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IranSource

May 16, 2017

Rouhani Plays Reformist to Defeat Hardliner Raisi

By Shahir Shahidsaless

In a fight for his political life in May 19 elections, Iranian President Hassan Rouhani is donning a reformist mantle in an effort to attract the votes of disillusioned youth and to defeat conservatives who have coalesced around a single candidate.

https://www.flickr.com/photos/nato/33967233026/in/album-72157679289980793/

NATOSource

May 15, 2017

NATO Frantically Tries to Trump-Proof President’s First Visit

By Robbie Gramer, Foreign Policy

NATO is scrambling to tailor its upcoming meeting to avoid taxing President Donald Trump’s notoriously short attention span.

Germany NATO

UkraineAlert

May 15, 2017

Why Ukraine’s Worst Enemy Is Not Vladimir Putin

By Peter Dickinson

Identifying Ukraine’s enemies has become a popular pastime. Unsurprisingly, Russia was the first one to be listed after the Kremlin dropped any pretense of Slavic fraternity and invaded the country. Corruption was next. Whereas Russia was the enemy at the gates, corruption was the enemy within. An eclectic collection of lesser enemies has since joined […]

Russia Ukraine

MENASource

May 15, 2017

Turkey’s Post-Referendum Economy

By Merve Hande Akmehmet

Throughout the referendum campaign, President Erdogan and the Justice and Development Party (AKP) promised to move the economy back to the top of their agenda. This was easier said than done, as the field dynamics changed drastically from 2002. During the AKP’s first twelve years of governing, Turkey was a strong EU candidate, with better […]

Turkey

New Atlanticist

May 15, 2017

A Simple Security Update Could Have Prevented Ransomware Attack

By Ashish Kumar Sen

A cyberattack that has crippled 200,000 computers in more than 150 countries could have been prevented had the victims conducted a simple security update. “One of the lessons learned here is that people just do not patch their systems,” said Dmitri Alperovitch, a nonresident senior fellow in the Cyber Statecraft Initiative of the Atlantic Council’s […]

Cybersecurity Security & Defense

UkraineAlert

May 15, 2017

Why the Internet May Save Us After All

By Nina Jankowicz

New Activists in Belarus and Russia Take to the Streets after Videos and Memes Spread On a single weekend in March, Russia and Belarus witnessed their largest protests in five years. Both countries have seen major street demonstrations in the past, but these were different and catalyzed by social media. The widespread use of online […]

Belarus Russia

UkraineAlert

May 15, 2017

Ukrainian Jews Find Safe Haven, Challenges in Israel

By Larry Luxner

Every Sunday and Tuesday evening, Alena Sapiro, 26, takes the hour-long bus ride from her home in Lod to attend Ramit Avidan’s intermediate Hebrew classes at Ulpan Gordon, a Tel Aviv school for new immigrants run by the Israeli Ministry of Absorption. Sapiro, who helps develop mobile apps for a local software company, came on […]

Israel Ukraine

SyriaSource

May 15, 2017

Ankara and Washington: Can “Yes” on Syria Be Achieved?

By Frederic C. Hof

The visit of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan to the White House offers an opportunity for two NATO allies to get to “Yes” on Syria. It is important that they do so. Yet as matters now stand it is doubtful that they will, and each side bears responsibility for a bilateral split that is entirely […]

Syria

UkraineAlert

May 15, 2017

Ukraine PM Groisman Visits Israel, Marking Improvement in Delicate Bilateral Relations

By Larry Luxner

The May 14 arrival of Ukrainian Prime Minister Volodymyr Groisman to Israel signals a rapprochement of ties that suffered a temporary blow last December, when Ukraine—along with thirteen other countries—voted to support a UN Security Council resolution condemning Israeli settlements in the West Bank. Groisman is the first Jewish prime minister in Ukrainian history. He […]

Israel Ukraine

SyriaSource

May 15, 2017

Raqqa and the Oil Economy of ISIS

By Rachel Kreisman

Since establishing its headquarters in Raqqa, Syria, in 2011, the Islamic State (ISIS, ISIL, Daesh) has introduced its own brand of governance, infrastructure, and business. Now entering its sixth year in Raqqa, ISIS has largely solidified its primary means of acquiring income, the majority of which include criminal and illicit activities. Like terrorist groups before […]

Syria