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New Atlanticist

Feb 24, 2015

Moldova’s Weakened Leadership Vows to Stay on Course Toward Europe

By New Atlanticist

But Political Squabbling Yields a Minority Government, Strengthens Russia’s Hand Moldova’s three-month-long political last week produced a surprise prime minister, Chiril Gaburici, who promised every effort “to ensure that by 2018 the country can qualify to sign an agreement on associate membership” in the European Union. But as Gaburici, a cellular telephone company executive, takes […]

Eastern Europe Moldova

MENASource

Feb 23, 2015

Egypt’s Government Assuages Minya Families after Weeks of Silence

By Ishak Ibrahim

Over the past week, the village of al-Aour in the governorate of Minya—home to thirteen of the twenty Coptic Egyptian victims killed by the Islamic State (ISIS) in Libya—has been transformed. The once obscure village has become a site for official delegations and mourners to visit, and offer condolences and support to the bereaved families […]

North Africa

MENASource

Feb 23, 2015

PHOTO ESSAY: Christians of Minya between Agony and Happiness

By Jonathan Rashad

Between agony and happiness, the village of al-Aour in the Egyptian governorate of Minya lost thirteen of its residents to a brutal death. Those thirteen were among the twenty Egyptian Christians recently beheaded by the Islamic State (ISIS) in Libya.

North Africa
Russia's Zapad strategic military exercises, Sept. 26, 2013

NATOSource

Feb 23, 2015

The NATO-Russia Exercise Gap

By Ian J. Brzezinski and Nicholas Varangis, Atlantic Council

Exercises are used by defense establishments to test their readiness, deployability, and logistical and combat proficiency.

NATO Russia

Europe After The Vote

Feb 23, 2015

Details of Greece’s Reforms Plan are Key, Says Montanino

By Ashish Kumar Sen

Atlantic Council analyst says creditors want to know how Athens will fight corruption Greece’s creditors will scrutinize its reforms plan, which is aimed at securing a financial lifeline, for details on how the new government in Athens will tackle endemic problems such as corruption and tax evasion, according to Atlantic Council analyst Andrea Montanino. Greece […]

European Union Germany

MENASource

Feb 23, 2015

Top News: Alaa Abdel Fattah Sentenced to Five Years; Over 3,000 Egyptians Return from Libya

By EgyptSource

The Cairo Criminal Court sentenced activist Alaa Abdel Fattah and his co-defendant Ahmed Abdel Rahman to five years of maximum security prison on Monday, in their retrial on charges of illegal assembly.

MENASource

Feb 23, 2015

Top News: UN Investigators May Release Syria War Criminal Lists

By MENASource

UN war crimes investigators said Friday that they were prepared to publish secret lists of alleged war criminals in Syria to help stem an “exponential rise” in human rights violations in the country.

MENASource

Feb 23, 2015

Syria: Forget About Arming the Opposition?

By Frederic C. Hof

My friend and former governmental colleague Robert Ford was recently depicted in a newspaper article as having done a U-turn on the question of arming Syrian nationalists currently resisting both the Assad regime and the Islamic State (ISIS or ISIL). Ambassador Ford will, I suspect, take pen to paper soon to present a more nuanced […]

Syria

New Atlanticist

Feb 20, 2015

Under Pressure, Venezuela’s Maduro Lashes Out at Critics

By Ashish Kumar Sen

The arrest of the Mayor of Caracas is an attempt by President Nicolás Maduro’s crumbling government, which is under immense political and economic pressure to demonstrate authority, to consolidate the hardline base of the governing United Socialist Party of Venezuela (PSUV), according to Atlantic Council analysts. Venezuela, which has suffered political turmoil since protests broke out […]

Cuba Venezuela
Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta, Feb. 22, 2013

NATOSource

Feb 20, 2015

Leon Panetta: You Have To Deal with the Russians from Strength

By Spiegel

Excerpts from interview of former Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta by Markus Feldenkirchen and Holger Stark of Spiegel, February 14, 2015.

Germany Intelligence