New Atlanticist

Call it Terrorism: The Unacknowledged Tactic of the Russian-Led Insurgency in Ukraine’s East

By John E. Herbst

Once the Kremlin  seized and “annexed” Crimea in late March, it began a campaign designed at a minimum to destabilize Eastern Ukraine.  While we cannot know for sure what Mr. Putin’s maximalist goal is, it includes, at least, establishing an autonomous southeastern Ukraine sensitive to Moscow’s interests. The Kremlin, however, badly miscalculated.  It acted as […]

New Leadership Wanted for a New Europe

By Fran Burwell

Jean-Claude Juncker is the Obvious Candidate as Europe’s Chief Executive – and He Should Step Aside Continent capable of both great deeds and rhetoric, but also much muddling and disappointment, seeks new management to improve performance and reawaken customer loyalty. Must have strong leadership skills, ability to manage a complicated policy process while rising above […]

NATO Response on New-Member Applications May Impact Ukraine

By New Atlanticist

‘Enlargement contributes to security because it leads to more predictable relations with Russia’ NATO is again deciding how to respond to Eastern European nations’ requests to join the alliance, this in the face of opposition from Russia that has been underscored this year by President Vladimir Putin’s attacks on Ukraine. NATO foreign ministers are meeting […]

A Beginning of Dialogue? Russia’s Ivanov and Germany’s Ischinger Discuss the Ukraine Crisis

By James Rupert

Four months into the Russia-Ukraine crisis, public discourse between Russia and the transatlantic West is not just polarized, it’s even toxic. Last month, when Ukraine and Romania barred Russian Deputy Prime Minister Dmitriy Rogozin’s jet from their airspace, he tweeted that he would visit those countries next time in a strategic bomber. Last week, Ukrainian […]

Standing Up to Gazprom: What Ukraine Can Learn from Lithuania

By Agnia Grigas

As Russia Wields its Gas Weapon Against Ukraine, it Has Cut its Price to Lithuania. How Did That Happen? Russia and its state gas company, Gazprom, cut their gas supply to Ukraine last week amid a dispute that includes Gazprom’s demand that Ukrainians pay $485 per thousand meters of gas – an 81-percent price increase. […]

DIRECT TRANSLATION: Meet the Ex-Convicts, Bullies, and Armed Bikers Who Helped Seize Crimea

By Irena Chalupa

Putin Secretly Decorates Russian Volunteers Who Backed Moscow’s Troops in Takeover Russian President Vladimir Putin bestowed state honors in recent months on more than 300 Russians who it declared had done an outstanding job in helping Russia’s seizure from Ukraine of the Crimean peninsula. But the happy news has been kept strangely quiet. The official […]

Storify: #FutureNATO with German Defense Minister Ursula von der Leyen

German Defense Minister Ursula von der Leyen visited Washington, DC on June 19th and spoke at an Atlantic Council event on how best to secure Europe amid rapid change and turbulence.