Commentary & Analysis

Tymoshenko and Kolomoyskyi Score Wins in Ukraine’s Special Elections

By Brian Mefford

Populism is on the rise in Ukraine, so it’s little surprise that Fatherland party leader Yulia Tymoshenko and oligarch Ihor Kolomoyskyi gained the most seats in Ukraine’s special parliamentary elections on July 17. Elections were held in seven districts across the country. Fatherland candidates won in Kherson and Poltava, while Kolomoyskyi’s candidate won in Volyn […]

Wanted: A Measured Response to Turkey’s Post-Coup Attempt Crackdown

By Ashish Kumar Sen

The United States and Europe must have a measured response to developments in Turkey where a failed coup has been followed by a swift and widespread crackdown by the Turkish government, according to former US and UK officials. “We need to be careful about too much language that could be perceived to be threatening,” said […]

Ukraine Needs to Abandon its Soviet Thinking Once and for All

By Basil A. Kalymon

Ukraine’s reform efforts continue to sputter on without any transformative results more than two years after former President Viktor Yanukovych fled to Moscow. The economy’s basic problems have not yet been addressed. It is still bogged down in its Soviet past, with populist forces making illusory promises that appeal to many voters’ Soviet-era mentality. The […]

How Ukraine Can Win the Information War in a Fact Free World

By Peter Dickinson

What media outlets do you trust? From the Brexit referendum and the US presidential race to Russia’s information war on Ukraine, it is becoming increasingly clear that we now live in a fact-free world where emotions reign supreme and truth is in the eye of the beholder. This trend first became apparent around the time […]

The Perils of a Failed Coup in Turkey

By Sabine Freizer

The condemnations came swiftly on the night of the attempted coup. From critics of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s human rights record to Selahattin Demirtaş, the head of the opposition Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP), to Russian President Vladimir Putin and German Chancellor Angela Merkel, the consensus was clear: military coups bring misery. The history of […]

Energy Implications of Turkey’s Attempted Coup

By John M. Roberts

The Turkish government may have survived an attempted coup on the night of July 15-16, but it is still a country at war—and it is still a country through which around 10.5 percent of the world’s internationally traded oil passes. Nothing can, therefore, be taken for granted when it comes to considering a crucial issue […]

Human Rights is No Game

Panelists call for protections in nations hosting sporting events International sporting organizations need to step up to the plate and pressure countries hosting major sporting events to increase institutional transparency, reduce corruption, and prevent human rights abuses. “This is a moment of great concern and crisis for world sport defined by human rights [negligence], corruption, […]

Foul Play: The Human Cost of World Sports

By Dinu Patriciu Eurasia Center

Wednesday July 13, 2016, the Atlantic Council’s Dinu Patriciu Eurasia Center hosted a panel of human rights experts to discuss the human rights violation which often accompany international mega sports events. The panelist included: Minky Worden, director of global initiatives at Human Rights Watch, Sunjeev Bery, advocacy director, Middle East and North Africa at Amnesty […]

New Generation of Digital Detectives Fight to Keep Russia Honest

By Eliot Higgins

Almost two years ago on July 17, 2014, a Buk missile downed Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 in eastern Ukraine, killing 298 passengers and their crew. The Russian government pushed evidence implying that a Ukrainian plane had shot down MH17, while the Dutch Safety Board concluded that a Buk missile caused the plane to break up […]

Has Ukraine Really Changed?

By Michael McCarthy

On Sunday, July 17, voters in seven electoral districts in Ukraine will head to the polls to select their representatives for the Verkhovna Rada, Ukraine’s parliament. This special election is set to fill vacancies, some due to ministerial appointments and elections to other offices, and in one case due to the death of an incumbent. […]