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New Atlanticist

Aug 9, 2017

IRGC’s Gulf Antics: A Strategy to Undermine the Nuclear Deal?

By Owen Daniels

Iran’s recent aggression toward US forces in the Persian Gulf may be part of a strategy among the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) and other hardline elements to goad Trump into a rash decision on the nuclear deal that earns them a political payday.   On August 8, Iran flew a drone within one hundred […]

Iran

SyriaSource

Aug 9, 2017

Hezbollah’s Military and Political Victory in Arsal

By Mona Alami

Hezbollah is turning its successful military operation in Arsal in East Lebanon against Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham (HTS, a coalition of Islamist militias including the former al-Qaeda affiliate the Nusra Front) into a major victory for the Lebanese militant group. The campaign, which ended with the transfer of some eight thousand Syrian refugees and a few […]

UkraineAlert

Aug 9, 2017

Stanford program turns theory into practice in Ukraine and beyond

By Melinda Haring

Both Liakh and Sotnyk return to Kyiv with new ideas and a powerful network of experts and activists they can consult in the long struggle to transform Ukraine.

Civil Society Education

New Atlanticist

Aug 8, 2017

NATO Needs an Offensive Cybersecurity Policy

By Barbara Roggeveen

Modern-day warfare is as much about cyberattacks and the protection of communication and information systems as it is about kinetic military action. In 2016, NATO’s institutional networks experienced on average 500 cyberattacks a month—an increase of roughly 60 percent from the year before. Other recent, high-profile, transnational cyberattacks, such as the WannaCry ransomware attack and […]

Cybersecurity NATO

UkraineAlert

Aug 8, 2017

Why the Case Against Arming Ukraine Doesn’t Hold Water

By John E. Herbst

Armchair strategists have come out of the woodwork to explain why it would be a mistake for the United States to arm Ukraine. They argue that Russia is stronger than Ukraine and can outmatch any escalation, Moscow has a greater interest in Ukraine than Washington, and Ukraine’s government is corrupt and undeserving of such support. […]

Russia Ukraine

New Atlanticist

Aug 8, 2017

Democracy in Doubt

By Elizabeth Ball

Beijing’s disregard for twenty-year-old agreement raises questions about Hong Kong’s future Beijing’s disregard for an agreement that ensures Hong Kong’s basic freedoms raises doubts about the future of democracy in this Special Administrative Region of the People’s Republic of China. On July 1, 1997, the United Kingdom (UK) handed Hong Kong back to China, ending […]

China

UkraineAlert

Aug 8, 2017

Putin Still in Denial over the Loss of Ukraine

By Peter Dickinson

When Kremlin proxies in eastern Ukraine declared the foundation of “Malorossia” in mid-July, most people laughed. This bizarre attempt to replace Ukraine with a “Little Russian” vassal state was seen as one more indication of how hopelessly out of touch Russian policymakers are with Ukrainian public opinion. However, at least one man in Moscow failed […]

Russia Ukraine

UkraineAlert

Aug 8, 2017

Five Ways We Have Changed the World’s Perception of Ukraine

By Nataliya Popovych

Ukraine has continued to face many challenges but something has changed in the last year. The country started scoring targeted and powerful public relations goals abroad. At Ukraine Crisis Media Center, where I am a co-founder, we have actively sought to change how Ukraine is perceived. Here’s five creative ways that we’ve tried to change […]

Ukraine

SyriaSource

Aug 7, 2017

Thinking About Strategy: Part Four

By Frederic C. Hof

This fourth and final part of a series on American objectives and strategy for Syria aims to suggest parameters of a strategy to achieve the following objective (from part three): We seek a Syria that poses no national security threats to the United States, its allies, and its friends; a country pacified enough to permit […]

Syria

Trade in Action

Aug 3, 2017

TRADE in ACTION – August 3, 2017

By Global Business & Economics Program

THIS WEEK IN TRADE A number of high profile trade deal reports were released this week.

Economy & Business Trade and tariffs