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SyriaSource

Aug 23, 2018

Chemical warnings and unintended consequences

By Frederic C. Hof

On August 21, 2018 the United States, France, and the United Kingdom issued a statement to commemorate the fifth anniversary of the Assad regime’s deadly chemical attack on civilians in the rebel-held Ghouta suburb of Damascus. According to the three powers, “we will respond appropriately to any further use of chemical weapons by the Syrian regime, which has had such devastating humanitarian consequences for the Syria people.”

Syria

IranSource

Aug 23, 2018

Hackers Are Infecting Android Devices and Iranians Don’t Even Know It

By Amin Sabeti

Iran is no stranger to the global digital security community. This week, cybersecurity firm FireEye released a report about a network of Iranian accounts and groups on social media platforms attempting to manipulate users and also hack their accounts. Though big stories like this tend to focus on Iranian cyber attacks against Western government interests […]

Iran

NATOSource

Aug 23, 2018

Trump Confirms He Threatened to Withdraw from NATO

By Donald Trump, CSPAN

I went to meet the leaders of the folks that run NATO, all of the leaders of NATO, and they weren’t paying their bills.

NATO Security & Defense

MENASource

Aug 22, 2018

Syria and Yemen could have been Jordan

By Erin A. Neale

Recently the World Bank published its annual world income categorization of 189 countries and 28 other economies. Jordan, Syria, and Yemen were among the nine countries whose status climbed or fell to reflect changes in gross national income (GNI). Jordan progressed from a lower-middle income to an upper-middle income country ($3,896–$12,055 per capita). The effects […]

Middle East Syria

New Atlanticist

Aug 22, 2018

Follow the money: How the United States can stop helping Putin

By Roshni Majumdar

If Putin’s grip on power was to be threatened, his offshore wealth could be critical to defend his political power. Holding onto this financial reserve is key for Putin.

Corruption Financial Sanctions and Economic Coercion

IranSource

Aug 22, 2018

Declassified Documents Reveal Weakness of Unilateral Iran Sanctions

By Danielle Siegel

The Trump Administration’s May 2018 decision to pull the US out of the 2015 Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) made headlines with its promise of unprecedented sanctions against Iran. Strong rhetoric aside, President Trump’s stated policy outcomes are consistent with those of his predecessors: preventing Iran from advancing its nuclear and missile capabilities, discouraging […]

Iran

New Atlanticist

Aug 21, 2018

Trade rules (sometimes) need to be broken

By Robert Dohner

In situations that existing rules don’t cover, a willingness to break the rules is often the only way to bring about the required revisions to international rules.

China Financial Regulation

New Atlanticist

Aug 21, 2018

This Greek tragedy is not over just yet

By Bart Oosterveld and Alexatrini Tsiknia

Today, there is greater disdain in Greece for EU and Greek institutions, and for middle-ground politics. There is a corresponding increase in support for far-right and far-left political parties.

Greece Inclusive Growth

MENASource

Aug 21, 2018

Three pressing barriers to forming an Iraqi government

By Andrea Taylor

Protests raging in southern Iraq foretell the potentially dire consequences if political leaders in the country are unable to form a government in the coming months. Unrest has culminated, after subsequent summers with widespread power outages and frustration in a government widely perceived as corrupt, in at least fourteen demonstrator deaths since early July and […]

Democratic Transitions Elections

IranSource

Aug 21, 2018

Reflecting on the Iran-Iraq War, Thirty Years Later

By Lukman Faily

This August marks the thirtieth anniversary of the Iran-Iraq War ending. This tragic eight-year conflict was a transformable event for Tehran and Baghdad. There were over one million casualties on both sides, and the conflict effectively transformed the entire Middle East, too. The narrative of “futile war” comes to mind when one tries to look […]

Iran Iraq
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