Category: Blogs

Content

IranSource

May 17, 2018

Iran’s Salafi Jihadis

By Scheherezade Faramarzi

Last year’s attacks in Tehran by Islamic State recruits reflect Shia Iran’s ambiguous, inconsistent and at times contradictory relationship with Sunni Salafists. While tough on extremist groups threatening its sovereignty or military presence in Syria, the Iranian government has often turned a blind eye to such groups to allow them to fight US forces in […]

Iran

New Atlanticist

May 16, 2018

Russia is Anxious About War. Here’s How the United States Should Respond

By Ariel Cohen

US President Donald J. Trump’s decision to withdraw the United States from the Iran nuclear deal may increase the prospects of instability in the Middle East. However, Russia is likely to interpret this instability through the prism of what many politicians and analysts in Moscow like to call the “approaching global confrontation with the United […]

Russia

SyriaSource

May 16, 2018

The Ongoing Medical Crisis in Raqqa

By Maher Al-Hamdan

Amran lives in Raqqa. He travels more than 30 miles twice a month to get his diabetes medication from a pharmacy in Ain Issa, north of the city of Raqqa. He also travels west to the city of Tabqa another 25 miles to get treatment for his family. Imran is forced to travel each time […]

Syria

AfricaSource

May 16, 2018

Burundi’s flawed constitutional referendum

By Kelsey Lilley

Burundians will go to the polls on Thursday, May 17 to vote in a constitutional referendum set to allow Pierre Nkurunziza, president since the end of the country’s civil war in 2005, an opportunity to stay in power until 2034.  The vote takes place amid a fragile domestic situation, and it is likely to deepen […]

Africa Corruption

UkraineAlert

May 16, 2018

Do Ukraine’s Reformers Have a Real Shot at the Presidency?

By Melinda Haring

Ukraine’s opposition is a mess—but this is hardly news. Through Ukraine’s nearly three decades of independence, its opposition has never gotten its act together. Consequently, the same corrupt elite continues to govern the country of 45 million to its detriment. Ukraine managed to squander the gains of its street revolution in 2004, and as the […]

Ukraine

New Atlanticist

May 16, 2018

Can Muqtada Al-Sadr And The United States Be Friends?

By Ashish Kumar Sen

Amid the uncertainty that has followed the Iraqi parliamentary elections on May 12 one thing is clear: formerly anti-US Shia cleric Muqtada al-Sadr’s list is the top vote-getter. Sadr is trailed by Iran-backed Shia militia leader Hadi al-Amiri in second place and current Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi in third according to the unofficial results […]

Iraq

New Atlanticist

May 16, 2018

Basque Terrorist Group ETA Disbands, Ending Decades of Violence

By Alvaro Morales Salto-Weis

One of Europe’s longest terrorist campaigns is finally over. The dissolution of Basque separatist group ETA puts an end to the use of deadly violence for political goals in Spain, namely, establishing an independent nationalist state in the country’s Basque region. Like the Good Friday Agreement that sealed the peace process in Northern Ireland in […]

Southern & Southeastern Europe

EnergySource

May 16, 2018

The future of oil: An innovator’s perspective

By Randolph Bell

Technology, policy, consumer preference, and price are driving dramatic changes in the energy mix, and the United Arab Emirates is at the forefront of efforts to innovate and diversify. In an interview with Randolph Bell, director of the Atlantic Council Global Energy Center, Musabbeh Al Kaabi, chief executive officer for petroleum and petrochemicals at the […]

Energy Markets & Governance Oil and Gas
German Leopard 2, December 2011, (US Army).

NATOSource

May 16, 2018

Is Germany’s Military Readiness Problem a Critical Vulnerability for NATO?

By John Vandiver, Stars and Stripes

Germany’s military is virtually undeployable and security experts say it is too weak to meet its obligations to its allies, as it prepares to assume command of NATO’s crisis response force next year.

Germany NATO

MENASource

May 16, 2018

Iraq: The reinvention of Muqtada al-Sadr

By Dr. Nabeel Khoury

Muqtada al-Sadr—often dubbed a firebrand cleric—has come a long way from the days in 2003 when he was an outcast and a hunted man, to the victor in the 2018 Iraqi elections. Early results suggesting a surprising lead for Sadr are a personal vindication for him, certainly, but a challenge for Iraq’s political elite which […]

Democratic Transitions Elections
Load More