Category: Timely Commentary & Analysis

NATO advanced research workshop on confidence building in cyberspace

NATO advanced research workshop on “Confidence-Building in Cyberspace ” was hosted by the Swedish Institute for National Defense and Security Policy Studies, the Swedish National Defense College, and the Atlantic Council’s Cyber Statecraft Initiative March 25 – 27, 2014. The event was supported by the NATO Science for Peace and Security Programme (SPS) which seeks […]

Ensuring US-EU Economic Cooperation

A Conversation with Sharon Bowles, MEP Sharon Bowles, member of European Parliament, and outgoing chair of the powerful economic and monetary affairs (ECON) committee, gave a public speech at Atlantic Council headquarters after a series of meetings between a delegation of MEPs and their US government counterparts. Bowles spoke about her 5 years as the […]

Diplomacy with Iran Through a European Lens

By Nazia Khan

Despite a current political focus on nuclear talks, opening the human rights dialogue with Iran is an essential European Union (EU) priority. Speaking at an Atlantic Council’s South Asia Center roundtable, European Parliament Member Marietje Schaake stressed the need to place human rights at the forefront of the official agenda and to avoid a zero-sum […]

Senators McCain, Durbin Push Congress to Sanction Russia

US Senate leaders John McCain [R-AZ] and Dick Durbin [D-IL] urged Congress to pass quickly – within a week – strong economic sanctions against Russia for its armed seizure of Crimea from Ukraine. In a conference call hosted by the Atlantic Council with journalists and council members, Durbin and McCain, both members of the Senate […]

Youth Activism in the Gulf States: Breaking Taboos

The rise of social media has had a profound effect on youth throughout the world, but in the Gulf in particular this new outlet for information exchange has created a space for activism that was impossible until now. On March 21, 2014, the Atlantic Council launched a new issue brief, “Breaking Taboos: Youth Activism in the […]

Is the Indian Nuclear Tiger Changing Its Stripes?

Data, Interpretation, and Fact A central question within the current nuclear discourse is whether or not India has fundamentally altered the manner in which it has traditionally conducted nuclear business. Dr. Gaurav Kampani of the Norwegian Institute of Defense Studies and Toby Dalton, Deputy Director of the Nuclear Policy Program at the Carnegie Endowment for […]

Afghanistan: Top US Official Says Corruption May Ruin a Fragile ‘Reconstruction’

Uncontrolled corruption in Afghanistan could cost the United States what fragile progress it has made in the most expensive reconstruction of another country it has ever attempted, according to the most senior US official monitoring that program. As the Obama administration prepares to end the longest war of US history, it is relying on reconstruction […]