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UkraineAlert

Dec 16, 2014

Ukraine’s New Cabinet Lineup Offers Broad Competence for Reforms

By New Atlanticist

Atlantic Council Analyst Lists Whom to Watch in the Battle to Improve Governance and Economy Ukraine’s overhauled cabinet lineup, now complete, offers clues to the new leadership’s seriousness and competence for its critical task of reforms. For a government that must decentralize governance, make official transactions transparent, prosecute and prevent graft, rebuild its finances, resuscitate […]

Ukraine

MENASource

Dec 16, 2014

Top News: Syrian Soldiers, Rebel Fighters Killed in Battle for Government Bases in Idlib

By MENASource

Around one hundred Syrian soldiers and eighty Islamist fighters were killed during a two-day battle in which insurgents captured the Wadi al-Deif military base, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights monitoring group said on Tuesday. The human rights monitoring agency also reported that at least 120 regime fighters were captured and another one hundred retreated […]

MENASource

Dec 16, 2014

Top News: Presidential Decree Creates New Police Rank with Power of Arrest

By EgyptSource

Egypt’s president Abdel Fattah al-Sisi issued a decree on Monday to create a new police rank with arrest powers, the move will increase the number of law enforcement staff. 

MENASource

Dec 16, 2014

Rewriting Libya’s Post-Revolution Narrative

By Lydia Sizer

Since the ouster of Muammar Qaddafi in 2011, the United States and its allies have pressed the society he divided to engage in dialogue necessary for durable peace and national unity. Respected Libyans have tried to advance such efforts; however, instead of pursuing opportunities for mutual benefit, rival factions compete to control the country’s post-revolution […]

Libya

UkraineAlert

Dec 16, 2014

President Obama Will Sign Congress’ Bill to Aid Ukraine: Here’s Why

By James Rupert

‘Freedom Support Act’ Authorizes, But Does Not Require, Arms Sales to Ukraine In passing its bill to boost US support for Ukraine last week, Congress left President Barack Obama largely free to decide how and when to apply its provisions – and that flexibility is one reason Obama has chosen to sign the act, even […]

Eastern Europe Russia
Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg, Dec. 1 2014

NATOSource

Dec 15, 2014

NATO Says Russian Air Force Jets Posing Risk to Aviation in Baltic

By Reuters

NATO accused Russia of posing a danger to civil aviation in the Baltic region after Stockholm protested over a Russian air force jet it said had flown too close to an airliner and had turned off one of its location instruments.

NATO Northern Europe

New Atlanticist

Dec 15, 2014

Moldova at a Tipping Point: Four Ways the US Should Help

By Damon Wilson

Small Steps for a Small Country Could Strengthen Europe Against Russia’s Assaults In the shadow of Ukraine’s war for true independence from Russia, the small country of Moldova is entering a critical chapter of its parallel struggle. Frustrated Moldovan voters last month reelected their pro-democratic government, but also delivered a warning that concrete economic and […]

Eastern Europe Europe & Eurasia
Arctic Sea Ice

NATOSource

Dec 15, 2014

Denmark Claims North Pole

By Jan M. Olsen, AP

Scientific data shows Greenland’s continental shelf is connected to a ridge beneath the Arctic Ocean, giving Danes a claim to the North Pole and any potential energy resources beneath it, Denmark’s foreign minister said.

Energy & Environment Energy Markets & Governance

MENASource

Dec 15, 2014

Searching for Youth to Save Education

By Jayson Casper

Egypt has a youth problem. According to official statistics, 31 percent of the population is under the age of 14, and 24 percent of the population is between 18 and 29. Integrating them into the social and political fabric of society is expected to be challenging, especially given the raised expectations of the revolution. Egypt […]

North Africa
Russian intelligence aircraft Ilyushin Il-20M

NATOSource

Dec 15, 2014

Scandinavians Warn Russia After Air Near-Miss

By Richard Milne, Financial Times

Russia’s ambassadors to Denmark and Sweden have been summoned to hear complaints that lives were endangered in a near-miss involving an airliner and a Russian military aircraft.

NATO Northern Europe