Category: Blogs

Negotiating Peace in Libya

In order to end the civil war in Libya, those competing for power must meet, negotiate, and establish a path to free and fair elections early in 2018, Jonathan Winer, a former US State Department special envoy for Libya, said at the Atlantic Council on March 9. The three factions claiming sole legitimacy and authority […]

TRADE in ACTION – March 10, 2017

By Global Business & Economics Program

As we commemorate International Women’s Day (Check out the story behind the “fearless girl” on Wall Street), EU Trade Commissioner Cecilia Malmström visits Singapore, Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin met with José Antonio Meade, Mexico’s Secretary of Finance and Public Credit, to talk economic ties between the two neighbors. On Tuesday, Trump administration officials levied a record-breaking $1.19 Billion fine […]

Saudi’s Purist Salafi Drive into Southeast Asia

By H.A. Hellyer

Saudi Arabia’s King Salman bin Abdulaziz al-Saud is currently engaged in a tour in Asia, which will last about a month. Five out of six of the countries he is visiting are Muslim majority nations (the sixth, China, has a significant and ancient Muslim minority population). While there is undoubtedly a financial and economic aspect […]

US Strikes on Al-Qaeda in Yemen Not Separate from Ongoing Civil War

By Jillian Schwedler

The United States has launched more than 40 air strikes since March 3 on suspected al-Qaeda sites in Yemen, more air strikes than all of 2016. The Trump administration hopes to boast of progress in stopping the advance of al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP), which has seen significant gains since the outbreak of Yemen’s […]

WikiLeaks’ CIA Document Dump: More Questions than Answers

By Asvatha Babu

On March 7, WikiLeaks released a large collection of documents from the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) with a catalogue of technical tools in the agency’s arsenal and the techniques it uses to get around privacy protections. This release has been compared to the ones facilitated by Edward Snowden and Chelsea Manning. While it is comparable […]

Libya’s Profitable Business of War

By Mohamed Fouad and Emadeddin Muntasser

The collapse of the Libyan government under Gaddafi, exposed a lack of transparency and accountability that were part of Gaddafi’s oppressive and corrupt economy. The post-revolution political bickering weakened Libyan institutions further and left no clear system of governance or way of managing competition over Libyan oil, financial, and security sectors.

Is Reunification Within Reach in Cyprus?

By Ashish Kumar Sen

Greek and Turkish Cypriot leaders, as well as the leadership in Athens and Ankara, are committed to ensuring the success of a protracted process aimed at the reunification of Cyprus, a top United Nations (UN) official said at the Atlantic Council on March 8. “I am more and more convinced that all parties would like […]

The Manbij Saga: An End-Game in Syria?

By Aaron Stein

The trajectory of the Syrian conflict has changed considerably in recent weeks. The United States, working by, with, and through local ground forces is poised to begin the assault on Raqqa, the Islamic State’s most important urban area in Syria.