Category: Blogs

Tunisia: Next President, Hard Choices

By Naim Ameur

With no candidate having won a majority in the first round of presidential elections held last month, Tunisia will hold a run-off on December 21 between frontrunners Beji Caid Essebsi, leader of Nidaa Tounes, and interim President Mohamed Moncef Marzouki.

The Recent Drop in Crude Prices Means Big Savings for Egypt

By Alfred Jasins and Brendan Meighan

The government’s budget may see some much needed relief in the near future as oil prices on the international market have fallen precipitously. The decline coincides with President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi’s attempts to unwind crippling energy subsidies that have driven up government deficits and debt, drained foreign currency reserves, and strained relationships with international oil […]

Are the Baltic Republics Serious About Defense?

By Ted Galen Carpenter, Cato Institute

All three Baltic governments are going to great lengths to highlight their alleged seriousness about defense, but the actual data fail to support the propaganda.

Syria: Hope for De-Escalation

By Frederic C. Hof

Hope springs eternal in the Obama administration that a Deus ex machina in the form of a diplomatic process producing military de-escalation and Syrian political transition will enter unbidden from stage left and relieve the West of any obligation to counter the Assad regime’s systematic program of mass murder.  President Barack Obama, quite properly, has […]

SACEUR Examines the New NATO

By Philip M. Breedlove, Three Swords Magazine

If there was any doubt of the relevance of NATO before now, the last few months have cleared that up and reinforced the need for our essential core tasks: Collective Defense, Cooperative Security and Crisis Management.

Top News: HEC Issues Regulations for Election Observation

By EgyptSource

Egypt’s High Elections Commission (HEC) issued on Wednesday regulations governing civil society’s observation of upcoming parliamentary elections.

International Actors Undermine Libya’s Hopes for Peace

By MENASource

In an interview with the New Atlanticist, senior fellow at the Atlantic Council’s Rafik Hariri Center for the Middle East Karim Mezran, argues that international actors are undermining UN efforts to broker peace in Libya. “If all these external forces support troops on the ground, then the push for war is much stronger than the […]

US Cuba Shift Was Presaged by Poll Showing Americans Were Ready for Change

By Ashish Kumar Sen

Relations with Cuba No Longer ‘The Poisoned Chalice,’ Atlantic Council Analysis Showed President Barack Obama’s sweeping changes to US-Cuba policy were at least in part influenced by an understanding that this was widely favored among the American people. The Atlantic Council’s Adrienne Arsht Latin America Center released a poll in February that found support on […]

In Libya, Push for War Is Stronger Than Push for Peace

By New Atlanticist

Atlantic Council Analyst Karim Mezran on Libya’s Escalated Warfare Meddling by international actors in Libya has undermined a United Nations effort to broker peace in the North African nation, according to Karim Mezran, resident senior fellow at the Atlantic Council’s Rafik Hariri Center for the Middle East. Turkey, the United Arab Emirates, Egypt, Qatar, and […]

President Obama Announces New Cuba Policy

Quick Takes from Atlantic Council Experts President Barack Obama today announced a historic policy change that opens up diplomatic relations, facilitates trade, and expands travel to Cuba.     Immediately after the White House announcement, Atlantic Council experts provided the following analysis.