Europe & Eurasia

Will the European Union’s Plan to Distribute Migrants Hurt Europe?

By Ashish Kumar Sen

European ministers on September 22 approved a plan that would force EU member states to take in their share of 120,000 migrants, a majority of whom are fleeing the war in Syria. In an unusual break from procedure, which emphasizes consensus on issues of national sovereignty, the ministers decided the issue on the basis of […]

Creating ‘A Piece of America’ in the Carpathian Mountains

Camp America, located at a charmingly rustic resort in Ukraine’s Carpathian Mountains, welcomed twenty young Ukrainians for a week in August. For most of them, Camp America—a 24/7 English-language environment where all activities are conducted in English—was their first experience with native English speakers. “I like to tell our students that there are three international […]

Ukraine’s President Poroshenko Says Staying Out of NATO Alliance was a ‘Criminal’ Mistake

By Efrem Lukatsky, AP

Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko on Tuesday told the country’s security council that staying out of the NATO alliance was a “criminal” policy that his government is ready to reverse….

Russian Involvement in Syria is Part of Larger Kremlin Strategy to Project Power in Europe and the Middle East

By Stephen Blank

Predictably, Russian President Vladimir Putin’s intervention in Syria surprised the West. While it seems we’ve now figured out Putin’s objectives there, how they fit into Russia’s larger strategy still remains obscure. But we must begin to address that larger strategy even if the analysis remains incomplete. Besides sustaining Syrian President Bashar al-Assad as long as […]

Western Media Must Fight Russia’s Lethal Propaganda More Aggressively

By Halya Coynash

Three months after unknown assassins gunned down Russian opposition leader Boris Nemtsov outside the Kremlin, his daughter called for sanctions against those running Russia’s propaganda machine. Zhanna Nemtsova compared the dangerous rhetoric of state-controlled Russian media to the hateful radio broadcasts that precipitated Rwanda’s 1994 genocide. Her appeal was widely reported, as had been her […]

Russia to Deploy 2,000 in Syria Air Base Mission’s ‘First Phase’

By Kathrin Hille and John Reed, Financial Times

Russia is to deploy 2,000 military personnel to its new air base near the Syrian port city of Latakia, signalling the scale of Moscow’s involvement in the war-torn country.

Syria: The Sole Portal for Progress

By Frederic C. Hof

Obama administration commentary on developments in Syria plumbed new, uncharted depths on September 17, when White House spokesman Josh Earnest laid blame for the failed “train-and-equip” program on “critics” of the administration who had allegedly touted the endeavor and forced it upon the president as “the recipe for success in Syria.”