New Atlanticist

No Solution for Syria Without Iran

By Barbara Slavin

When Secretary of State John Kerry met his Iranian counterpart in Munich last weekend, Kerry raised Syria’s refusal to permit humanitarian aid to reach the embattled city of Homs and failure to relinquish its chemical weapons on schedule. Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif, however, kept the meeting focused on upcoming negotiations over a comprehensive […]

What’s Next for US-Cuba Relations?

US-Cuba relations have been at a stalemate for decades, but a recent poll shows Americans — especially those who have traveled to Cuba — want closer ties with the island. On February 11, the Atlantic Council’s Adrienne Latin America Center will release the first national poll that centers solely on Americans’ attitudes toward US-Cuba relations. […]

As US Seeks Trade Deals, It Should Include Energy

By New Atlanticist

As the White House scrambles to defend the big trade deals it is negotiating with Europe and Asia, the Atlantic Council’s David Koranyi underscores the benefits of including the energy sector in those talks. After President Obama asked Congress directly for broad authority to negotiate the deals in his State of the Union address last […]

Iran: Rethinking the Endgame

By Robert A. Manning and James Clad

It is with no small amount of trepidation that US and EU negotiators gear up for new talks on a final nuclear deal with Iran later this month. Fierce US congressional criticism of the “5+1” nuclear deal with Iran is missing the point, and promise, of an accord. One need not buy President Rouhani’s self-serving assertion […]

Obama Skirts Egypt in State of the Union Address

By Barbara Slavin

In his State of the Union address, President Barack Obama devoted most of a limited section on foreign policy to the Middle East but uttered not one word about that region’s most populous and influential nation: Egypt.

Dealing with Chinese Military Modernization

Asking Hard Questions and Supporting Tough Decisions As China modernizes its armed forces, the United States’ huge advantage in military technology is eroding – and US policymakers cannot realistically hope to reverse that change with increased spending, according to Roger Cliff, an Atlantic Council specialist on East Asian security. To maintain US military’s edge over […]

Barack Obama Gives Sixth Address to Joint Session of Congress

Tomorrow, Council experts will deconstruct #SOTU for members and press on a conference call. Domestic policy is the centerpiece of this year’s speech.

Ukraine: Is Yanukovych Finished?

By Rajan Menon

For a while it looked as if Ukraine’s embattled president, Viktor Yanukovych, had survived the political tidal wave that followed his decision to mothball the Association Agreement he’d hammered out with the European Union and instead to accept a lifeline from Russia (a $15 billion loan plus a one-third reduction in the price of natural […]

As Egypt Burns, Tunisia and Yemen Step Toward Democracy

By New Atlanticist

As Egypt’s three-year-old popular uprising has cycled into new violence and repression, Tunisia and Yemen offer a counterpoint of hope with their tangible steps toward democracy this month, write Stefanie Hausheer and Lara Talverdian of the Atlantic Council. Tunisians approved a constitution “hailed by observers as the most progressive in the region with its guarantees […]

Turkey’s Troubles May Set Back Kurdish, US Hopes

By Müjge Küçükkeleş and Jeffrey Mankoff

The Turkish government’s mounting domestic challenges, notably from the corruption investigation of senior officials that became public in December, may increase the risk that Prime Minister Erdoğan will be unable to complete a peace process he opened more than a year ago with Turkey’s Kurdish rebels. A failure of that reconciliation effort could increase the […]