Category: Blogs

Consequences of the cold shoulder: US refugee policy and Middle East instability

By Seth Hershberger

On October 4, President Trump officially approved a refugee cap of 30,000—an all-time low. In August, despite previously increasing aid to Jordan, the US decided to end all UNRWA funding for Palestinian refugees in Jordan, Lebanon, Syria, and Palestine. This summer, the Supreme Court upheld Trump’s controversial travel ban that affects refugees and immigrants alike. Of the eight countries listed, five are in the Middle East/North Africa.

Gadhafi’s Libya and the importance of not shunning the past

By Karim Mezran

It is now common to hear in the streets of the capital Tripoli and other Libyan cities the wistful sentiment: “I wish we could go back to the golden period of Gadhafi’s rule.”

Rome and Brussels go head to head in budget battle

By Álvaro Morales Salto-Weis

The proposal, which creates a deficit that is more than triple the level desired by the EU, has left investors jittery about the trajectory of the Italian economy.

Quiz: Countdown to Brexit

By Atlantic Council

The United Kingdom has six  months left in the European Union. Do you know the difference between “hard” and “soft” Brexit? Whether you’re Team Barnier or Team Raab, prove that you are the master of Brexit negotiations. Here are seven questions on Europe’s messy divorce.

Church Splits, and Putin Loses Big

By Stephen Blank

Ukraine has just won a tremendous victory by obtaining the right of autocephaly, or the right to constitute the Ukrainian Orthodox Church as fully independent and free of any subservience to Moscow. This victory represents a shattering blow to Vladimir Putin’s pretenses of a Russian world (Russkii Mir) and the entire arcana imperii (Imperial relics) […]

Championing the frontlines of freedom

By Damon Wilson

Russia aims to establish a permanent grey zone between itself and NATO and the EU. But Moscow is learning that the people of the region have a say—and they won’t have it.

TRADE IN ACTION October 18, 2018

By Global Business & Economics Program

Iran’s Environmentalists Are Caught Up in a Political Power Struggle

By Tara Sepehri Far

The family of Kavous Seyed Emami, a prominent environmentalist and professor at Tehran’s Imam Sadegh University, broke the horrific news on February 10 that he had died under suspicious circumstances while in detention. Iranian authorities claimed he had committed suicide. Only a few weeks earlier, the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) intelligence arm had arrested […]

The New Cold War Could Learn a Lot from the Old One

By John E. Herbst

Territories between great powers—borderlands—have always been areas of strife. So it is with the countries caught between Russia and the West, those that were once part of the Soviet Union or firmly within its sphere of influence. Much of Europe has consolidated and, with the United States, established a lasting liberal democratic order, but Russia […]

Our critical infrastructure is more vulnerable than ever. Here’s what we can do about it.

By Michael K. Daly

The United States, like many of its allies, is at a tipping point. We must step up and make it more difficult for our adversaries to breach our critical infrastructure.