Content

New Atlanticist

Jan 28, 2021

Smithsonian’s Lonnie Bunch: ‘We’re still in the midst of a fundamental debate over what America is’

By Larry Luxner

“The role of a museum is not just to look back, but to collect today for tomorrow,” Lonnie G. Bunch said during an Atlantic Council Front Page virtual conversation with Dr. Richard Kurin, the Smithsonian’s distinguished scholar and ambassador-at-large.

Civil Society Resilience

UkraineAlert

Jan 28, 2021

Navalny vs Putin: what next?

By Peter Dickinson

January 23 saw some of the biggest anti-regime protests across Russia in recent years. What can we expect from the escalating confrontation between Vladimir Putin and opposition leader Alexei Navalny?

Corruption Democratic Transitions

IranSource

Jan 28, 2021

Iran is actually reducing its weapons-usable uranium inventory

By Robert Kelley

Iran’s growing stockpile of 20 percent UF6 is far less worrisome when it is converted to a form not suitable for further enrichment. This is a nonproliferation victory.

Iran Politics & Diplomacy

Fast Thinking

Jan 28, 2021

FAST THINKING: Breaking down Biden’s big climate moves

By Atlantic Council

President Joe Biden came into office promising to make big moves to address climate change. Yesterday he got to work with a bevy of executive orders designed to take some of the new administration’s first major steps. What do they mean?

Climate Change & Climate Action Elections

Event Recap

Jan 27, 2021

Event recap | An immune system for the planet

By Ben Schatz

In this special edition of the GeoTech Hour, held weekly on Wednesdays from 12:00 - 1:00 p.m. EST, the GeoTech Center airs a recording of the most recent installment of its Immune System for the Planet private roundtables.

Coronavirus Resilience & Society

UkraineAlert

Jan 27, 2021

Geopolitics complicates Ukraine’s vaccine quest

By Pavlo Kovtoniuk

Unfavorable geopolitical factors have helped make Ukraine one of the last countries in Europe to secure COVID vaccine supplies and delayed the launch of a national inoculation campaign.

Coronavirus Ukraine

BelarusAlert

Jan 27, 2021

Protest mood spreads from Belarus to Russia as calls grow for post-Soviet change

By Brian Whitmore

As Russians took to the streets across eleven time zones on January 23 to protest the jailing of opposition leader Alexei Navalny, many of them also had protests in neighboring Belarus on their minds.

Belarus Civil Society

Arab Spring

Jan 27, 2021

The unlikely success of Egypt’s 2011 revolution: A revived women’s movement

By Sara Khorshid

What distinguishes the past decade from other parts of contemporary Egyptian history is the growing interest in women’s rights among broader segments of Egyptian society, including non-ideological women with little to no experience in political or social activism. This has occurred despite the general oppressive atmosphere that has cast a dark shadow over the January 25th revolution and its memory.

Middle East North Africa

Global Energy Forum

Jan 26, 2021

Why companies are getting more involved in the campaign against climate change

By Larry Luxner

BP, the world’s fourth-largest energy conglomerate, and Bank of America, the world’s ninth-largest bank are among the companies endorsing a charter likened to a recovery plan for the planet. Dubbed the Terra Carta, the charter commits them to working toward goals related to meeting global net-zero emissions targets by 2050.

Economy & Business Energy & Environment

New Atlanticist

Jan 26, 2021

Xi Jinping at the virtual Davos: Multilateralism with Chinese characteristics

By Hung Tran

While international cooperation within multilateral frameworks is indeed crucial in addressing many of the serious challenges presently facing the world, it is important to recognize that not all calls for multilateralism are the same. And Xi’s vision of multilateralism differs in key respects from the conceptions of multilateralism espoused by much of the world.

China Economy & Business