Category: Blogs

FAST THINKING: Meet the picks for Biden’s national security team

By Atlantic Council

Joe Biden’s selections for his incoming national security team are coming in fast. But what’s the bigger picture that’s coming into focus?

FAST THINKING: It’s Yellen for Treasury

By Atlantic Council

Janet Yellen could face an economy devastated by the coronavirus and the haphazard response to it in Washington. Josh Lipsky provides insight into how she might manage a difficult recovery.

Building bridges across the Three Seas

By Piotr Trabinski, Daniel Palotai, Liviu Voinea, Tsvetan Manchev, and Nils Vaikla

The CESEE countries would be justified by gradually moving away from indiscriminate policy support to better targeted strategic policy resource allocation and growth-enhancing infrastructure projects.

FAST THINKING: How Tony Blinken sees America

By Atlantic Council

Joe Biden is reportedly about to make his first major foreign-policy move by announcing that he’ll nominate Tony Blinken, his longtime advisor and a veteran of the Clinton and Obama administrations, as secretary of state. To answer the big questions about who Blinken is and how he might serve in the role, we turned to Dan Fried, a former US ambassador who spent forty years in the foreign service and has known Blinken for decades.

Why foreign election interference fizzled in 2020

By Scott Jasper

The lessons of 2016 seem to have been heeded by those looking to protect us from disinformation from abroad, but the real threat in 2020 came from misinformation within the United States.

Regional stability is in the interest of both Saudi Arabia and Iran

By Mohsen Tavakol

Contrary to common stereotypes, Riyadh and Tehran actually share a number of common interests.

In states with key clean energy wins, utilities have a strong hand in driving or stalling progress

By Emily Burlinghaus

The 2020 US elections delivered some notable state and city-level wins for clean energy across the United States, notably in Nevada, Colorado, and Ohio. However, even in states that delivered victories for clean energy, utilities will still play a key role in driving—or stalling—the clean energy transition. The complex history of clean energy policy in each of these states points to the divergent paths both cities and states can take to decarbonize and the importance of striking a delicate balance between government, utilities, and public interests.

How Ukraine’s Orange Revolution shaped twenty-first century geopolitics

By Peter Dickinson

Ukraine's 2004 Orange Revolution is often overlooked but it is worthy of more attention as one of the great geopolitical turning points of the early twenty-first century that set the stage for today's Cold War climate.

Can Joe Biden really revive the Iran nuclear deal?

Is the JCPOA DOA? On this episode of Fast Thinking, Barbara Slavin and Matthew Kroenig share their thoughts on whether the Biden administration will try to revive the controversial 2015 nuclear deal with Iran. But will Tehran even play ball? Barbara and Matt agree that there is a future for the deal, and with continued […]

Iran tries another lockdown as coronavirus cases soar

By Tahereh Hadian-Jazy

Faced with a new surge in coronavirus cases, Iranian authorities have ordered hundreds of cities across the country to obey a variety of stringent new restrictions starting from November 21.