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UkraineAlert

Apr 12, 2017

Secretary Tillerson, Here’s Why Taxpayers Should Care about Ukraine

By Melinda Haring

At the Group of Seven meeting in Lucca, Italy, on April 11, US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson asked the other foreign ministers, “Why should US taxpayers be interested in Ukraine?” US Senator Rob Portman and several other panelists answered that question at an April 5 conference on Ukraine in Washington, DC, sponsored by the […]

Russia Ukraine

SyriaSource

Apr 12, 2017

Hezbollah’s Balancing Act Between Syria and Lebanon

By Ali Alfoneh

Lebanese Hezbollah was founded on the doctrine of resistance against Israel. Since at least 2012 however, the Shia militia has fought in neighboring Syria on Iran’s behalf to secure the survival of Bashar al-Assad’s regime and thereby maintain its own overland corridor to Tehran. Though it has succeeded, along with Iran and Russia, in stabilizing […]

Syria

MENASource

Apr 12, 2017

Egypt Church Bombings Leave Copts Insecure in the Face of ISIS Threats

By Jihad Abaza

“My father and I still have headaches and a buzzing sound that has been in our ears since after the attack,” said the 27-year-old Ashraf Ramzy, a survivor of the explosion on Tanta’s St. George’s Cathedral that killed twenty-nine worshippers on Palm Sunday.  

North Africa

MENASource

Apr 12, 2017

Iraq’s Fall Elections Can Help Stabilize the Country—if Steps are Taken Now

By Husayn Hosoda

For the first time since the outbreak of the Islamic State (ISIS, ISIL, Daesh) conflict, Iraqis across the country will be able to make their voices heard at the ballot box in provincial elections in the fall of 2017. Voters will elect provincial councils in every governorate, and especially in places affected by the Islamic […]

Iraq

New Atlanticist

Apr 12, 2017

Putin’s Façade

By Jacob Sharpe

At first glance, Russian actions since the 2014 annexation of Crimea appear to signal a resurgence of power in the international system. Increases in military spending, forays into the Middle East, and a foreign policy punching above its weight have all served to remind the world that Russia maintains influence on the global stage. However, […]

Russia
https://twitter.com/HMASarahPrice/status/851775758385250304

NATOSource

Apr 11, 2017

NATO and EU Members Join Finland’s New Center for Countering Hybrid Threats

By By Reuters, European External Action Service, and NATO

From Jussi Rosendahl and Tuomas Forsell, Reuters:  Several European Union and NATO member nations on Tuesday signed up to establish a center in Helsinki to research how to tackle tactics such as cyberattacks, propaganda and disinformation….

European Union International Organizations

New Atlanticist

Apr 11, 2017

Trump Must Stand Up for LGBT+ Rights

By Arego Mitchell

Over the course of the 2016 election, Donald Trump routinely flip-flopped on issues of equality for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and trans* Americans. After first saying he would consider appointing Supreme Court justices who would overturn nationwide marriage equality, he soon made it a recurring talking point to highlight how he would be “better for the […]

Russia

SyriaSource

Apr 11, 2017

Syria: Get Civilians Off the Bullseye

By Frederic C. Hof

Before sunup in Syria on April 7, 2017, fifty-nine sea-launched cruise missiles were impacting on a Syrian airbase from which aircraft loaded with chemical munitions had been launched three days earlier. The alacrity of President Trump’s kinetic response to Bashar al-Assad’s chemical assault on civilians contrasted sharply with the paralysis of his predecessor. 

Syria

SyriaSource

Apr 11, 2017

Victims of the Syrian War to President Trump: “Stop the War”

By Saleem al-Omar

After the US missile strike, many members of the Syrian opposition conveyed their support for the strike and their hope that the United States continues with more. Their statements send a clear message to President Bashar al-Assad that the most important thing to them is ending the war and their suffering.

Syria

UkraineAlert

Apr 11, 2017

Is Belarus coming unglued too?

By Francišak Viačorka

The Russian crackdown showed that the country’s internal problems are getting sharper, and the Kremlin will likely not have enough resources to continue its financial support of Lukashenka’s regime.

Belarus Russia
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