Category: Blogs

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 […]

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 […]

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 […]

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 […]

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 […]

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 […]

Discussion with Aaron Stein on the Decision to Arm the YPG

By SyriaSource

Listen to Rafik Hariri Center’s Senior Resident Fellow on Turkey, Aaron Stein‘s commentary on the decision by the Trump administration to arm the YPG and how it could affect US-Turkey relations and the military campaign in Syria. 

Trump: NATO Receiving Billions More from Allies, ‘All Because of Me’

By Donald Trump, Time

You know we’ve gotten billions of dollars more in NATO that we’re getting. All because of me.

TRADE in ACTION – May 12, 2017

By Global Business & Economics Program

This week in TradeinAction: Emmanuel Macron wins French presidency, routing Le Pen, Robert Lighthizer won Senate approval Thursday to become President Donald Trump’s top trade envoy, the G7 Finance Meeting starts today and European Trade Ministers meet in Council meeting to discuss Anti Dumping and Ukraine.

For the United States, ISIS Trumps Turkey

US President Donald J. Trump’s decision to arm Kurdish rebels in Syria, despite objections from Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, indicates that the new administration’s Turkey policy is secondary to winning the war against the Islamic State of Iraq and al-Sham (ISIS), according to an Atlantic Council analyst. This decision “would suggest to me that […]