Category: Blogs

Memo to the West: Reject Russia’s Illegal Duma Elections

By Hanna Hopko

On September 18, Russians went to the polls to elect 450 members of parliament. The big news is that Vladimir Putin’s United Russia performed surprisingly well, taking approximately 54 percent of the vote. But the underreported news is this: Russians elected four MPs from occupied Ukrainian Crimea, which is illegal and grossly violates international law. […]

Competing Politics and Claims of Sunnism

By H.A. Hellyer

This Hajj season, the modern religious culture wars among Muslims were prominent again, and are set to continue. With the Syrian quagmire deepening, such conflicts have deep consequences; one could imagine a way to traverse through that set of profoundly sectarian questions – but the answers are acutely political. Without that political settlement – which […]

Germany: New EU Military HQ Should be Created in Brussels

By Janosch Delcker, POLITICO Europe

Germany would support Brussels as a headquarters of an EU army if and when the bloc’s military force is formed, according to media reports Sunday.

Ten Things the New US Ambassador to Ukraine Should Do

By Melinda Haring and Kateryna Smagliy

On August 18, Marie L. Yovanovitch became the US Ambassador to Ukraine. Yovanovitch is not new to the country; she served as the deputy chief of mission in Kyiv—the second in command—under Ambassadors Carlos Pascual and John Herbst months before the Orange Revolution erupted. She spent the bulk of her career working in the Eurasia […]

Jump Starting Tunisia’s Economic Growth

By Ouiem Chettaoui and Mohamed Malouche

Youssef Chahed, the Arab world’s youngest head of government and a 41-year-old PhD holder in agricultural economics, led the decentralisation program as Tunisia’s Minister of Local Affairs under the government of his predecessor, Habib Essid. This experience arms him in his new role as prime minister with an understanding of Tunisia’s deep bureaucracy and uneven […]

New NATO Forces to Be Deployed in Baltic Region by May 2017

By Julian E. Barnes, Wall Street Journal

The new allied deterrent force for the Baltic region will be in place by May 2017, with some units arriving earlier, the head of the Western alliance’s military committee said Sunday….

Brazil After Dilma: A Reason for Optimism

By Andrea Murta

A year ago, Dilma Rousseff, the former president of Brazil, and Eduardo Cunha, the former speaker of the House of Representatives, were involved in a public duel that threatened the pillars of the republic. Today, both have lost their jobs. That doesn’t mean that a turbulent chapter in Brazil’s history has ended. Now begins an […]

Anti-Terror Law Casts Shadow Over Russian Election

A combination of suspicions of Russian government involvement in the theft of Democratic National Committee e-mails and new anti-terrorism measures recently signed into law by Russian President Vladimir Putin bode ill for Duma elections scheduled for September 18. The DNC hack, while not confirmed as an attempt by the Kremlin to manipulate the results of […]

Israel’s First Ambassador to NATO Presents His Credentials

By Times of Israel

Israel’s first ambassador to the 28-member NATO military alliance on Friday presented his credentials to its secretary-general Jens Stoltenberg as the Jewish state opened a permanent mission at the organization’s Brussels headquarters.