Category: Blogs

The Muddled Thinking at the G-7 Only Encourages Putin

By Stephen Blank

Leaders at the recent G-7 summit reaffirmed their commitment to keeping sanctions on Russia in place. They also agreed that sanctions will likely be extended until 2016 because Russia has failed to implement the Minsk II ceasefire agreement. But the summit ended on a disappointing note: The summit communiqué and all the G-7 leaders indicated […]

UK Ministers Trying to Inflate Defense Budget to Meet NATO Pledge

By Elizabeth Rigby and Kiran Stacey, Financial Times

Ministers are stretching to the limit what can be counted as defence spending to shoehorn elements of intelligence and overseas aid into the military budget ahead of a Nato report.

TTIP Action – June 11

By Global Business & Economics Program

Chair of the European Parliament’s Trade Committee, Bernd Lange, insists that the committee will use the additional time gained through the postponed vote on its recommendations to work towards reaching a stable majority for the TTIP-resolution. This Week in a Nutshell Whilst a vote on the final passage of the Trade Promotion Authority bill is […]

TTIP Action – June 9

By Global Business & Economics Program

Kicking of the G7 summit with a traditional family photo. This Week in a Nutshell The week kicked off with the G7 summit in Germany, where the world’s economic leaders discussed the global economy, trade, and progress towards an international deal on reducing the effects of climate change. At the summit, US President Barack Obama […]

TTIP Action – June 4

By Global Business & Economics Program

Catherine A. Novelli, Under Secretary for Economic Growth, Energy, and the Environment at the US State Department, spoke in Brussels on Tuesday at the Lisbon Council Speeches & Official Announcements The Geopolitical Aspect of TTIP “But what about other countries, particularly developing countries and our closest neighbors? How will they be affected? We will have […]

Is Russia’s Brinkmanship the New Norm?

By Phil Ewing, Politico

The chill between Russia and the West has brought Cold War-style military brinkmanship roaring back — with a 21st century twist.

Turkish Coalition Politics: Prospects for the Kurdish Peace Process

By Aaron Stein

Turkey still needs a “solution” to its “Kurdish” (aka democracy) problem—and the AKP and HDP may need each other more than ever. Turkey’s fourth largest political party, the Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP), surprised many observers of Turkish politics with its strong showing in the recent general election.

Top News: Syrian Rebels Accuse Kurds of Deliberately Displacing Arabs

By MENASource

More than a dozen Syrian rebel and militant groups on Monday accused the country’s Kurdish militia of committing “ethnic cleansing” against Arabs and Turkmen in northern Syria, a charge strongly denied by the Kurds and lacking in conclusive evidence.

Despite Stinging Setback, Controversial Trade Bill Not Dead Yet

Atlantic Council’s Jason Marczak sees chance TPA may still squeak through Congress With the House of Representatives set to hold a do-over vote by June 16 on a worker retraining program – the Trade Adjustment Act (TAA) – whose defeat has stalled US President Barack Obama’s entire free-trade agenda, there’s a glimmer of hope that […]

Top News: Egypt’s Press Syndicate to Hold Emergency Meeting to Discuss ‘media crackdown’

By EgyptSource

Egypt’s Press Syndicate is to hold an emergency meeting on Monday to discuss the ongoing crackdown on journalists and press freedom, said Khaled al-Balshy, head of the syndicate’s freedoms committee.