Category: Blogs

The Best Way to Improve Kyiv’s Military Odds Isn’t What You Think It Is

By Josh Cohen

As Ukraine continues to defend itself against Russian aggression in the east, there is one thing Kyiv can do to improve its odds for military success: reform its corruption-riddled defense sector. Transparency International’s most recent Government Defense Anti-Corruption Index gives Ukraine a D grade, indicating a high risk of corruption. It’s not difficult to see […]

Here’s One Way Ukraine Can Hold Russia Accountable Now

By Lauren Van Metre

Ukraine’s internally displaced persons (IDPs) have struggled. After having fled their houses due to military conflict and living with the uncertainty of whether they will ever regain that property, some have been poorly regarded in their new host communities. How the displaced were received often depended on where they came from. In general Ukrainians have […]

How to Identify the Kremlin Ruling Elite and its Agents

By Anders Åslund, Daniel Fried, Andrei Illarionov, and Andrei Piontkovsky

Criteria for the US Administration’s “Kremlin Report” On August 2, 2017, US President Donald J. Trump signed H.R. 3364, Countering America’s Adversaries Through Sanctions Act (CAATSA), into law. Section 241 of the Act calls on “the Secretary of the Treasury, in consultation with the Director of National Intelligence and the Secretary of State” to submit […]

Why Putin Cannot Risk Peace in Ukraine

By Peter Dickinson

Imagine the scene: a patch of overgrown wasteland on the outskirts of an east Ukrainian rust belt town. Emergency services personnel are methodically excavating a large plot of earth while a huddle of journalists and aid workers look on. The date is October 2019. Another mass grave has just been uncovered. This grim but all-too-conceivable […]

Along for the Ride?

By Frederick Kempe

Beyond power machinations and political maneuvering, events in Saudi Arabia signal a more important, historic shift is underway Riyadh – King Salman’s unprecedented purge of the Saudi royal family this week was an earthquake whose ongoing aftershocks will go far beyond the country’s borders—rippling out across the Islamic world from the custodian of Mecca. The […]

TRADE IN ACTION November 10

By Global Business & Economics Program

THIS WEEK IN TRADEThis week’s news has been dominated by President Trump’s trip to Asia. 

Did Saudi Crown Prince Just Endanger His Reform Agenda?

By Ashish Kumar Sen

Anti-corruption crackdown targets princes, wealthy businessmen Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman has unleashed an unprecedented crackdown on corruption that has, so far, resulted in the detention of more than two hundred people, including almost a dozen princes. The most significant targets are former crown prince, Mohammed bin Nayef, whose assets have been frozen; Prince […]

Here’s Why NATO’s Cyber Operations Center is a Big Deal

NATO’s newly announced cyber operations center will allow the Alliance to “respond more effectively” to cyber attacks by integrating cyber measures with conventional military capabilities, according to an Atlantic Council analyst. The Alliance has “always had significant conventional capabilities—land, air, and sea—now cyber can be included,” said Franklin D. Kramer, a distinguished fellow in the […]

Addressing Africa’s Rampant Unemployment

By Rachel Ansley

Africa’s rising levels of unemployment, which threaten further instability on a continent already susceptible to unrest and violent extremism, must be addressed by building capacity within the sectors of government able to instigate positive change, according to an Atlantic Council analyst. “The jobs issue has really concerned most companies, policy makers, stakeholders across the board […]