Category: Blogs

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IranSource

Dec 3, 2019

New protests expose widening rift between Iran’s regime and ‘the people’

By Borzou Daragahi

Whether one is navigating past truckers driving along country roads, visiting underground parties in the capital, or holding heated debates with members of different political persuasions in cafes or shared taxis, Iran doesn’t feel like a totalitarian dictatorship.  Forty years after a violent revolution that overturned a small Western-oriented elite, Iranians remain irrepressible and irreverent—as […]

Digital Policy Iran

New Atlanticist

Dec 3, 2019

NATO secretary general: The Alliance is delivering

By Max J. Rosenthal

When French President Emmanuel Macron warned of “the brain death of NATO” last month, it was widely seen as yet another damaging public rift for the Alliance. But NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg had a clear message on December 3, one day before NATO leaders meet in London: actions speak louder than words.

NATO

UkraineAlert

Dec 3, 2019

Low expectations as Zelenskyy prepares for Putin peace talks in Paris

By Taras Kuzio

Ukraine's President Zelenskyy is hoping to make progress towards peace during his first face-to-face meeting with Vladimir Putin next week in Paris, but Russian and Ukrainian visions of a post-war settlement remain fundamentally at odds.

Conflict Russia

UkraineAlert

Dec 3, 2019

Ukraine faces a decisive December in a rapidly deteriorating geopolitical climate

By Stephen Blank

With a NATO summit in London and long awaited peace talks in Paris, December is shaping up to be a decisive month for Ukraine, but the geopolitical climate is far from favorable and could deteriorate further.

Conflict France

New Atlanticist

Dec 3, 2019

NATO is defined by its success—not its tensions

By David A. Wemer

While international headlines have focused on high-profile disputes within the NATO alliance over a litany of issues including defense spending, trade, Syria, and Brexit, transatlantic leaders stressed on December 3 that these disagreements are dwarfed by the continued success of the seventy-year-old alliance.

NATO Poland

AfricaSource

Dec 2, 2019

Sudan’s prime minister comes to Washington

By Cameron Hudson

Thus far, the prime minister has done a poor job of managing the outsized expectations of his people to be out from under Washington’s punitive regime. Many will surely be disappointed when and if he returns home without one of these large deliverables, but Hamdok need not leave Washington empty-handed.

Africa Civil Society

New Atlanticist

Dec 2, 2019

Iraqi prime minister’s resignation: Lessons for the United States and Iran

By Thomas S. Warrick

The current crisis has important lessons for both United States and Iranian policymakers as they consider what relationship they want to have with Iraq: not just the Iraqi political class, but the Iraqis in the street, who represent—in some cases more closely than the Iraqi political class in Baghdad—the 80 percent of Iraqis who are under forty years old.

Democratic Transitions Iraq

New Atlanticist

Dec 2, 2019

Dual threats imperil the WTO

By Hung Tran

The WTO will have to deal with intensifying pressure to undertake radical reform, without which it could slide further into irrelevance in a new world trade environment fragmented by a growing number of regional and bilateral trade agreements.

International Financial Institutions Trade and tariffs
Iraqi prime minister's resignation, Adil Abdul-Mahdi

MENASource

Dec 2, 2019

The Iraqi prime minister’s resignation: A way ahead for the United States

By C. Anthony Pfaff

Iraq’s Prime Minister, Adil Abdul-Mahdi, should be feeling a great sense of relief. Since mid-October, media outlets have reported his intent to resign amid violent protests that have engulfed much of Iraq. His resignation should be no surprise. Since the fall of Saddam, Iraq has a history of picking leaders who do not pose a […]

Corruption Democratic Transitions

IranSource

Dec 2, 2019

Protests challenge Iran’s future position in Iraq

By Robert Czulda

Ongoing violent protests in Iraq have shaken the fragile stability of the country, as well as Iran’s carefully constructed geopolitical strategy for its neighbor and historic rival.

Economy & Business Energy & Environment