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SyriaSource

May 16, 2016

One Fighter’s Recruitment – and Escape – from ISIS

By Yasser Allawi and Jalal Zein al-Deen

As ISIS swept over large swathes of the eastern province, former FSA fighter Abu Khadija pledged his allegiance, believing the extremists were his best bet to topple the Assad government. Now, after escaping, he wishes he could take it all back. In most ways, Abu Khadija, a 39-year-old Syrian, is not remarkable. He used to making […]

Syria

FutureSource

May 13, 2016

The Cybersecurity Conundrum

By Robert A. Manning

A quarter-century on, as whole new layers of a burgeoning digital economy like the Internet of Things (IoT) rest on it, the Internet faces an array of challenges from the Dark Side that its inventors never quite anticipated.

Cybersecurity Security & Defense

SyriaSource

May 13, 2016

Is a Deal Cooking?

By Frederic C. Hof

Senior officials of countries very closely allied to the United States are registering with a variety of contacts their concern that Secretary of State John Kerry is “rushing into a deal” that would accept the Russian interpretation of the Syrian transitional governing body mandated by the June 30, 2012 Geneva Final Communiqué. Moscow wants the […]

Syria

New Atlanticist

May 13, 2016

Joseph Kabila’s Ugly Legacy

By Julian Wyss

The Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) faces a “crisis in governance” under President Joseph Kabila, said panelists at an event hosted by the Atlantic Council’s Africa Center on May 12, and, though Kabila is constitutionally ineligible for a third term as president, it’s becoming increasingly clear that he has no plans to step down […]

Africa
President of the BfV Hans-Georg Maassen, July 17, 2012

NATOSource

May 13, 2016

German Intelligence Accuses Russia of Mounting Series of International Cyber-Attacks

By AFP, Deutsche Welle, and Reuters

From AFP:  Germany’s domestic secret service has accused Russia of a series of international cyber-attacks aimed at spying and sabotage, in “hybrid warfare” that also targeted the German parliament last year.

Cybersecurity Germany

New Atlanticist

May 13, 2016

A New Saudi Oil Minister: Tactical Continuation, Strategic Revolution

By Jean-François Seznec

The appointment of Khalid al-Falih as Saudi Arabia’s minister of energy, industry and mineral resources comes as no surprise. He is the most qualified person to replace the brilliant Ali al-Naimi who served as minister of petroleum and mineral resources for over twenty years.  Both men are petroleum engineers steeped in the oil business and […]

Saudi Arabia

UkraineAlert

May 13, 2016

Why Slow and Steady Wins the Race: A Case for Patience in Post-Maidan Ukraine

By Alexander J. Motyl

The aftermath of revolutions is always disappointing. Expectations of immediate transformation come up against intractable reality and a deep and debilitating disappointment usually sets in among much of the population. But not among radicals, who typically demand a thoroughgoing renewal of the elites deemed responsible for “betraying” the cause. In France, which set the pattern […]

Ukraine

SyriaSource

May 13, 2016

An Unexpected Opposition Victory in South Aleppo

By Saleem al-Omar

Despite Russian aerial support for Syrian regime forces, Jaysh al-Fatah has scored an unexpected victory over the Syrian regime and the Iranian militias supporting it. The opposition coalition Jaysh al-Fatah took Khan Tuman, a village located on the highway connecting Aleppo and Damascus. Syrians hope this victory marks a resurgence of Jaysh al-Fatah from a […]

Syria

MENASource

May 13, 2016

The Violent Death of a Violent Man

By Frederic C. Hof

Hezbollah media outlets in Lebanon have announced the death in Syria of Mustafa Amine Badreddine, an intimate of Hezbollah Secretary-General Hassan Nasrallah and the person reportedly in command of Hezbollah forces in Syria. The news outlets initially reported that a Hezbollah facility near Damascus had been engaged by Israeli aircraft; a claim omitted from subsequent […]

New Atlanticist

May 13, 2016

Contributions to NATO More Than Just Budgetary, says Canada’s Defense Minister

By Ashish Kumar Sen

NATO member states’ defense expenditure must be measured in much more than just budgetary terms, Canada’s Defense Minister, Harjit Sajjan, said on May 12. “We had 158 soldiers who died, sacrificed, in Afghanistan. This is a contribution that we made,” Sajjan, a veteran of the Afghan war, said in a brief interaction with journalists at […]

Iraq NATO
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