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New Atlanticist

Mar 8, 2018

A Beginner’s Guide to Battling Fake News: Three Approaches to Consider Before ‘Sharing’

By Roberta Braga

While the influence of Russian disinformation in democratic processes featured prominently in conversations surrounding major election cycles in Europe throughout 2017-2018, another region, further from the Kremlin’s backyard, now faces its own fight against false narratives. In Latin America, a region that will see three major elections in 2018, the concept of fake news has […]

Brazil Colombia

Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion

Mar 8, 2018

How legal reform can drive social change for women in Tunisia

By Andrea Taylor and Elissa Miller

Many anticipate that a proposed new bill that would enable Tunisian women to receive equal inheritance with men will cement Tunisia’s place as a leader on women’s rights in the Arab world. Yet broad support within Tunisia for the inheritance bill remains lacking.

North Africa Political Reform

New Atlanticist

Mar 8, 2018

Trump’s Tough Approach to Ethiopia

By Rachel Ansley

US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson traveled to Ethiopia this week to underscore US support for a crucial partner that finds itself in a crisis. Ethiopian Prime Minister Hailemariam Desalegn resigned unexpectedly on February 15 in the wake of violent anti-government protests. The government then imposed a nationwide state of emergency that lawmakers endorsed earlier […]

Ethiopia

New Atlanticist

Mar 8, 2018

The Electoral Crisis in Bosnia and Herzegovina

By Majda Ruge

Last week, Member of the European Parliament (MEP) Zeljana Zovko appealed through the Atlantic Council’s New Atlanticist blog to the US administration for greater engagement on the politically contentious issue of electoral reform in Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH), as closed-door negotiations between political parties continue. As a former BiH diplomat and an elected MEP from […]

The Balkans

New Atlanticist

Mar 8, 2018

A Tale of Two Transitions

By Ellen Scholl

Germany may have gained a grand coalition this week, but it lost one of the champions of its clean energy transition—the Energiewende—with the resignation of former State Secretary for Energy Rainer Baake. The Grand Coalition between Germany’s Christian Democratic Union (CDU) and Social Democratic Party  (SPD) was approved by the SPD voters by a margin […]

Germany

New Atlanticist

Mar 8, 2018

Angela Merkel: Time for a Legacy

By Frances G. Burwell

Now that the new German government has been approved by the political parties and can finally begin work, it is time for Angela Merkel to think about her own agenda for the next few years. At the start of her fourth—and presumably last—term as chancellor, she is politically weaker than she has been before, and […]

European Union Germany

SyriaSource

Mar 8, 2018

In Syria, the Messenger Shoots You

By Natasha Hall

A medieval fortress overlooks the small predominantly Sunni Muslim town of Madiq Castle in Hama, Syria, situated on the Orontes River and along the fertile al-Ghab plain, under opposition control today. To the south, there lies Suqaylabiya, a predominantly Christian town under regime control. Alawis live in both locations, though mostly in regime-controlled areas. When […]

Syria

EnergySource

Mar 8, 2018

Responding to Russia: Time to back backhaul

By John Roberts

Did Gazprom’s sudden move to cut off gas supplies to Ukraine in early March give Europe a chance to secure an almost instantaneous improvement to its energy security? Gazprom’s response to what it saw as an adverse February 28 ruling by an arbitration court in Stockholm, effectively ordering the Russian gas giant to pay  $2.64 […]

Geopolitics & Energy Security Oil and Gas

UkraineAlert

Mar 8, 2018

The Right to Protest, Extremism, and the State Order

By Victor Andrusiv

On Sunday, March 3, Ukraine’s police dispersed more than one hundred protesters and disbanded their tent camps outside of the Ukrainian parliament amid significant criticism. Several dozen tents had stood for more than four months, blocking a major thoroughfare in Kyiv, Ukraine. Behind the protests were former opposition leader Mikheil Saakashvili and former soldiers who […]

Ukraine

New Atlanticist

Mar 7, 2018

Here’s How the United States and Europe Should Counter Disinformation

By Rachel Ansley

Any US or European response to the ongoing issue of disinformation must not exploit the openness of a democratic society, but work within its boundaries to ensure transparency of information, according to the Atlantic Council’s Daniel Fried. “We have to fight disinformation within the norms of our government,” said Fried, a distinguished fellow in the […]

Russia