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New Atlanticist

Apr 14, 2016

Ukraine Must Fully Implement IMF Program, says Former Finance Minister

By Mitch Hulse

Ukraine’s new government must fully implement the International Monetary Fund’s financial assistance program and undertake “painful reforms,” the country’s former Finance Minister, Natalie Jaresko, said on April 14. Jaresko spoke at an event hosted by the Atlantic Council hours after learning she had lost her job in a government shakeup—the most significant since 2014—marked by […]

Russia Ukraine

MENASource

Apr 14, 2016

President Obama and GCC Leaders: Let’s Talk about Jobs

By Richard LeBaron

When President Barack Obama meets his Gulf Cooperation counterparts in Riyadh on April 21, he will yet again reassure them about the US commitment to Gulf security and once again they will work through a litany of regional issues, focusing on Syria, Yemen, and Iran.  There is little expectation of startling results, and given the […]

International Organizations North Africa

SyriaSource

Apr 14, 2016

Does the Syrian opposition have anti-aircraft missiles?

By Haid Haid

A Syrian regime’s fighter jet was shot down on April 5, near al-Bawabiya village in southern Aleppo where fighting recently broke out between rebel and regime forces. The Syrian regime’s military said a plane on a reconnaissance mission had been shot down by a surface-to-air missile, according to the Guardian. This is the second time […]

Syria

New Atlanticist

Apr 14, 2016

US Foreign Policy Needs to be ‘Balanced’ Between ‘Great Exertions’ and ‘Retreat’

By Ashish Kumar Sen

Interview with Zalmay Khalilzad, former US Ambassador to Iraq, Afghanistan, and the United Nations Zalmay Khalilzad served as the US Ambassador to Iraq, Afghanistan, and the United Nations in the George W. Bush administration. A member of the Atlantic Council’s Board of Directors, Khalilzad has recently authored an insightful and widely praised memoir—The Envoy. In […]

Afghanistan Iran

MENASource

Apr 13, 2016

The United States Has No Gulf Allies

By Bilal Y. Saab

The word “ally” is used far too casually in Washington’s Middle East lexicon. It’s time to break this bad habit, because the truth is that with the exception of Turkey—a NATO member—the United States does not share a single alliance with any Middle Eastern country. As the US-GCC summit in Riyadh approaches, understanding what really constitutes an alliance […]

International Organizations Politics & Diplomacy

EconoGraphics

Apr 13, 2016

Europe’s Path to Budget Equilibrium

By Alvaro Morales Salto Weis & TK Spandhla

The European Union’s 28 member nations are required by Stability and Growth Pact to keep their budget deficits to within 3 percent of GDP. According to the European Commission forecast (as of winter 2016) six countries will exceed this level in 2016: the U.K., France, Spain, Greece, Croatia and Portugal. Romania will post a deficit at the threshold. This is an improvement from 2009 and 2010, when no fewer than 22 EU countries overstepped the deficit limit.

Economy & Business European Union

MENASource

Apr 13, 2016

Rebalancing International Forces to Safely Carry out Their Mission in Egypt’s Sinai

By Zack Gold

Amid deteriorating security in North Sinai, a Pentagon spokesperson acknowledged on April 12 that the Obama administration is reviewing options to minimize exposure of international peacekeeping forces to a growing threat in the peninsula. Despite unprecedented security relations between Israel and Egypt, both insist on the importance of the Multinational Forces and Observers (MFO); and […]

Israel North Africa

New Atlanticist

Apr 13, 2016

Albania’s Prime Minister Edi Rama: Enlargement a Secondary Priority for the European Union

By Ashish Kumar Sen

Leader says Europe preoccupied with economic, security, and migration crises A combination of economic, security, and migration challenges facing Europe could “fuel instability in the Western Balkans” and “bring more uncertainty to the south and east,” Albania’s Prime Minister, Edi Rama, said on April 13. Rama contended that Balkan states such as Albania—eager to deepen […]

European Union Germany

MENASource

Apr 13, 2016

Working in Tandem on Syria

By Frederic C. Hof

From the beginning of the Syrian crisis Washington and key GCC players have approached the problem with fundamentally differing priorities inspired by one key player: Iran. For Riyadh in particular, the salient feature of Syria’s agony and destruction has been Tehran’s aggressive, aggrandizing reach into the Arab world. For Washington, reaching a nuclear agreement with […]

International Organizations Politics & Diplomacy

New Atlanticist

Apr 13, 2016

Iraq’s Prime Minister Abadi Stuck Between Parliament and Protesters at the Gates

By Nussaibah Younis

No matter what he tries, Iraq’s Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi just can’t catch a break. Faced with thousands of protesters threatening to breach the Green Zone in Baghdad, Abadi relented to their demand that he assemble a group of independent technocrats to form a new cabinet. But when Iraq’s political blocs got wind of the […]

Iraq
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