Category: Blogs

Religious Tensions Underlying the GCC Rift

By H. A. Hellyer

The speed at which poor relations between Qatar and several Gulf Co-operation Council states escalated was astonishing. It was only a few weeks ago that the Qatari Emir had been invited to Riyadh as part of the grand “Arab-Islamic-American Summit.” But in the space of a few days, the GCC has faced the largest set […]

How Healthy Is Ukrainian Democracy?

By Diane Francis

Hours after Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko stripped Mikheil Saakashvili of his citizenship to silence him, the former president of Georgia was on CNN in New York City badmouthing the oligarchy. Poroshenko’s latest attack on the anti-corruption movement will backfire as Saakashvili becomes a megaphone to the world. He already is a media darling—and speaks five […]

TRADE IN ACTION July 27, 2017

THIS WEEK IN TRADEBritish Secretary of State for International Trade, Liam Fox, arrived in Washington this week to meet with members of the Trump administration and lay the groundwork for a US-UK post Brexit trade deal.

Trump’s Transgender Ban Raises Legal Questions

By Rachel Ansley

Is a tweet legally binding directive, asks former US Secretary of the Army Eric Fanning [Editor’s note: On July 27, Gen. Joseph Dunford, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, stated that military policy regarding who may serve will not change until US Secretary of Defense Jim Mattis issues new guidelines. “In the meantime, we […]

Thinking About Strategy: Part Two

By Frederic C. Hof

Part One of this series discussed why it is not easy to arrive at a coherent national security objective for Syria. The Trump administration inherited from its predecessor a policy catastrophe: the carcass of a state set upon by a ruling family whose homicidal excesses were protected by Iran (with which the Obama administration desperately […]

Three Issues the Energy Department’s Grid Study Must Address

By Branko Terzic

On July 14, an unofficial draft of the much-anticipated US Department of Energy (DOE) grid study, formally referred to as the Study Examining Electricity Markets and Reliability, was leaked, notably absent any recommendations. The report was requested in an April 14 memo by US Energy Secretary Rick Perry. A number of senators and representatives, based […]

Setting the Record Straight about Reform in Ukraine

By John E. Herbst

Evaluating reform in Ukraine is akin to taking a Rorschach test. For Kremlin propagandists and their witting or unwitting acolytes in the West, Ukraine is an irredeemably corrupt place. To young reformers in Ukraine and some of the country’s well-wishers, progress in transforming the country is agonizingly slow and always in danger of reversal. And […]

Ukraine Does It Again: Judicial Reform Focuses on Process, Not Results

By Anastasia Krasnosilska

Sergiy Koziakov, the head of the High Qualification Commission of Judges (HQCJ), calls the selection process for Ukraine’s new Supreme Court a model process but overlooks the actual results. Ukrainians, tired of assessing never-ending processes, are judging the competition by its results. The hours of interviews with the candidates, the fact that interviews were broadcasted […]

Libya’s Haftar Comes Out on Top

By Ashish Kumar Sen

Diplomatic efforts aimed at ending the chaos that has prevailed in Libya since 2011 have legitimized Khalifa Haftar, a former Libyan general whose forces have been accused of torture and executing prisoners, according to the Atlantic Council’s Karim Mezran. Haftar met Fayez-al-Serraj, the prime minister in Libya’s United Nations-backed government, in Paris on July 25. […]

Shots Fired in the Gulf

By Owen Daniels

Iran challenges US policy, this time in the maritime domain It seems hard for the United States to catch a break in the Persian Gulf these days. As its Arab partners continue to bicker among themselves, Iran remains a source of tension from across the water. A week after US President Donald J. Trump reluctantly […]