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UkraineAlert

Feb 14, 2018

How to Waste Western Military Assistance

By Olena Prokopenko

In late 2017, Ukraine failed to receive assistance that was expected from two of its largest donors, the IMF and the EU. The anticipated funding—over $2.5 billion—was strictly conditioned on specific reforms. Both donors referred to the country’s lack of compliance with its obligations in the anticorruption and economic areas. In response, the Ukrainian government […]

Ukraine

New Atlanticist

Feb 13, 2018

Russian Casualties and Moscow’s Intent

By Frederic C. Hof

Reporting out of Moscow suggests that some number of armed Russians—up to 200—were killed by the US-led, anti-ISIS coalition after crossing the Euphrates River deconfliction line in eastern Syria on February 7.  If the reports are true, this was by far the bloodiest incident for Russian personnel since Moscow’s military intervention in Syria at the […]

Syria

New Atlanticist

Feb 13, 2018

Tillerson’s Endgame in Turkey

By Ross Wilson

US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson’s current trip to the Middle East reportedly seeks to attempt to restore stability in the region following the virtual destruction of the Islamic State of Iraq and al-Sham (ISIS) by US and coalition forces. What is his way forward with the Turks and how should Washington manage its differences […]

Turkey

New Atlanticist

Feb 13, 2018

Total Recall: South Africa’s President Zuma Told to Quit. Will He?

By Ashish Kumar Sen

Will he go? That’s the big question on the minds of South Africans this week as their president, Jacob Zuma, was asked to step down by the ruling African National Congress (ANC) party’s National Executive Committee (NEC). The NEC’s decision followed a marathon thirteen-hour meeting on February 12 to decide the fate of Zuma, who […]

Africa South Africa

New Atlanticist

Feb 12, 2018

A Ticking Clock

By Teri Schultz

Rose Gottemoeller, deputy secretary general of NATO, discusses arms control When the Doomsday Clock took its last big leap, moving from five minutes to three minutes to midnight in 2015, Rose Gottemoeller took it personally. She was then US under secretary of state for arms control and had spent her entire career negotiating with first […]

Missile Defense NATO

SyriaSource

Feb 12, 2018

Iran and Israel’s New Rules of Engagement

By Feras Hanoush

A confrontation escalated along the Syrian-Israeli front the morning of February 10, opening a new destabilizing chapter to the Syrian war. A Syrian anti-aircraft battery downed an Israeli Air Force F-16 fighter aircraft that had penetrated Syrian airspace, seriously wounding the pilot. The incident immediately sparked Israeli air attacks on Syrian and Iranian rocket platforms.

Syria

New Atlanticist

Feb 12, 2018

Talking Turkey

By Carmen Gentile

US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson’s trip to the Middle East this week comes amid escalating tensions between NATO allies Turkey and the United States as their forces stare down one another in war-ravaged northern Syria. While Tillerson’s agenda is notably missing a stop in Israel, the secretary will meet with leaders in Turkey, as […]

Syria Turkey

UkraineAlert

Feb 12, 2018

Is This the End of Mikheil Saakashvili in Ukraine?

By Melinda Haring

Today opposition leader Mikheil Saakashvili was deported to Poland. For months he has been leading protests outside of Ukraine’s parliament, urging President Petro Poroshenko to resign. The Saakashvili drama has been ongoing; last year he was stripped of his Ukrainian citizenship and then reentered the country illegally. In December, he was arrested and then broke […]

The Caucasus Ukraine

IranSource

Feb 12, 2018

Iran’s Uncertain Political Future

By Alireza Nader

The December 2017 uprising in Iran was the most significant nationwide unrest seen in that country since 2009. But in many ways it was different from the so-called Green Movement.

UkraineAlert

Feb 9, 2018

What Do Ukraine, Congo, Cuba, North Korea, Tajikistan, and Venezuela Have in Common?

By Maxim Martynyuk

Since 2014, when a democratic revolution triumphed in Ukraine, there have been two kinds of reports coming from my country: those about Ukrainians’ heroic resistance against Russian aggression, and those about the corruption that is destroying the country. The truth, of course, is more nuanced and mundane: Ukraine is gradually advancing, sometimes with two steps […]

Ukraine