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UkraineAlert

Feb 24, 2016

What If Parliamentary Elections Were Held in Ukraine Today?

By Brian Mefford

With Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk’s government surviving a no-confidence vote on February 16 and the parliamentary coalition splintering the next day, early parliamentary elections are now possible this year. New elections could be triggered by three scenarios: first, if the current majority coalition in parliament collapses and a new majority isn’t formed within thirty days; […]

Ukraine

SyriaSource

Feb 24, 2016

Top News: February 24, 2016

By SyriaSource

ISIS tightens grip on Syrian government road to AleppoUN aid convoys head to two Syrian besieged townsTurkey casts doubt on chances of ceasefire in SyriaDNA report suggests Ankara bomber was Turkish

Syria

MENASource

Feb 24, 2016

Top News: French special forces waging secret war in Libya

By MENASource

French special forces and intelligence commandos are engaged in covert operations against Islamic State (ISIS or ISIL) militants in Libya in conjunction with the United States and Britain, the French newspaper Le Monde reported on Wednesday.

UkraineAlert

Feb 24, 2016

In the Absence of American Leadership, Germany Steps in to Engage with Russia—at the EU’s Peril

By Stephen Blank

One particularly visible trend at the recent Munich Security Conference was America’s disengagement from European security issues. Foreign leaders often spoke without referring to the United States, and there was little sign of US involvement beyond its military participation in NATO. Washington’s priorities clearly revolved around Syria, not Europe. This trend confirms theories about the […]

Ukraine

MENASource

Feb 24, 2016

EconSource: Saudi Arabia Rules Out Production Cuts

By EconSource

Saudi Oil Minister Ali al-Naimi said Tuesday he was confident that more countries would join an agreement to freeze oil output at existing levels in talks expected in March. However, he effectively ruled out production cuts by major crude producers anytime soon.

MENASource

Feb 24, 2016

Top News: Italian Student May Have Been Killed for Revenge Says Interior Ministry

By EgyptSource

Egypt’s Interior Ministry says investigators believe that “personal reasons” were behind the torture and murder of the Italian student Giulio Regeni, whose body was found in Cairo this month, over a week after he went missing. The ministry said in a statement on Wednesday that investigation had uncovered no clues to culprits but said “the […]

MENASource

Feb 24, 2016

Mitigating US-Turkish Disagreement over the PYD

By Francis Ricciardone and Aaron Stein

Turkey and the United States share strategic interests regarding Syria, not least defeating the threat posed by the Islamic State (ISIS or ISIL). However, they remain at odds over their definitions of their full strategic purposes. One element is ripe for resolution: clarifying their respective intents toward the Kurdish communities of Syria, while revising their […]

Syria Turkey

SyriaSource

Feb 23, 2016

Afrin and the Race for the Azaz Corridor

By Thomas Schmidinger

For the last five years Afrin (Kurdish: Efrîn) was the most tranquil of the three Kurdish enclaves in Syria. As in the other two Kurdish cantons, Kobane and Jazira (Kurdish: Kobanê, Cizîrê), the Syrian regime army pulled back from the region in spring 2012 and left it to the control of Democratic Union Party (PYD) […]

Syria

New Atlanticist

Feb 23, 2016

China’s Challenge to Guarantee Energy and Water Security

By Jack Schnettler

China may hold the key to alleviating some of the pressure from climate change and population growth at the nexus of the relationship between the energy and water sectors. The challenges associated with energy production and water management vary significantly from region to region. A recent report from the World Resources Institute and General Electric […]

China Climate Change & Climate Action

EconoGraphics

Feb 23, 2016

Tug of Budget War in Brussles

By Global Business and Economics

In the past weeks, the Portuguese government and EU authorities have engaged in a tug of war over the Portuguese budget proposal for 2016. The European Commission (EC) warned the newly elected anti-austerity government that it risked “serious non-compliance” with the EU’s fiscal rules. Finally, Lisbon narrowly avoided becoming the first Eurozone country to have its budget rejected by Brussels, as it agreed to additional tax hikes and spending cuts.

Economy & Business European Union
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