Category: Blogs

Budget politics and Baghdad-Kurdish relations

By Harith Hasan

One of the main disputes behind tensions between the Iraqi federal government and Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) includes disagreement over budget allocation. This month, the Iraqi government approved the proposed budget for 2018 and sent it to the parliament for debate in the coming weeks. The draft budget, strongly criticized by the KRG, is the […]

NATO Takes Another Square on the Cyber Chessboard

By Kenneth Geers

The most effective solutions to persistent threats from cyberspace will come from international alliances such as the European Union (EU) and NATO, both of which have begun to take steps to bolster members’ resistance to cyberattacks from governments and non-state actors, a complex issue with a long history.  Last week, on November 10, NATO defense […]

Western foreign policy and the dignity of the Arab world: Interview with Dr. H.A. Hellyer

By MENASource

Following a recent controversy where a British journalist at a conference in Egypt casually implied that the peoples of the Arab world were more culturally inured towards restrictions on press freedom, we discussed the issue of democracy and Arab culture with Atlantic Council’s senior non-resident fellow, Dr. H.A. Hellyer. “That journalist asserted that people shouldn’t […]

As Turkey Places New Restrictions on Aid Groups, Syrian Refugees Pay the Price

By Hosam al-Jablawi

Turkish authorities recently withdrew permits from several international humanitarian organizations working with Syrian refugees on its territory. Officials cited several reasons, some relating to security and others relating to new regulations for those organizations to continue working from Turkey.

Trump, Sanctions Hamper Iran’s Renewable Energy Quest

By Masoud Mostajabi

Doubts cast by US President Donald J. Trump about the future of the nuclear deal with Iran, US sanctions that have restricted access to foreign financing, and a tight budget have hampered the Islamic Republic’s ability to secure significant investments in renewable energy. International banks have been reluctant to finance new energy projects in Iran as a […]

The End of the Mugabe Era

By Ashish Kumar Sen

The ongoing military intervention in Zimbabwe effectively marks the end of Robert Mugabe’s thirty-seven-year hold on power, according to J. Peter Pham, director of the Atlantic Council’s Africa Center. “In whatever way the developments of the last twenty-four to forty-eight hours play out, it is quite clear that the near-absolute grip that he had on […]

NATO Cyber Center: Implementing Recognition of Cyberspace as a Domain of Operations

By Klara Jordan

The decision by NATO ministers to set up a cyber operations center is an important step toward implementing recognition of cyberspace as a domain of operations in which the Alliance must defend itself as effectively as it does in the air, on land, and at sea. The announcement, made in Brussels on November 8, signaled […]

Trump, Sanctions Hamper Iran’s Renewable Energy Quest

Doubts cast by US President Donald J. Trump about the future of the nuclear deal with Iran, US sanctions that have restricted access to foreign financing, and a tight budget have hampered the Islamic Republic’s ability to secure significant investments in renewable energy. International banks have been reluctant to finance new energy projects in Iran […]

The Future of HTS with the Turkish Intervention

By Ahmad Abazeid

The Turkish intervention in Idlib has done well so far, aided by soft coordination with Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) as Turkish battalions advance into the province and neighboring western Aleppo. It marks a defining phase of the various transitions of Jabhat al-Nusra; the former al-Qaeda affiliate that forms the backbone of the HTS coalition. The […]