Category: Blogs

Waiting for Death in Aleppo

By Ashish Kumar Sen

Any hope of reviving a US- and Russian-backed ceasefire agreement in Syria may have been dashed by the air and ground offensives unleashed by the Syrian regime on the rebel-held parts of the western city of Aleppo. Backed by Russia, the Syrian military has launched a “ferocious” attack on Aleppo using bunker-busting bombs and outlawed […]

Refugee Victims’ Families Still Search for Answers and Solutions

By Jiwan Soz

In August of last year, 71 refugees (59 men, 8 women, and 4 children) from Syria, Iraq, and Afghanistan traveling from Hungary to Austria were found dead in a truck on the side of the road. The incident was covered briefly in the news and quickly forgotten, but for the victims’ families, who are still […]

Yemen Heightens Tension in Saudi’s International Relations

By Tarek Radwan

The relationship between the United States and Saudi Arabia has witnessed considerable strain over the past few years, but increasing reports documenting poor targeting practices and disproportionate collateral damage in the Saudi-led coalition’s conduct of the war in Yemen has sparked an unprecedented outcry in the US Congress.

Vilify and Amplify: How the Kremlin’s Disinformation Machine is Attacking the MH17 Probe

By Ben Nimmo

The Kremlin has turned its disinformation machine on those who are investigating the shoot-down of Malaysia Airlines Flight MH17 over Ukraine in July of 2014, using state employees, state-run media, and the state-run, though unacknowledged, “troll factory” of fake Internet accounts. The primary goal of the media attacks has been to undermine the credibility of […]

Taking Stock of Iran’s Missile Program

Iran’s missile program should “rank among the highest priorities of US national security concerns,” said Zalmay Khalilzad, a former US ambassador who serves on the Atlantic Council’s board of directors. In a parade on September 21, Iran’s “military displayed long-range missiles, tanks, and the Russian-supplied S-300 surface-to-air defense system,” according to a Reuters report. “It’s […]

The Presidential Debates: Here’s What We Would Like to Know

By Ashish Kumar Sen

Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton and her Republican challenger, Donald Trump, took part in their first presidential debate in New York on September 26. The debate was the first of three. Here are some questions the Atlantic Council’s experts would like to pose to the candidates.

The Audacity of Nadiya Savchenko

By Melinda Haring

“Russian propaganda made the mistake of using me as an example, and I just became too expensive for them. I am a person who never gives up,” said Nadiya Savchenko, a former prisoner of war, current member of Ukraine’s parliament, and one of the country’s most popular politicians, on September 22. Three days earlier, the […]

Can Vladimir Putin Make the Twenty-First Century a Russian Century?

By Anders Åslund

The role Russia is playing in Donald Trump’s election campaign is quite extraordinary. The candidate’s son has acknowledged that Trump’s companies have received large Russian investments. His former campaign manager Paul Manafort worked for Ukraine’s disgraced pro-Moscow authoritarian president for almost a decade. Two of his foreign policy advisers, Lt. Gen. Michael Flynn and Carter […]

Arctic Science Moves to Center Stage

By Lester L. Lyles, Sherri Goodman, and Robert E. Hunter

Nothing that happens in the Arctic stays in the Arctic. As a consequence of global warming, this is not a play on words but a truism. Climate change can no longer be denied; it must be addressed. Global warming is opening up an entire region, once silent and perpetually frozen, to commerce, transport, mining, and […]

Europe’s Misguided Plan for a New Joint Military Headquarters

By Jorge Benitez, National Interest

The recent campaign by Juncker, Mogherini, and the governments of France and Germany for an EU military headquarters is a regrettable step in the wrong direction.