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MENASource

May 16, 2017

Strategic Lessons from the Ejection of ISIS from Sirte

By Dr Alia Brahimi and Jason Pack

Though accompanied by curiously little fanfare, the Obama administration’s most significant victory against the Islamic State (ISIS, ISIL, Daesh) came not in Iraq or Syria, but in Libya. After eight months of fighting, the coastal city of Sirte was ‘liberated’ in December 2016, by a coalition of forces allied to the UN-backed government in Tripoli.

Libya

SyriaSource

May 16, 2017

The Battle for Idlib

By Ahmad Abazeid

Northwestern Syria, consisting of Idlib city and the surrounding province, northern Hama and western Aleppo provinces, forms the biggest inhabited zone under the control of the Syrian opposition. It is also home to the biggest concentration of pro-Assad forces, including multi-national Shiite militias. Despite the presence of the Nusra Front and other jihadist groups in […]

Syria

New Atlanticist

May 16, 2017

Trump Shared Secrets with Russia. Here’s Why It Matters.

By Ashish Kumar Sen

The Washington Post reported on May 15 that US President Donald J. Trump disclosed highly classified information to two Russian officials—Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and Ambassador to the United States, Sergey Kislyak—in their White House meeting on May 10. “The information the president relayed had been provided by a US partner through an intelligence-sharing arrangement […]

Russia

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
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