Category: Blogs

Spain’s Crisis Sharpens

By Ashish Kumar Sen

The crisis in Spain dramatically escalated on October 27 with Catalonia’s regional parliament declaring independence and the Spanish Senate responding with the approval of unprecedented powers for Madrid to seize control of the autonomous region. Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy called an emergency cabinet meeting and could fire Catalan President Carles Puigdemont and his ministers—he […]

Africa Rising? Kenya Extends the Continent’s Losing Streak

By Bronwyn Bruton

For decades, Africa was portrayed by the international community as the hopeless continent. Then, as African countries staged a takeover of the world’s fastest-growing economies list in the early 2000s, the narrative shifted to “Africa rising.” It was eventually noticed that not all of Africa was rising. In fact, if anything, Africa was splitting in […]

Trump Administration’s Significant Action on Russia Sanctions

By Daniel Fried and Brian O'Toole

The Trump administration on October 26 issued a robust list of Russian defense and intelligence sector entities plus public guidance, which together seem to indicate its intention to robustly implement the new Russia sanctions. Although the list does not itself impose sanctions, it is a significant action, which, if implemented carefully, could impose new restrictions […]

It’s Complicated: The Fate of Idlib with HTS and Russia

By Saleem al-Omar

In late September, Russian jets bombed the city of Haram in Idlib province for the first time since the outbreak of the Syrian revolution in 2011. Not a single village or town in western Idlib was spared by Russian bombing this time. The air strikes hit  Haram, Idlib city, Jisr al-Shughur, Khan Sheikhun and towns […]

Tunisia’s democracy: Between economic reform and public engagement

By Elissa Miller and Andrea Taylor

Tunisia’s transition to democracy is in a difficult spot: the public is frustrated with the political and economic situation, but the political elite are shying away from needed public engagement. Two recent events stand out: the 2018 draft budget law put forward this month and the recent postponement of the local elections to next year. […]

The High Stakes of Ukraine’s Reform Struggle

By Stephen Blank

It is easy to despair about Ukraine ever reforming and becoming a normal European state. Nevertheless, such despair would be a mistaken response to the flood of stories depicting obstructions to reform—even if they are true. While anyone who has dealt with Ukraine in the last twenty-five years has experienced the frustrations of trying to […]

Ukraine Is Really Changing: A Business Can Register in Twenty Minutes or Less

By Victor Liakh and Olexiy Zelivyanskyi

It now takes only twenty minutes to register a business in Ukraine. Since March 2017, entrepreneurs have been able to open and close businesses through a new online portal that the Ministry of Justice and the State Agency for E-Governance are behind. The new service proved popular: in its first six months, it was used […]

NATO Faces Serious Shortcomings in Command Revamp

By Matthias Gebauer, Konstantin von Hammerstein, Peter Müller, and Christoph Schult, Spiegel

Since the end of June, a report marked “NATO SECRET” has been circulating in headquarters in Brussels that unsparingly lists the alliance’s weaknesses.

The Xi Dynasty?

China’s president re-elected with no clear successor in sight Xi Jinping’s re-election to a second five-year term as China’s president, without a clear successor, cements his grip on the Asian nation and raises questions about the future of economic, political, and social reforms in the country, according to Atlantic Council analysts.   Xi was re-elected […]

Why Intelligence Matters

By Ashish Kumar Sen

Michael Morell was with George W. Bush the day terrorists rammed hijacked commercial airliners into the twin towers of the World Trade Center and the Pentagon on September 11, 2001. Almost ten years later, Morell was in the White House Situation Room with Barack Obama when US Special Operations forces killed al Qaeda leader Osama […]