Commentary & Analysis

A Smart US Investment for Georgia’s Future

By Nino Ghvinadze and Laura Linderman

Despite Georgia’s readiness to become a candidate for NATO, the Alliance announced in late June that Georgia will not be offered a Membership Action Plan (MAP) at the Wales Summit this September. This is disappointing news for Georgia, which has undertaken years of political and military reforms and has long awaited to be welcomed into the […]

Watching For Putin’s Plan ‘B’ in Ukraine

By James Rupert

With Kremlin’s Proxy War Stumbling, Kyiv and West Guard Against ‘Humanitarian Intervention’ As Russia’s government moves its proposed convoy of humanitarian aid toward the war zone in Ukraine that it has created with its support of separatist militias, Ukraine and Western governments are warning it not to try using Russian military forces on the border […]

New Ukraine Orthodox Leader Signals Continued Church Divide

By Irena Chalupa

Ukrainians’ Traditional Loyalty to Moscow Patriarch is Strained by His Close Tie to Kremlin  The longstanding divide between Ukraine’s two main Orthodox churches will continue with little change following the election yesterday of a new leader, or metropolitan, by the Moscow-aligned faction. Metropolitan Onufriy is a religious conservative loyal to his church’s formal subordination to […]

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.