New Atlanticist

Commercial Incentives to Battle Climate Change

By Carlos Pascual

Over the course of 2015, large parts of the energy and environmental world will focus attention on achieving a new form of legally binding climate agreement in Paris under the auspices of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change.  Such an agreement would be based on “intended nationally determined contributions” (INDCs) where nations will propose […]

Systemic Violence Threatens Middle East Oil Outlook

By Ariel Cohen

When oil ministers from the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) meet in Vienna on June 5, they’ll face a strategic dilemma. Political instability in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) is discouraging capital investment in local oil and gas projects, and shifting interest to North American shale—despite MENA’s cheap, abundant and easy-to-extract hydrocarbon […]

New Policy Priorities for the Transatlantic Partnership

By Kirsten Verclas

More than twenty-five years after the end of the Cold War, the United States and Germany remain close political and economic allies. However, personal ties between the two allies have diminished. In Germany, favorable opinions of the United States are at an all-time low. On the other side of the Atlantic, the United States is […]

Renewable Sector Energized

Report finds renewable energy edges out fossil fuels in new power generating capacity The United States has the technology and financial muscle to boost the renewable share of its energy mix from the current 7.5 percent to 27 percent by 2030—thereby saving the US economy up to $140 billion per year in energy costs while […]

Fighting Putin’s Lies with the Truth

By Damon Wilson

“I can tell you outright and unequivocally that there are no Russian troops in Ukraine,” Russian President Vladimir Putin declared on a live television show April 16. That claim was patently false. To put it bluntly: Mr. Putin was lying through his teeth. The conflict in Ukraine’s east is a Kremlin-manufactured war, begun by Russian […]

Making Sense of Saudi Arabia’s Leadership Transition

Saudi King Salman’s recent shakeup of key leadership positions in his kingdom will not affect oil production in the short term, though it may offer some clues about how Saudi Arabia will confront urgent issues such as rising youth unemployment and instability in the Gulf. That’s the consensus of three scholars who spoke May 29 […]

The Cost of Kenyan Corruption

In Swahili, a language spoken throughout East and Central Africa, “kitu kidogo” means “a little something.” In Kenya, the phrase is shorthand for the small bribes necessary to navigate virtually any encounter with Kenyan officialdom. In Nairobi, the country’s capital, it is wise to factor in extra time, and a lot of extra patience, for […]

Mr. Putin’s Lies Hiding in Plain Sight

By Ashish Kumar Sen

Reports by Atlantic Council and Boris Nemtsov’s allies reveal extent of Russia’s military aggression in Ukraine Russian President Vladimir Putin is violating a February 2015 ceasefire agreement by continuing to send troops and weapons into Ukraine in a blatant attempt to destabilize the country, according to an Atlantic Council report issued May 28. The report, […]

Western Failure on Iran Deal May Cause Sanctions to Unravel

By Ashish Kumar Sen

European Ambassadors see “erosion” of sanctions regime if US Congress is viewed as cause of deal’s failure Failure to secure a deal that limits Iran’s nuclear program in return for phased sanctions relief could unravel a crippling sanctions regime on the Islamic Republic if that outcome is perceived to be the West’s fault, two European […]