Europe Center Commentary & Analysis

The Europe Center uses real-time commentary and analysis to explain to key audiences in America current developments in Europe and how they affect the transatlantic relationship.

All timely commentary & analysis

New Atlanticist

Sep 1, 2010

Globalization Gone Too Far? The Dilemma Facing Women’s Tennis

By Scott Bleiweis

Tennis’s fourth and final grand slam event of the year, the U.S. Open, gets underway this week in New York City. The diversity of the women’s field is a case study in how globalization has infiltrated the world of sports, creating reality that few could have foreseen a generation ago. In order to adapt, the […]

New Atlanticist

Aug 5, 2010

When Is Anti-Extremism Anti-Islamic? The View from Europe (and America)

By Scott Bleiweis

France’s decision to ban full Islamic veil-wearing in public stirred up accusations of anti-Muslim bias. Ongoing controversies in the Netherlands and here in the U.S. show the complexity of balancing religious tolerance and opposing the more radical elements of Islam. At the center of the controversy in Europe is Geert Wilders, leaders of the Freedom […]

New Atlanticist

Aug 5, 2010

Creating a Transatlantic Bridge

By Sarwar Kashmeri

Annette Heuser, Executive Director of The Bertelsmann Foundation, speaks with Atlantic Council senior fellow Sarwar Kashmeri in the latest installment of the New Atlanticist Podcast Series. Heuser discusses The Bertelsmann Foundation’s efforts to establish a strong transatlantic bridge between the U.S. and Europe, without preference to any one European country or region.

New Atlanticist

Jul 9, 2010

Do the Rest Need the West?

By Nikolas Gvosdev

Three years ago, Naazneen Barma, Ely Ratner and Steven Weber sounded a warning: the rest of the world was not necessarily looking to integrate into a Euro-Atlantic hub. They noted: "The landscape of globalization now looks like this: While connectivity for the globe as a whole has increased in the last twenty years, it is […]

New Atlanticist

Jun 25, 2010

Transatlantic Clash at G20?

By James Joyner

Stuart Eizenstadt and Caio Koch-Weser correctly argue that it’s time for "a renaissance of joint economic and political leadership by the U.S. and the EU and its members" at tomorrow’s G20 Summit.   We won’t, however, be getting it.

New Atlanticist

Jun 2, 2010

A European State That Has Friendly Ties With Russia

By Adrian Karatnycky

Is Ukraine drifting toward Russia and away from Europe? Several recent developments suggest it may be. Although the pendulum has swung toward Moscow, a case can be made that a foreign policy balance will be struck in the coming months.

Russia Ukraine

New Atlanticist

May 28, 2010

Ukraine: Fear and Loathing on the Post-Campaign Trail

By Adrian Karatnycky

Reading the Kyiv Post and many of Ukraine’s other newsweeklies, one gets the impression that a measure of hysteria has seized normally sober-minded and serious analysts. Respected analysts speak in dire terms of a wholesale sellout of Ukraine to Russia and of the consolidation of dictatorship.

Ukraine

New Atlanticist

May 25, 2010

An Olympic Opportunity

By Kurt Volker

With summer arriving, it might seem early to be thinking through the politics of the 2014 Winter Olympics. But the next Winter Games are to be held in Sochi, Russia, just a few miles from Abkhazia, a territory Russia broke off from Georgia by military force in 2008. Simply put, this will be tricky. Preparations […]

New Atlanticist

May 19, 2010

When the Kremlin Smiles, Beware the Teeth

By Henrik Liljegren

"The face of modern Russia is a smiling face,” Russian President Medvedev said on April 26. “But other countries must smile back at us.” Lately news about Russia’s relations with the West has led to all sorts of speculation and comments.

New Atlanticist

Apr 21, 2010

Russia-Poland “Reset”?

By Angela Stent

Will the tragic plane crash over Smolensk that killed 96 of Poland’s top political elite provide the opening for a less fraught and more productive Russian-Polish relationship? That would require both countries coming to terms with a contested history, and with policy differences over the joint EU- Russia neighborhood, pipeline politics and broader questions of […]