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SyriaSource

Feb 26, 2018

Eastern Ghouta: Will Resolution 2401 Stop the Slaughter?

By Frederic C. Hof

The unanimous vote in the UN Security Council for a well-meaning resolution demanding “a durable humanitarian pause for at least thirty consecutive days throughout Syria” may turn out, for the besieged 400,000 souls in Eastern Ghouta, to be the emptiest of gestures. It lacks an enforcement mechanism and contains a loophole all-but-inviting ongoing mass homicide. […]

Syria

New Atlanticist

Feb 26, 2018

In China, the Dawn of the Xi Dynasty?

By Ashish Kumar Sen

Chinese President Xi Jinping was nine years old when his father, a prominent communist revolutionary and vice premier of China, had a falling out with Mao Zedong. The year was 1962. Xi Zhongxun was accused of supporting a novel that Mao opposed. For this crime he was stripped of his titles, demoted, and sent to […]

China

UkraineAlert

Feb 26, 2018

How I Remember Boris Nemtsov

By Vladimir Kara-Murza

Editor’s note: Russian politician Boris Nemtsov was assassinated on February 27, 2015, in Moscow, Russia. Below his friend and fellow activist Vladimir Kara-Murza remembers the slain leader. Throughout his political life, Boris Nemtsov was a maverick, a “white crow,” as we say in Russian, always choosing principles over political expediency—as when he took on the […]

Russia Ukraine

New Atlanticist

Feb 26, 2018

Deconstructing PESCO: Washington’s Apparent, Actual, and Misplaced Fears About European Defense Plans

By Brooks Tigner

Washington has recently revived concerns about the ultimate purpose of the European Union (EU)’s nascent defense plans, avowing these could undermine NATO and transatlantic solidarity if US officials don’t keep a “close eye” on them. This is bombast. Officially, such concern may appear to rest on political, strategic, or military imperatives about NATO’s cohesion, but […]

European Union International Organizations

UkraineAlert

Feb 26, 2018

Canada’s Big Opportunity to Push Back Against Putin

By Danylo Lubkivsky and Volodymyr Yermolenko

Canada assumed the G7 presidency on January 1, 2018, and this platform offers a valuable opportunity to inject some new energy into the international response to Russia’s annexation of Crimea and aggression in eastern Ukraine. Under Canada’s leadership, the G7 can spotlight human rights violations in both annexed Crimea and the occupied Donbas. Canada is […]

Ukraine United States and Canada

UkraineAlert

Feb 26, 2018

Ukraine Still Needs an Anti-Corruption Court

By Josh Cohen

The dramatic detainment of Odesa Mayor Gennadiy Trukhanov by detectives from the National Anti-Corruption Bureau (NABU) at Kyiv’s Boryspil Airport after a long absence from the country demonstrates why Ukraine desperately needs an anti-corruption court. While Trukhanov has long been suspected of mafia ties and  involvement in multiple corrupt schemes, the Solomiansky District Court released Trukhanov without bail, instead requiring only the personal guarantee of Poroshenko […]

Ukraine

UkraineAlert

Feb 26, 2018

Ukraine’s Stolen History, Stolen Culture

By Lesia Kuruts-Tkach

Until recently, Ukrainian culture was perceived internationally as a subset of Russian culture. Even now, after Ukraine has had almost twenty-seven years of independence and with hundreds of years of history behind it, Ukrainian history is often presented as Russian. Mykola Gogol, Volodymyr the Great, the Kyivan Rus, Anne of Kyiv—all of this is Ukrainian, […]

Russia Ukraine

SyriaSource

Feb 26, 2018

Assad Determined to Destroy What’s Left of Syria: The Continued Bombardment of Eastern Ghouta

By Natasha Hall

Four-year old Elias sits on the ground in a basement about 200 square meters with nearly 300 other people. He is playing with keys. He pretends that they are rockets falling and sprays imaginary shrapnel everywhere. His father tells me that he is a child and “his war games are already inspired by his reality.” […]

Syria

EconoGraphics

Feb 26, 2018

Are Italians giving the establishment the boot?

By Alexatrini Tsiknia and Ole Moehr

Italians go to the polls on March 4th to elect a new government. Under a new electoral system, the outcome is uncertain. The Global Business and Economics program looks at some key economic indicators that could influence the election.

Economy & Business European Union

New Atlanticist

Feb 23, 2018

The Curious Case of Latvia’s Banking Scandal

By Bart Oosterveld and Graham Brookie

Two developments have rocked the Latvian banking system in recent days. Last week, the country’s third-largest bank, ABLV Bank, was accused by the United States Treasury Department of systematic money laundering and aiding in the circumvention of the sanctions imposed on North Korea. Separately, Latvian Central Bank Governor Ilmars Rimsevics, one of the longest-serving central […]

Northern Europe