New Atlanticist

The Kurdish Factor in Turkey’s Election

Things are not looking good for Turkey’s ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) ahead of the parliamentary elections in June. The AKP may lose seats while the Kurdish political party, the People’s Democratic Party (HDP), and far-right Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) are expected to gain seats, according to recent polls.

Authoritarianism Stages a Comeback

From Azerbaijan’s Ilham Aliyev to Zimbabwe’s Robert Mugabe, dictators seem to be gaining the upper hand these days—outsmarting the most determined pro-democracy activists with a clever mix of 21st-century technology and old-fashioned repression.

The Hidden Costs of Russia’s Proposed Aircraft Supercarrier

By Nicholas Varangis

Why is Russia planning on building an aircraft supercarrier in the next decade? The answer may seem self-evident: Russia wants to challenge the United States as a global power.

Completing Europe: The North-South Corridor

By David Koranyi and Ian Brzezinski

Twenty-five years after the collapse of the Berlin Wall and the beginning of a long process of European reunification, Europe has arrived at a historic inflection point. The European Union faces multiple external threats, including a resurgent Russia, growing global economic competition, and geopolitical upheaval.

Asian Bank not Intended to ‘Overthrow’ World Bank, says Chinese Official

By Ashish Kumar Sen

China’s proposed Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) will have a constructive and complementary relationship with both the World Bank and the Asian Development Bank and is not intended to “overthrow” either institution, Zhu Guangyao, China’s Vice Minister of Finance, said April 17 at the Atlantic Council. Instead, the AIIB will focus on economic development—particularly investing […]

Sharing the Stage with China

By Daniel Pearson

US position on investment bank risks isolating it from its partners The Obama administration’s mishandling of the emergence of the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) has meant that the United States now finds itself sitting outside the Chinese-led organization that includes many of Washington’s most significant regional and global partners and promises to be a […]

Economics 101: A Lesson for Ukraine

By Larry Luxner

Ukraine Can Learn from Baltic States’ Experience with Reforms, says Lithuania’s Ex-Prime Minister As it struggles to fix its economy, Ukraine would do well to study the reforms successfully implemented by three fellow former Soviet republics in the Baltics, Andrius Kubilius, Lithuania’s former Prime Minister said April 16 at the Atlantic Council. “I was Prime […]

Europe Limps Back From Recession

By Ashish Kumar Sen

Dip in oil prices, European Central Bank’s bond-buying program seen as boon The European economy is slowly recovering from a double-dip recession aided in part by falling oil prices and a $1.2 trillion bond-buying program by the European Central Bank (ECB), a senior European Commission official said April 16. “We are seeing the European economy […]

Falling Oil Prices Hit ISIS Where it Hurts

By Ashish Kumar Sen

Terrorist group’s plans to expand to South Asia seen hamstrung by its depleted finances A sharp drop in world oil prices and the presence of other terrorist groups will make it hard for the Islamic State in Iraq and al-Sham (ISIS) to establish a foothold in South Asia, said Omar Hamid, head of Asia Pacific […]

Making the Case for a Syrian National Stabilization Force

By Larry Luxner

Analysts propose US-led effort to end the war in Syria Nothing less than a national stabilization force consisting of fifty thousand troops and costing billions of dollars will stop the continuing bloodshed in Syria, three security analysts said April 14 at the Atlantic Council. The panel coincided with the release of a report, Setting the […]