Category: Timely Commentary & Analysis

Here’s How NATO Can Open a Path to Membership for Georgia

By Edward P. Joseph and Mamuka Tsereteli

Amid Ukraine Crisis, US Should Push to Remove an Obstacle Mae West once said that “an ounce of performance is worth a pound of promises.” For Georgians, to whom NATO promised eventual membership in the alliance back in 2008, truer words have never been spoken. NATO’s standard procedure is to require candidate member states to […]

Afghanistan: A Peaceful Transfer of Power in Jeopardy

Amb. Ronald E. Neumann, former US ambassador to Afghanistan and President of the American Academy of Diplomacy and Mr. David S. Sedney, former deputy assistant secretary of defense for Afghanistan, Pakistan, and Central Asia, spoke at a South Asia Center roundtable about the fraud allegations surrounding Afghanistan’s presidential election and the resulting political impasse in […]

Afghanistan: Economic Transition and Transformation

Afghanistan has made enormous progress in reconstruction, development, and lifting per capita income. This progress, including steadily rising per capita income, has occurred despite security challenges and decreasing donor commitments from 2002-2013. Paul Ross, head of the International Monetary Fund’s Afghanistan mission, reported these findings at an Atlantic Council’s South Asia Center discussion on Afghanistan’s […]

Accountability for Syria’s War Criminals is a Must Says Ambassador Rapp

By The Atlantic Council

More than 162,000 people have been killed in Syria since the conflict began in March 2011. The Assad regime and some opposition fighters have committed serious human rights abuses, including torture, mass killing, and rape. On Wednesday, July 2, 2014, the Atlantic Council’s Rafik Hariri Center for the Middle East hosted Stephen J. Rapp, ambassador-at-large […]

Libya’s Southwest: Important to Understanding Country’s Security Crisis

As Libya’s political crisis deepens and violent clashes mount, attention to the transitioning country has largely focused on the weak government in Tripoli and the tumultuous eastern region. The largely ignored southwestern party of the country known as the Fezzan, however, presents another set of challenges, with porous borders, ethnic and tribal tensions, and a […]

If NATO Delays Path to Georgia’s Membership, What Is the Alternative?

By Tedo Japaridze

Alliance’s September Summit Must Offer ‘Concrete,’ Not ‘Token’ Help as Georgia Faces Russia In the same week that the European Union signed an association agreement with Georgia on June 27, NATO officials meeting in Brussels decided not to offer the country a formal plan this year to achieve membership in the alliance. If ‘no’ is […]

US Risks Losing Syria and Iraq to Jihadists

By The Atlantic Council

The Islamic State of Iraq and Sham (ISIS) continues to capture more territory and resources in both Iraq and Syria, making real progress in achieving their ultimate goal of establishing an Islamic State. On Thursday, June 26, 2014, the Atlantic Council’s Rafik Hariri Center for the Middle East and Brent Scowcroft Center on International Security […]

EU Leadership Change: What’s at Stake for Europe and the US?

By Marten Van Heuven

Sometime soon, the prospect of the European holiday calendar will force the pace, and the European Union will have a new management team. A new European Commission will alter relations among member states and between them and the European institutions in Brussels. Of course, it will not put an end to the tug and pull […]