute grip that he had on […]

NATO Cyber Center: Implementing Recognition of Cyberspace as a Domain of Operations

By Klara Jordan

The decision by NATO ministers to set up a cyber operations center is an important step toward implementing recognition of cyberspace as a domain of operations in which the Alliance must defend itself as effectively as it does in the air, on land, and at sea. The announcement, made in Brussels on November 8, signaled […]

Trump, Sanctions Hamper Iran’s Renewable Energy Quest

Doubts cast by US President Donald J. Trump about the future of the nuclear deal with Iran, US sanctions that have restricted access to foreign financing, and a tight budget have hampered the Islamic Republic’s ability to secure significant investments in renewable energy. International banks have been reluctant to finance new energy projects in Iran […]

How to Identify the Kremlin Ruling Elite and its Agents

By Anders Åslund, Daniel Fried, Andrei Illarionov, and Andrei Piontkovsky

Criteria for the US Administration’s “Kremlin Report” On August 2, 2017, US President Donald J. Trump signed H.R. 3364, Countering America’s Adversaries Through Sanctions Act (CAATSA), into law. Section 241 of the Act calls on “the Secretary of the Treasury, in consultation with the Director of National Intelligence and the Secretary of State” to submit […]

Along for the Ride?

By Frederick Kempe

Beyond power machinations and political maneuvering, events in Saudi Arabia signal a more important, historic shift is underway Riyadh – King Salman’s unprecedented purge of the Saudi royal family this week was an earthquake whose ongoing aftershocks will go far beyond the country’s borders—rippling out across the Islamic world from the custodian of Mecca. The […]

Did Saudi Crown Prince Just Endanger His Reform Agenda?

By Ashish Kumar Sen

Anti-corruption crackdown targets princes, wealthy businessmen Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman has unleashed an unprecedented crackdown on corruption that has, so far, resulted in the detention of more than two hundred people, including almost a dozen princes. The most significant targets are former crown prince, Mohammed bin Nayef, whose assets have been frozen; Prince […]

Here’s Why NATO’s Cyber Operations Center is a Big Deal

NATO’s newly announced cyber operations center will allow the Alliance to “respond more effectively” to cyber attacks by integrating cyber measures with conventional military capabilities, according to an Atlantic Council analyst. The Alliance has “always had significant conventional capabilities—land, air, and sea—now cyber can be included,” said Franklin D. Kramer, a distinguished fellow in the […]