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New Atlanticist

Aug 3, 2016

TPP Ratification Deemed as Inflection Point for US Role in Southeast Asia

By Mitch Hulse

A failure to ratify the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP)—a proposed free trade agreement between twelve countries—by the United States Congress would seriously weaken both US economic and security interests in Southeast Asia, according to the Atlantic Council’s Robert Manning. “A failure to ratify TPP would mark an inflection point for the US role in Asia,” said […]

China Economy & Business

UkraineAlert

Aug 3, 2016

Saakashvili in Odesa: When Making Waves is Not Enough

By Kateryna Smagliy

A year after my Atlantic Council blog post on Mikheil Saakashvili’s first fifty days as Odesa oblast governor, it’s time to reexamine his record. The results are mixed: his brisk and spectacular first wins soon hit the skids. The Presidential Administration’s promised support evaporated in late 2015 and Saakashvili’s many initiatives were skillfully torpedoed at […]

The Caucasus Ukraine

UkraineAlert

Aug 3, 2016

Trump’s Dangerous Bromance with Putin Is a National Security Threat

By Stephen Blank

Russia’s recent hacking attacks on the Clinton campaign, the Democratic National Committee, and the party’s fundraising committee for candidates for the US House of Representatives reflect Moscow’s view that it is in a state of political war with the United States, if not the West. Efforts to take down Western political institutions are hardly a […]

Russia Ukraine

UkraineAlert

Aug 3, 2016

How the International Media Enables Russian Aggression in Ukraine

By Peter Dickinson

If anyone had attempted to report on “German-backed forces” in Nazi-occupied France or “pro-Soviet forces” during the Prague Spring, they would have been dismissed as either hopelessly misinformed or deeply disingenuous. While local collaborators and convenient euphemisms were plentiful in both instances, there was never any doubt as to who was really in control. This […]

Russia Ukraine

SyriaSource

Aug 3, 2016

How Syrians View Nusra’s Split from al-Qaeda

By Haid Haid

On July 28, the Nusra Front, one of the most powerful jihadist groups in Syria, announced its split from al-Qaeda and the formation of a new group named Jabhat Fateh al-Sham (Front for the Conquest of the Levant). In a short video, the group stated that it aims to establish God’s religion and Sharia law […]

Syria

AfricaSource

Aug 2, 2016

A Primer on South Africa’s Municipal Elections: What’s at Stake and Why it Matters

By Chloë McGrath

On August 3, South Africans go to the polls to vote in the country’s fifth local government elections since the end of apartheid. Although municipal elections seldom draw much international attention, this year the stakes are particularly high in South Africa. Since it championed the struggle to liberate the country from apartheid under the leadership […]

Africa South Africa
Donald Trump, Feb. 10, 2011 (photo: Gage Skidmore)

NATOSource

Aug 2, 2016

In 2014, Trump Argued Ukraine Would Fall Quickly to Russia

By Donald Trump, C-SPAN

Excerpt from speech by Donald Trump at CPAC, March 6, 2014.

Russia Ukraine

New Atlanticist

Aug 2, 2016

New Report Shows Global Fiscal Transparency Lagging Behind US Standards

By Nathaniel Rome

Developing countries are failing to meet fiscal transparency standards as established by the United States, according to a report released on July 28. The US State Department’s Fiscal Transparency Report—released annually since 2012—details which countries meet the State Department’s minimum fiscal transparency requirements, which countries are making progress towards it, and which countries are making […]

Economy & Business United States and Canada
Donald Trump, March 6, 2014 (photo: Gage Skidmore)

NATOSource

Aug 2, 2016

Trump Believes NATO Allies Owe Money to the US

By Donald Trump and Chuck Todd, NBC News

Excerpt from Donald Trump interview with Chuck Todd on Meet the Press, July 24, 2016.

NATO Security & Defense
Donald Trump, Feb. 10, 2011 (photo: Gage Skidmore)

NATOSource

Aug 2, 2016

Trump Believes Crimea Belongs in Russia

By Maggie Haberman and David Sanger, New York Times

In an interview with George Stephanopoulos on the ABC News program “This Week,” Mr. Trump said that if he were president, President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia would not send his forces into Ukraine….

Russia Ukraine