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SyriaSource

Mar 30, 2016

Top News: March 30, 2016

By SyriaSource

– Russia shipping more to Syria despite withdrawal– Austria will not process all asylum requests– Syrian opposition may end truce, documents lack Assad leaving– Assad thanks UN chief for comments on taking Palmyra– US orders diplomatic, military families out of southern Turkey

Syria

MENASource

Mar 30, 2016

Top News: Leahy Asked State Department to Investigate Egyptian, Israeli Human Rights ‘Violations’

By EgyptSource

Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) and 10 House members have asked the Obama administration to investigate claims that the Israeli and Egyptian security forces have committed “gross violations of human rights” — allegations that if proven true could affect US military aid to the countries. In a letter to Secretary of State John Kerry dated February […]

MENASource

Mar 30, 2016

Top News: Libya’s Presidential Council arrives in Tripoli

By MENASource

Prime Minister-designate Faiez Serraj and most of the Presidency Council headed to Tripoli by boat in a last-ditch attempt to get to the Libyan capital. Serraj arrived in the capital with six deputies and set up a temporary seat of power in a naval base despite threats from rival factions.

UkraineAlert

Mar 30, 2016

Revealing Europe’s Best-Kept Secret

By Peter Dickinson and Vladislav Davidzon

Early April will see the closure of Ukraine Today, which had been the only full-time English language TV news service offering Ukrainian perspectives to international audiences. The channel will reportedly continue online, but the end of its broadcasting is a sobering development hinting at the difficulties of finding sufficient funding for major Ukrainian English-language media […]

Russia Ukraine

MENASource

Mar 30, 2016

EconSource: IMF says Iraq Could Secure Three-Year Standby Deal by June

By EconSource

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) could approve as early as June a standby arrangement (SBA) with Iraq that would provide $15 billion in international assistance over the next three years.

New Atlanticist

Mar 30, 2016

South Sudan: ‘A Problem Child’

By Ashish Kumar Sen

Years of conflict, a dysfunctional government, and the international community’s failure to impose tough and meaningful sanctions have contributed to the crippling food insecurity that has caused tens of thousands of people to flee South Sudan, according to the Atlantic Council’s J. Peter Pham. “No rational farmer anywhere in the world is going to plant […]

East Africa Sudan

SyriaSource

Mar 29, 2016

The Need for Local Support to Defeat ISIS

By Muhammad Adnan

International coalition air strikes Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) ground assaults have weakened the Islamic State (ISIS), forcing it to fall back in northern Syria. ISIS is adapting as best it can to combination of air and ground assaults and changing its strategy by playing on the inability of Kurdish forces to advance into the Arab […]

Syria

MENASource

Mar 29, 2016

Case No. 173: The State of Egypt’s NGOs

By Elissa Miller and Margaret Suter

In late 2011, Egyptian authorities raided 17 nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) working on democracy and rights issues. Two years later, an Egyptian court ordered the closure of several international NGOs and handed down sentences to the defendants on charges of operating illegally in the country. The second part of the case, referred to as Case No. […]

North Africa

New Atlanticist

Mar 29, 2016

Trump’s ‘Sopranos’ Worldview Would Undo Asian Alliances

By Robert A. Manning

In a series of recent comments—most notably in extensive interviews with the New York Times— Donald Trump, the frontrunner for the Republican presidential nomination, has sketched a worldview and policies toward US allies that could unravel the entire post-World War II order. Among other things, Trump says he would renegotiate all existing trade agreements, and […]

East Asia Japan

MENASource

Mar 29, 2016

Yemenis Express Resolve and Pride in Anti-Saudi Demonstrations

By Jillian Schwedler

Tens of thousands of Yemenis took to the streets in Sanaa on Sautrday to express their resounding opposition to the Saudi-led war. Organized on the first anniversary of the start of the Saudi air campaign, the massive turnout represented a rebuke of the Saudi intervention, which has led to more than 6,000 deaths, pushed the […]

Yemen