Commentary & Analysis

Ukrainians Will Not Compromise With Russia, Nayyem Says

Ukrainian Journalist Urges West: Don’t Press Kyiv to Halt Advance Four months into their battle with Russia over southeast Ukraine, Ukrainians will not allow their government to compromise Ukraine’s sovereignty in the region, and the international community should not press it to do so, prominent Ukrainian journalist Mustafa Nayyem said at the Atlantic Council. Ukraine […]

Eyewitness: Battle for Ukraine

By The Atlantic Council

On Tuesday, August 12th, the Dinu Patriciu Eurasia Center hosted an on-the-record small group discussion with one of Ukraine’s most prominent journalists, Mustafa Nayyem. The event was introduced and moderated by Atlantic Council Writer and Editor Irena Chalupa.

To confront ISIS, get arms and emergency help to Iraq’s Kurds

By Bina Hussein and David Koranyi

US Has Declined to Arm Kurdish Forces, But That Now Must Change Iraq’s national army effectively has collapsed before the advance of the brutal guerrillas of the Islamic State, leaving only one effective fighting force – the Kurdish peshmerga – to confront them. As the Islamic State in Iraq and al-Sham (ISIS) has seized much […]

Russian-Backed Rebels Put a Local Man Out Front, But Still Look Divided

By Irena Chalupa

Separatists Show No Unity Under New Donetsk ‘Prime Minister,’ Kremlin Paper Says The Kremlin and its proxy rebellion in southeastern Ukraine seemed to recognize last week that as a supposedly Ukrainian uprising, it should have a titular Ukrainian leader, rather than a Moscow-based Russian ultra-nationalist with ties to the Kremlin. So after three months as […]

Turkey Votes Whether to Give Erdoğan the Keys to the Constitution

By Leyla Kravitz

A Prime Minister Aims to Become President, and Then Concentrate Power in His New Job ISTANBUL — Turkey’s voters are likely this month to elect Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan to a new job as the country’s president, putting him on a path to re-write the constitution and forge a more centralized, presidential government. After […]

Putin Will Decide Captured Ukrainian Pilot’s Fate, Her Lawyer Says

By Irena Chalupa

Nadiya Savchenko’s Trial is Political, Not Legal, Says Human Rights Attorney Mark Feygin Although a Russian court is preparing to try Ukrainian military pilot Nadiya Savchenko on war-related charges, it is Russian President Vladimir Putin who will decide her fate, said Savchenko’s defense attorney, Russian human rights lawyer Mark Feygin.

Kremlin Silences Crimea’s Last Pro-Ukraine TV Station

By Irena Chalupa

Shutdown Virtually Completes Muffling of Crimean Media On August 1, police in Crimea entered the headquarters of the Chornomorska Television Company to shut it down, virtually completing Russia’s silencing of all Ukrainian and independent media on the peninsula five months after its invasion. The Moscow-backed authorities had already halted other Ukrainian broadcasts and have progressively been constricting Chornomorska […]

As Putin Weighs Invading Ukraine, the West Must Tell Him How it Would Respond

By John E. Herbst

Two months of steady advance by Ukrainian security forces have brought the war in Ukraine’s southeast to a crucial point at which Russian President Vladimir Putin must decide whether to launch a conventional invasion. The next four weeks, before NATO’s annual summit conference, are a critical window for action by Ukraine and its Western allies […]

‪‪Why The EU Finally Decided on Strong Sanctions

By John E. Herbst

Russian Fighters’ Thuggishness Eroded Germany’s Putin-Verstehen ‪Last week was a good one for both the transatlantic relationship and the cause of freedom in Ukraine. It followed weeks in which Moscow had escalated its war in southeast Ukraine, sending advanced weaponry and more fighters, and directly shelling Ukrainian forces. On Tuesday, after a month of dawdling, […]