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MENASource

Feb 22, 2016

Top News: ISIS bombings kill nearly 130 people in Syria

By MENASource

Bombings claimed by the Islamic State (ISIS or ISIL) in the Syrian cities of Damascus and Homs killed nearly 130 people on Sunday. A series of blasts ripped through the Sayyida Zeinab suburb of Damascus, killing at least 83 people and wounding more than 170, the official SANA news agency said.

MENASource

Feb 22, 2016

Top News: Novelist Ahmed Naji Handed Two Years in Prison After Initial Acquittal

By EgyptSource

An Egyptian court has sentenced an author to two years in jail for public indecency after excerpts of his sexually explicit novel were published in a literary newspaper. A chapter from Ahmed Naji’s novel Istikhdam al-Hayat, or Using Life, was serialized in a state-owned literary newspaper and a case was brought against him last year […]

North Africa Political Reform

MENASource

Feb 22, 2016

EconSource: IMF Says Confident Gulf Oil Exporters Can Adjust, Urges Taxes

By EconSource

International Monetary Fund (IMF) Managing Director Christine Lagarde said Monday that she is confident the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) economies can implement the large fiscal adjustments they need to cope with low oil prices.

MENASource

Feb 22, 2016

Libya and the West: Intervention without a Cause?

By Karim Mezran and Arturo Varvelli

The premise at the base of any armed intervention is to have a clear political aim. An intervention, therefore, must be assessed in terms of modalities and opportunities—an obvious yet often neglected principle. US, Italian, French, and British spokespersons over the last few weeks expressed a desire to intervene in Libya. The two main reasons […]

Libya

UkraineAlert

Feb 22, 2016

Russia’s Pernicious Hybrid War Against Ukraine

By Andreas Umland

In recent months, the relative calming of the Russian-Ukrainian war in the Donbas has led many observers to describe this confrontation as yet another “frozen conflict” in the post-Soviet space. Yet even if Russian military activities ceased completely, the analogy is misleading. It is not always understood that Ukraine’s neighbor to the east is actively […]

Russia Ukraine

UkraineAlert

Feb 22, 2016

How Soft Power Works: Russian Passportization and Compatriot Policies Paved Way for Crimean Annexation and War in Donbas

By Agnia Grigas

The following is an edited excerpt from Agnia Grigas’ new book, Beyond Crimea: The New Russian Empire. The book examines Moscow’s policies toward Russian compatriots in former Soviet republics, including Ukraine where they laid the groundwork for Crimea’s annexation and the conflict in the Donbas. Moscow’s policies towards its “compatriots”—loosely defined as ethnic Russians, Russian […]

Russia Ukraine

Bremain vs Brexit

Feb 22, 2016

Brexit: And Now It Begins…

By Fran Burwell

For all the sturm und drang that accompanied British Prime Minister David Cameron’s negotiations with his European partners on February 19, the specific topics addressed—and the points won by the Prime Minister—were remarkably small. The implications of those negotiations, however, could be immense, both for the United Kingdom and for Europe. Whether the British people […]

European Union International Organizations
Russian President Vladimir Putin and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, June 13, 2015

NATOSource

Feb 20, 2016

NATO Concerned over Possible Russia-Turkey Hostilities

By Spiegel

In Syria, the danger of a war between Turkey and Russia is on the rise

Germany NATO

Trade in Action

Feb 19, 2016

TTIP&TRADEinAction – February 19, 2016

By Global Business & Economics Program

US Secretary of State John Kerry spoke at the annual Munich Security Conference this week.

Economy & Business Trade and tariffs

New Atlanticist

Feb 19, 2016

US Airstrikes in Libya May Produce an Anti-Western Backlash

By Ashish Kumar Sen

International community must focus on restoring stability to Libya, says Atlantic Council’s Karim Mezran US airstrikes that are neither invited by the Libyan authorities nor coordinated with Libyan armed forces may produce a dangerous backlash against the West, according to the Atlantic Council’s Karim Mezran. US warplanes conducted airstrikes on an Islamic State of Iraq […]

Libya
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