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MENASource

Feb 9, 2017

How Trump’s Executive Order Played Out in Cairo

By Jihad Abaza and Muhammed Al Kashef

US President Donald Trump signed an Executive Order (EO) on January 27, barring refugees and immigrants from seven Muslim-majority countries—Syria, Libya, Somalia, Yemen, Sudan, Iran, and Iraq—from entering the United States for at least 90 days, leaving refugee and immigrant communities in limbo. Trump’s Executive Order also suspends the US refugee resettlement program for 120 […]

North Africa Syria

MENASource

Feb 9, 2017

Strategic Thinking About the Middle East

By Stephen Blank

In its first weeks, the Trump Administration openly castigated terrorism as America’s primary threat and underlined it anti-Iranian orientation. It also announced its intention to relocate the US embassy to Jerusalem and its readiness for a partnership with Russia against the Islamic State (ISIS or ISIL). Unfortunately, taken together these moves are mutually contradictory. If […]

Iran Middle East

UkraineAlert

Feb 9, 2017

What’s Behind the Flare-Up in Eastern Ukraine?

By Volodymyr Yermolenko and Tetyana Ogarkova

On January 29, the fighting in Avdiivka, a town in eastern Ukraine within Ukrainian government-controlled territory, seriously escalated. The fighting began close to the demarcation line and six kilometers north of Donetsk (see map), and continued until at least February 3. According to official reports, thirteen Ukrainian soldiers were killed and 93 were wounded since […]

Russia Ukraine
https://www.flickr.com/photos/number10gov/32610932855/

NATOSource

Feb 8, 2017

Trump and UK Prime Minister United in Their Support for NATO

By Donald Trump and Theresa May, Office of the Prime Minister

President Donald Trump: The special relationship between our 2 countries has been one of the great forces in history for justice and for peace

NATO Security & Defense

New Atlanticist

Feb 8, 2017

IMF Managing Director, Christine Lagarde, Has Some Advice on Addressing the Challenge of Populism

By Ashish Kumar Sen

The challenge posed by populism, which is fueled by an anti-globalization sentiment, can best be addressed by rallying nations around common goals of financial stability, sustainable and inclusive growth, and job creation, Christine Lagarde, managing director of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), said at the Atlantic Council on February 8. “While there can be criticism […]

UkraineAlert

Feb 8, 2017

Six Outrageous Lies Russian Disinformation Peddled about Europe in 2016

By Jakub Janda and Ilyas Sharibzhanov

Russian disinformation is working overtime to undermine European democracies. Much of the disinformation in 2016 came from original Russian sources that presented poorly digested information designed to provoke and to push an agenda that the Kremlin finds favorable. It aims to disconnect ordinary European citizens from supranational EU institutions and national politicians. With key elections in […]

Germany Northern Europe

UkraineAlert

Feb 8, 2017

Women Held Up Half the Sky to Defend Ukraine

By Diane Francis

In China, women are poetically referred to as “half the sky.” During the most dangerous hours of Ukraine’s Revolution of Dignity, when tanks and water cannons and snipers were trained on protesters, roughly half of the Ukrainian activists were females of all ages. Now, the new film “Women of Maidan” beautifully portrays the critical role […]

Russia Ukraine

SyriaSource

Feb 8, 2017

Resilience through Sport for Refugee Girls in Jordan

By Dominique Spencer

We know that conflict exacerbates existing gender inequalities within a society and disproportionately affects women and girls, many of whom experience abuses such as rape, domestic violence, early marriage, lack of educational opportunities, and harassment.

Syria

UkraineAlert

Feb 8, 2017

Ukraine’s Next Big Gas Deadline Is Two Years Away: Will It Be Ready?

By Oksana Bedratenko

The European gas market has become more integrated and more competitive since the 2009 gas crisis when Russia turned off the tap for nearly a week and Europe practically froze. Europe has increased the resilience of its gas system by building interconnections between pipelines, expanding its storage network, and diversifying gas supplies by creating infrastructure […]

Russia Ukraine
President Donald Trump, Jan. 27, 2017

NATOSource

Feb 8, 2017

Report: Trump Told Hollande That France can Continue Protecting NATO

By Tara Palmeri, Kenneth Vogel, Josh Dawsey, and Nahal Toosi, POLITICO

President Donald Trump spent much of a recent phone call with French President Francois Hollande veering off into rants about the U.S. getting shaken down by other countries, according to a senior official

France NATO