Category: Blogs

Death of Kharkiv mayor Kernes marks end of era

By Brian Mefford

The recent death of long-serving Kharkiv mayor Hennadiy Kernes marks the end of an era for the eastern Ukrainian city and ushers in a period of political jockeying in the months ahead.

The quest for water: Will the Abraham Accords change the water landscape for the region?

By Rumaitha Al Busaidi

With the threat of climate change already creating direct consequences for water security and conflict, safeguarding water for the region will prove to not only be a challenging task, but an even more crucial one than during the last multilateral efforts in the 1990s.

Ukraine’s education reforms are at risk of politicization

By Andrew D’Anieri

The controversial recent confirmation of Serhiy Shkarlet as Ukrainian Minister of Education has dragged the country's ambitious education sector reform agenda firmly into the political fray.

Can Bibi and Biden get along?

Few world leaders have been as close to Donald Trump as Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who has pushed policies—from suspected covert attacks against Iran to expanded settlements in the West Bank—that will likely antagonize the US president-elect.

To defend US elections, we must recognize that the fault is in ourselves

By Nina Kollars and Michael Rodriguez

It is time to put money toward state information infrastructure, to align public expectations with the pace of the democratic process, and to hold elected leaders accountable for lighting fires in information dumpsters.

Ukraine on trial

By Adrian Karatnycky

Fears are mounting that the prosecution of Maidan protest movement leader Tetyana Chornovol on murder charges is an attempt to put Ukraine's entire future as a European democracy on trial.

Global litigation strategies to close the accountability gap on human rights violators in Iran

By Lucy Grathwohl

Gissou Nia and a panel of litigators—Haydee Dijkstal, Amanda Ghahremani, Scott Gilmore—discussed the tools through which the perpetrators of gross human rights violations in the Islamic Republic of Iran (IRI) can be held accountable in the United States, Europe, and Canada.

Terror tactics fail to stop the rise of a democratic Belarus

By Hanna Liubakova

By seeking to subjugate his own population, dictator Alyaksandr Lukashenka is unwittingly pushing the Belarusian people away from the Soviet past and towards a democratic European future.

US poised to boost support for democracy in Belarus

By Vladislav Davidzon

Belarus looms large on the US foreign policy agenda for 2021. Senators can set the stage for the year ahead by passing the Belarus Democracy, Human Rights and Sovereignty Act of 2020.

Reinforcing transatlantic ties amidst Nord Stream 2 sanctions: A way forward

By Richard L. Morningstar, Daniel Fried, Olga Khakova

The United States and European Union should develop a comprehensive strategy on deterring and mitigating Russian influence and aggression in Europe, including cooperation on energy infrastructure and the encouragement of competitive and transparent energy markets. This strategy should be the bridge for working through tensions stemming from Nord Stream 2 sanctions and for rebuilding the transatlantic relationship.