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UkraineAlert

Feb 13, 2015

Ukraine’s Other War: Parliament Advances Anti-Corruption Fight

By New Atlanticist

Lawmakers Vote to End Their Immunity from Prosecution Members of Ukraine’s parliament, the Verkhovna Rada, overwhelmingly passed a bill to end their own legal immunity from prosecution, one of the main laws that for years helped Ukraine to the top of Europe’s corruption charts. Article 80 of Ukraine’s constitution protects all Rada members from prosecution […]

Ukraine

UkraineAlert

Feb 13, 2015

Making Ukraine’s ‘Glimmer of Hope’ Sustainable

By Sabine Freizer

If Russia Permits, the Minsk Accord Could Be a Start for Stabilizing Donbas The ceasefire agreement signed by Russia and Ukraine on in Minsk on 12 February offers what German Chancellor Angela Merkel calls “a glimmer of hope, no more no less” for constricting, and eventually ending, the war in southeast Ukraine’s Donbas region. Whether […]

Russia Ukraine

UkraineAlert

Feb 13, 2015

Russia’s Ukraine War Wins it the Advantage in New Truce Deal

By John E. Herbst

‘Minsk II’ Accord Will Let Moscow Keep Pumping Arms, Fighters into Ukraine’s Donbas With thousands of Ukrainian troops nearly surrounded in Donbas by the freshly armed, Kremlin-directed rebel militias, Ukraine’s President Petro Poroshenko accepted the Minsk II agreement February 12. The new accord is clearly less advantageous to Kyiv than was the Minsk I agreement, which […]

Russia Ukraine

MENASource

Feb 13, 2015

The Al Jazeera Trial: A Timeline

By EgyptSource

On February 12, the defendants in the Al Jazeera trial were released on bail as they face a retrial on charges of aiding a terrorist group and publishing false news to harm national security. Below is a timeline from their arrest in December 2013, to their release in January 2015.

North Africa
Ukrainian armored unit, Jan, 3, 2015

NATOSource

Feb 12, 2015

Mearsheimer: Don’t Arm Ukraine

By John J. Mearsheimer, New York Times

Sending weapons to Ukraine will not rescue its army and will instead lead to an escalation in the fighting. Such a step is especially dangerous because Russia has thousands of nuclear weapons and is seeking to defend a vital strategic interest.

Germany NATO
Ash Carter testifying to Senate Armed Services Committee, Feb. 4, 2015

NATOSource

Feb 12, 2015

Ash Carter’s Priorities for NATO

By John T. Bennett and Paul McLeary, Defense News

The United States and NATO should reject Russian assertions that Moscow is entitled to a “sphere of influence” in Eastern Europe — and build militaries capable of handling “any opponent,” said the nominee to be the next US defense secretary.

NATO Russia

New Atlanticist

Feb 12, 2015

Airstrikes will Strengthen ISIS, says Fayyad

By Ashish Kumar Sen

Former Palestinian Authority Prime Minister says root causes must be addressed The ongoing coalition airstrikes against the Islamic State in Iraq and al-Sham will do very little to destroy the militant group and may, in fact, enhance its ability to recruit more fighters, according to Salam Fayyad, a former Prime Minister of the Palestinian Authority. […]

Iraq National Security

New Atlanticist

Feb 12, 2015

A ‘Glimmer of Hope’ in Ukraine?

By Ashish Kumar Sen

A new deal that would end the fighting between Ukrainian security forces and Russian-backed separatists is being met with skepticism amid an escalation in the conflict in eastern Ukraine. “This is essentially the same ceasefire that failed before, so I expect the same issues to arise: Kyiv’s control of the border, lack of removal of […]

Russia Ukraine

MENASource

Feb 12, 2015

Top News: Al-Qaeda fighters seize Yemen army base

By MENASource

Yemeni military officials say al-Qaida militants have seized control of an important army base in the south following clashes with soldiers. The officials say at least four troops and four militants died in the fighting and that at least fifteen soldiers were taken hostage.

MENASource

Feb 12, 2015

Top News: Egypt Court Releases All Al Jazeera Case Defendants Pending Retrial

By EgyptSource

Two Al Jazeera journalists, Mohamed Fahmy and Baher Mohamed, were released on bail on Thursday by a Cairo criminal court after spending over a year in prison. The court postponed the first session in a retrial of the journalists and a number of other defendants to February 23 and ordered the release of all defendants pending trial.