Category: Blogs

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New Atlanticist

Oct 10, 2018

Here’s why Angela Merkel will be paying attention to Bavaria’s election (and you should too)

By Jörn Fleck and Alex Baker

The bigger question for German and perhaps European politics will be how the CSU reacts to a likely loss of an absolute majority at home.

Elections Germany

SyriaSource

Oct 10, 2018

Discontent among Assyrians in Syria’s northeast

By Ammar Hammou and Madeline Edwards for Syria Direct

Prominent Assyrian Christian writer and dissident Souleman Yusph was in his home in northeastern Syria’s Qamishli last Sunday night when local security personnel reportedly burst in, arrested him, and carried off his laptop and cell phones with them. By the following Thursday night, sixty-one year old Yusph—a vocal critic of the majority-Kurdish Self-Administration that controls the vast majority of […]

Syria

New Atlanticist

Oct 10, 2018

World economic outlook: Trade tensions and tariffs a major threat to global economic growth

By Marie Kasperek

While a downward correction of 0.2 percent in global growth is not outright alarming, experts do warn of potential clouds on the horizon.

International Financial Institutions Macroeconomics

New Atlanticist

Oct 10, 2018

Elections in Bosnia: More of the same, but there is a silver lining

By Dimitar Bechev

To cut a long story short, Bosnia’s politics continue to be dominated by two ethnically defined poles—one led by Serbian Dodik and another around Muslim Bosniaks and the SDA. 

Elections The Balkans

IranSource

Oct 10, 2018

Sanctions or Liquidity—Which One Is More Dangerous for Iran’s Economy?

By Hoorozan

The Iranian rial was traded at 150,000 against the US dollar on October 2, indicating a 12 percent appreciation in just one day. Bonbast, a website which tracks free market rates in Iran, stopped posting rates for the day, while state news agencies reported that the free market rial value kept appreciating as high as […]

Iran

New Atlanticist

Oct 9, 2018

SWIFT action risks unintended consequences

By Samantha Sultoon

Unilateral, isolated policy making that implicates SWIFT risks hampering the flow of global financial transactions and trade, harming US businesses as well as further antagonizing European allies.

International Financial Institutions Trade and tariffs
HaleyTrumpFeature

New Atlanticist

Oct 9, 2018

UN Ambassador Nikki Haley resigns

By Ashish Kumar Sen

Haley, a former governor of South Carolina and the daughter of Indian immigrants, at times struck an independent position from Trump, but was also a prominent supporter of the president.

International Organizations Politics & Diplomacy

EnergySource

Oct 9, 2018

Ukraine’s nuclear state of play: The international dimension

By Melissa Hersh and Edward Kee

The following is the second installment in a three-part series on the proposed Energy Bridge project, an energy development and regional energy interconnection initiative for Ukraine and its neighbors. In Part 1 of this series, we described the Energy Bridge project and why it is an important initiative for Ukraine. In this Part 2, we […]

Europe & Eurasia Geopolitics & Energy Security

UkraineAlert

Oct 9, 2018

Why Can’t Ukraine Kill Corruption?

By Mykola Vorobiov

Ukraine still struggles to overcome its core disease of corruption. Since the 2014 Euromaidan, a number of anticorruption institutions have been created in close cooperation with Western partners, including the United States. Among them are the National Anti-Corruption Bureau (NABU), the Special Anti-Corruption Prosecutor’s Office (SAP), the State Bureau of Investigation (SBI), and the Anti-Corruption […]

Ukraine

MENASource

Oct 9, 2018

A case in context: From the Lebanese Civil War to the Special Tribunal for Lebanon

By Faysal Itani and Anthony Elghossain

The Special Tribunal for Lebanon has just heard the closing arguments in Ayyash et. al, on September 21, 2018; a case in which prosecutors charged four members or associates of Hezbollah with the assassination of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafic Hariri. Thirteen years after the assassination, judges are in the process of making their judgement.

Middle East Syria