New Atlanticist

IMF: Ghani has Shown Afghanistan is ‘Open for Business’

By Ashish Kumar Sen

Fund official says administration in Kabul still has to overcome some ‘bottlenecks’ Afghan President Ashraf Ghani has shown the world that his administration is “open for business,” but Afghanistan still faces “a lot of bottlenecks” that need to be addressed, the International Monetary Fund’s top official in Kabul said June 11. Paul Ross, IMF Mission […]

At Last, Some Good News for Mexico’s Peña Nieto

By Ashish Kumar Sen

Strengthening of ruling coalition in midterm elections will boost President’s reform agenda, says Atlantic Council’s Schechter Mexico’s June 7 mid-term elections, which unexpectedly strengthened the ruling coalition’s majority in the lower house of Congress, will boost President Enrique Peña Nieto’s efforts to reform the Mexican economy, predicts the Atlantic Council’s Peter Schechter. “The election result […]

United States Cannot Lead from Behind in the Arctic

By John-Daniel Kelley

Even as the United States celebrates the beginning of its chairmanship of the Arctic Council, it hesitates to take leadership in the Arctic region. This reluctance highlights a dichotomy between US strategic interests in the Arctic and that of every other Arctic power which, if not addressed, increases the likelihood of regional instability. 

Putin Has No Desire for Peace, Says Ukraine’s Prime Minister

By Ashish Kumar Sen

Russian President Vladimir Putin has no desire to end the war in eastern Ukraine, said Ukrainian Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk at a June 9 meeting at the Atlantic Council. “My take is that Russia is not eager… to have peace and stability, neither in Ukraine nor in Europe,” said Yatsenyuk, citing as evidence a renewed […]

A Win for Democracy in Turkey

By Ashish Kumar Sen

Election should boost Turkey’s regional prestige, says Atlantic Council’s Ricciardone Turkish elections that eroded the ruling Justice and Development Party’s parliamentary majority for the first time in thirteen years and put the country on the path to coalition politics represent a big win for Turkey’s democracy, says the Atlantic Council’s Francis J. Ricciardone. “This is […]

A ‘Readjustment’ in Turkey

By Sabine Freizer

“Turkey every couple of decades veers towards an extreme, and then there is a readjustment,” veteran Turkey watcher and International Crisis Group spokesman Hugh Pope told me for years. That readjustment came June 7, with Turkey’s parliamentary elections. After years of amassing more powers, the governing Justice and Development Party (AKP) lost its majority—and President […]

Erdoğan Loses His Midas Touch

By Ross Wilson

The wheel of politics goes round and round. Turkish voters demonstrated this in the thumping they gave in parliamentary elections June 7 to the Justice and Development Party (AKP) that had governed the country for over a decade. The AKP did win a 41 percent plurality and will take about 255 seats in the Turkish […]

A ‘Disaster’ if China was Behind OPM Cyber Attack

By Ashish Kumar Sen

If the Chinese government is in fact behind the cyber attack on the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) it would be a “disaster” in terms of counterespionage, says the Atlantic Council’s Jason Healey.“The kind of information that OPM has is a goldmine for intelligence agencies,” Healey, a Nonresident Senior Fellow in the Atlantic Council’s Cyber […]

Ukraine’s Success Will Have ‘Huge Implications’ for Entire Region

EU official: ‘Russia recognizes that we are not looking to gain territories’ Describing Ukraine as an “international issue,” a top European Union official said June 4 that turning the country into a success story will have “huge implications for the whole region.” “Russia recognizes we are not looking to gain territories. We are looking to […]

‘We Are Not Freaks of Nature’

By Ashish Kumar Sen

Panel looks at view from the Middle East, examines US’ role Few people would be surprised to learn that people in the Middle East—just like Americans—care first and foremost about bread-and-butter issues, their lives, and the lives of their families. “Contrary to the myth that [people in the Middle East] go to bed at night […]