Category: Blogs

Long Read: Game of Shrines and the Road to Darayya

By Annia Ciezadlo

As the Syrian government and its allied militias evacuate mostly Sunni populations from rebel-held areas, sectarian narratives are filling the vacuum.

Factbox: Caesar Syria Civilian Protection Act

By Brittany Keroack

On July 12, 2016, Representative Eliot Engel of New York introduced H.R. 5732, the Caesar Syria Civilian Protection Act of 2016. This bill uses sanctions to put pressure on the Syrian government and anyone supporting it to stop committing war crimes and crimes against humanity. The Syrian government, empowered with support from Iran and Russia, […]

Juncker Calls For a Europe that Defends

By Jean-Claude Juncker, European Commission

A Europe that protects is a Europe that defends – at home and abroad.

Juncker: EU is in an Existential Crisis

By Jean-Claude Juncker, European Commission

Our European Union is, at least in part, in an existential crisis.

Venezuelan Opposition Looks for Game Changer in Bid to Oust Maduro

Venezuelans currently face “the challenge of beating by democratic means a regime that is not democratic,” said Julio Andrés Borges Junyent, the majority leader of Venezuela’s National Assembly and part of the opposition that is challenging the leadership of President Nicolás Maduro. On September 1, thousands of Venezuelans participated in a protest organized by the […]

The Myth of a European Army

By Leo Michel

Are European Union member states about to launch a serious effort to create a “European army?” EU Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker, reacting to Russia’s military intervention in Ukraine, famously broached the idea in March 2015.

What’s the Alternative?

By Frederic C. Hof

One prays that Secretary of State John Kerry’s latest foray into the tangled web of Syrian diplomacy will bear the most precious fruit of all: the sustained and even permanent protection of Syrian civilians from the rapacious assaults of the Assad regime (fully supported by Iran), Russia, the Islamic State (ISIL, ISIS, Daesh), and others. […]

In Syria, the United States Must Navigate a Complex Intelligence-Sharing Landscape With Russia

The Obama administration will carefully consider what intelligence it shares with Russia pertaining to enemy targets in Syria in part due to the belief that the Russians do not apply the same degree of care to avoiding civilian casualties, a senior US official said at the Atlantic Council on September 13. Noting that the US […]

Fighters from the Caucasus Join ISIS to Fight Russia

By Feras Hanoush

People from the countries of the Caucasus, a region situated between Europe and Asia that broke politically from the Soviet Union in the late twentieth century, are an important resource for the Islamic State (ISIS).

TTIP&TRADE in Action – September 14, 2016

By Global Business & Economics Program

President of the EU Commission Jean-Claude Juncker addresses the European Parliament in Strasbourg, France on September 14 for his 2016 State of the European Union address.