Category: Blogs

Content

AfricaSource

Jun 8, 2016

Sudan Still a “State Sponsor of Terrorism”?

By J. Peter Pham

The Secretary of State is required by law to provide the Congress with an annual “full and complete report” on terrorism. The Country Reports on Terrorism covering 2015 was released last week and makes for some interesting reading, its conclusions eliciting reactions ranging from alarm to bemusement to, quite simply, befuddlement. An example of the latter […]

Sudan

SyriaSource

Jun 8, 2016

To Move the Unmovable

By Frederic C. Hof

Addressing parliament on June 7, 2016, Syrian President Bashar al-Assad rejected power-sharing by calling for a national unity government, instead of what the permanent five members of the UN Security Council demanded in 2012: a transitional governing body arrived at via the mutual consent of regime and opposition negotiators. As the Syrian constitution accords all […]

Syria

New Atlanticist

Jun 7, 2016

What the UN Gets Wrong About Rights in Eritrea

By Ashish Kumar Sen

A finding of crimes against humanity would be indefensible, said the Atlantic Council’s Bronwyn Bruton A UN panel’s expected conclusion that crimes against humanity are being committed in Eritrea would be legally indefensible because of the flawed methodology in the compilation of the report and would further erode the credibility of the International Criminal Court […]

Eritrea

New Atlanticist

Jun 7, 2016

Tunisia Seen Key to Regional Prosperity

By Mitch Hulse

Tunisia’s democratic transition and economic growth can lead to security and stability in a volatile neighborhood, according to a US government official. “A successful Tunisia benefits not only the Tunisian people but enhances security, prosperity, and influence in the region as well,” Paige Alexander, assistant administrator for the Bureau for the Middle East at the […]

North Africa

New Atlanticist

Jun 7, 2016

The Foreign Policy of New Energy 

By Thomas Cunningham

The geopolitics of oil and gas are on one hand; climate change negotiations are on the other.  The next set of energy-foreign policy challenges will be somewhere in the middle. The global energy landscape is characterized by constant change, and every energy issue has foreign policy implications. Therefore, the speed and effectiveness with which an […]

Energy & Environment Energy Markets & Governance

UkraineAlert

Jun 7, 2016

Civil Society Gives Ukraine’s New Prime Minister Positive Marks

By Josh Cohen

During almost eight weeks in office, Ukrainian Prime Minister Volodymyr Groisman has inspired largely negative reactions from Western analysts. Noting Groisman’s close relationship with President Petro Poroshenko, observers fret the young prime minister will merely function as a yes-man. His appointment was variously described as “same old, same old,” “not the best choice,” and an […]

Ukraine

MENASource

Jun 7, 2016

New Pressure on Saudi Arabia is Changing the Logic of the Yemeni Peace Talks

By Jillian Schwedler

Two developments in Yemen over the past week illustrate both promise and concern for Yemen’s peace talks. Escalated fighting in the Marib and Shabwa provinces took more than a hundred lives, but the latest prisoner swap of pro-Hadi and Houthi fighters indicates that the peace process has not collapsed. With increased US pressure on Saudi […]

Saudi Arabia Yemen

UkraineAlert

Jun 7, 2016

The Savchenko Effect

By Brian Mefford

The release from a Russian prison and return of helicopter pilot Nadiya Savchenko to Ukraine has ignited speculation about her future political plans. Elected as the first candidate on the party list of Yulia Tymoshenko’s bloc in the October 2014 parliamentary elections, Savchenko immediately entered politics upon her return to Ukraine. Savchenko’s initial speeches focused […]

Ukraine

MENASource

Jun 7, 2016

Who is Persecuting the Copts?

By Alaa Al Aswany

In the 1930s, the Ministry of the Interior under the Wafd administration announced a competition for positions in the ministry. When the results were not made public, the entrants complained to the Prime Minister, Mustafa Nahhas who summoned the official in charge of the competition to ask him the reason for this. The official whispered […]

North Africa

UkraineAlert

Jun 7, 2016

Ukraine Defies Anti-Semitic Stereotypes

By Alina Polyakova

Confronting a difficult history is no easy matter, particularly in Ukraine—a country caught between murderous regimes throughout the twentieth century. In his book Bloodlands, Yale historian Timothy Snyder places Ukraine at the center of a region where more than 14 million “non-combatants” were ruthlessly killed by the competing geopolitical goals of Adolf Hitler and Joseph […]

Ukraine
Load More