New Atlanticist

US Faces Tough Challenge in Responding to North Korean Cyber Attack

By New Atlanticist

‘Proportionate’ Response Will Be Hard to Shape, Atlantic Council’s Jason Healey Says The US government faces a tough challenge in determining how to fulfil President Obama’s promise to “respond proportionately” to North Korea’s cyber attack on Sony Pictures, according to Atlantic Council analyst Jason Healey. “What this really means for now is that the administration […]

South Sudan Peace Talks ‘Going Nowhere,’ Says Atlantic Council Expert

By Ashish Kumar Sen

Peace talks aimed at ending South Sudan’s civil war are ‘going nowhere’ because the process is mostly led by countries that are party to the conflict, according to Dr. J. Peter Pham, director of the Atlantic Council’s Africa Center. 

US Cuba Shift Was Presaged by Poll Showing Americans Were Ready for Change

By Ashish Kumar Sen

Relations with Cuba No Longer ‘The Poisoned Chalice,’ Atlantic Council Analysis Showed President Barack Obama’s sweeping changes to US-Cuba policy were at least in part influenced by an understanding that this was widely favored among the American people. The Atlantic Council’s Adrienne Arsht Latin America Center released a poll in February that found support on […]

In Libya, Push for War Is Stronger Than Push for Peace

By New Atlanticist

Atlantic Council Analyst Karim Mezran on Libya’s Escalated Warfare Meddling by international actors in Libya has undermined a United Nations effort to broker peace in the North African nation, according to Karim Mezran, resident senior fellow at the Atlantic Council’s Rafik Hariri Center for the Middle East. Turkey, the United Arab Emirates, Egypt, Qatar, and […]

President Obama Announces New Cuba Policy

Quick Takes from Atlantic Council Experts President Barack Obama today announced a historic policy change that opens up diplomatic relations, facilitates trade, and expands travel to Cuba.     Immediately after the White House announcement, Atlantic Council experts provided the following analysis.

Taliban School Assault Seen Likely to Build Consensus on Fighting Terrorism in Pakistan

By New Atlanticist

Counter-Terror Drive in Waziristan Has Dislodged, Not Destroyed, Militants, Says Shuja Nawaz The killing by Pakistan’s Taliban of more than 140 people, mostly children, at a school is likely to “provide some glue for a consensus [in Pakistan] that you cannot negotiate with terrorist groups,” according to Atlantic Council South Asia specialist Shuja Nawaz. The […]

Education Policy Opportunity Missed at the Ibero-American Summit

By Gabriel Sánchez Zinny

The 24th Ibero-American Summit, which sought to put the focus on education in the context of slow economic growth, did not produce a specific proposal to address the challenges of developing human capital.

Moldova at a Tipping Point: Four Ways the US Should Help

By Damon Wilson

Small Steps for a Small Country Could Strengthen Europe Against Russia’s Assaults In the shadow of Ukraine’s war for true independence from Russia, the small country of Moldova is entering a critical chapter of its parallel struggle. Frustrated Moldovan voters last month reelected their pro-democratic government, but also delivered a warning that concrete economic and […]

If Ukraine’s Violence Is Not Addressed, Transformation Will Be Slow, Says Top IMF Official

By Ashish Kumar Sen

Violence in southeastern Ukraine could adversely impact the country’s economic transformation, Aasim M. Husain, deputy director of the International Monetary Fund’s European Department, told the Atlantic Council.

Isolated from the West, President Putin Visits India

By Ashish Kumar Sen

Atlantic Council’s Bharath Gopalaswamy: ‘Russia is keen to demonstrate that it has friends in other parts of the world’ The meeting between Russian President Vladimir Putin and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi in New Delhi on December 11 sought to re-energize a relationship between two nations which had its peak during the Cold War.