Category: Blogs

Saleh’s death in Yemen is a game changer

By Tarek Radwan

Earlier today, videos showing armed fighters carrying former Yemeni president Ali Abdullah Saleh’s body surfaced online and shocked the region. The General People’s Congress (GPC) confirmed that Saleh and Assistant Secretary General to the party Yasser al-Awadi were killed in a Houthi attack on one of his compounds. This turn of events holds tremendous implications […]

Iraq: Managing economic reformation and fighting corruption, with an eye on election

By Harith Hasan

Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi recently announced his new war against corruption. In using the term “war,” he intended to convey the difficulty of implementing a productive policy to fight corruption. Abadi hopes to build on his successes in the war against the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) and the crisis with Kurdistan by turning […]

Ahmadinejad is Up to His Old Tricks But They No Longer Impress Anyone

By Sirous Amerian

The former president of Iran, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, is again in the forefront of Iranian social media. An egomaniac who cannot bare to fall out of media attention, Ahmadinejad has lately declared war on the Iranian judiciary, which has brought court cases against his top presidential aides, Esfandiyar Rahim Mashaei and Hamid Baghaei, on charges of […]

Ukraine Politicians Embrace Extreme Rhetoric

By Adrian Karatnycky

Ukraine has experienced some major reforms, particularly the ProZorro electronic procurement system, the restructuring of corrupt banks, and fundamental reforms in the gas sector. Nonetheless, the country still suffers from widespread corruption and a malfunctioning court system that has delayed major cases against allegedly corrupt officials. In this environment, politicians on all sides have been […]

HTS Continues to Evolve

By Mona Alami

The arrest, this week, of several prominent jihadists in Syria by Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) is a third and possibly final chapter in the group’s coup against its mother organization al-Qaeda, one that was recognized in a harsh statement by the latter’s leader, Aymen Zawahiri. The controversial move is one way for HTS to finalize […]

TRADE IN ACTION December 1

By Global Business & Economics Program

THIS WEEK IN TRADEThis week saw the first potential ‘breakthrough’ in Brexit negotiations, with the UK agreeing to EU demands on an increased Brexit Bill.

How the West Can Finally Get Moscow’s Attention

By Diane Francis

In March 1980, former President Jimmy Carter announced sanctions against the Soviet Union and a boycott of the Moscow Olympics in protest against its invasion of Afghanistan. “We call for the moving of the Olympics or the delay of the Olympics for at least a year, until Soviet troops are withdrawn from Afghanistan, or the […]

Balkan Officials Have a Message for the EU and the United States: Stay Engaged

By Ashish Kumar Sen

Balkan officials on November 29 made a pitch for deeper US and European Union (EU) engagement with the region, noting that its stability is critical for a peaceful Europe. “Without a stable Balkans, there is no stable Europe,” said Srdjan Darmanović, Montenegro’s foreign minister. Albania’s foreign minister, Ditmir Bushati, highlighted US Secretary of State Rex […]

Sparking entrepreneurship in the Balkans

Young entrepreneurs “can fix the Balkans,” said Mark Boris Andrijanic, director of public policy for Central and Eastern Europe at Uber, “but only if we are allowed to do so.”