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The Power Vertical

The Power Vertical is a blog and podcast for Russia wonks and Kremlin watchers by Brian Whitmore. It covers emerging and developing trends in Russian politics, shining a spotlight on the high-stakes power struggles, machinations, and clashing interests that shape Kremlin policy today.

Host and Eurasia Center Senior Fellow Brian Whitmore invites guest experts to deliver their insights and analysis in this weekly podcast. The Atlantic Council and the Charles T. McDowell Center for Global Studies at the University of Texas at Arlington co-sponsor this production.

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The Eurasia Center’s mission is to enhance transatlantic cooperation in promoting stability, democratic values and prosperity in Eurasia, from Eastern Europe and Turkey in the West to the Caucasus, Russia and Central Asia in the East.

Content

UkraineAlert

Jun 15, 2018

They speak Russian in Crimea, but that doesn’t make it part of Russia

By Peter Dickinson

Away from the frontlines of the conflict, the myth of Ukraine’s pro-Kremlin Russian-speakers never really needed debunking.

Conflict Nationalism

In the News

Jun 14, 2018

Herbst in The American Interest: Why Nord Stream 2 Will Not Be Built

By John Herbst

Read the full article here

Russia

New Atlanticist

Jun 14, 2018

Political Football: The World Cup’s Middle East Challengers

By Owen Daniels

The author and political thinker George Orwell was many things, but a soccer fan he was not. In an essay titled “The Sporting Spirit,” written in 1945 during then-Soviet soccer club Dynamo Moscow’s Cold War British tour, Orwell called soccer “a game in which everyone gets hurt and every nation has its own style of […]

Russia

UkraineAlert

Jun 13, 2018

Will Ukraine Be the Ultimate Loser of Putin’s World Cup?

By Peter Dickinson

Back in 2010 when world football governing body FIFA awarded Russia the right to host this year’s World Cup finals, few viewed Moscow as a threat. At the time, President Dmitry Medvedev seemed eager to portray himself as a Western-friendly reformer. In the diplomatic arena, the reset with the Obama White House had yet to […]

Russia Ukraine

New Atlanticist

Jun 13, 2018

Here’s Why OFAC’s New Russia Sanctions are Significant

By Brian O'Toole and Daniel Fried

Set against the odd frame of US President Donald J. Trump wanting to invite Russia to govern the world as part of a reconstituted G8, the actions taken by the Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) on June 11 to sanction Russian cyber actors were a welcome reminder that actions can speak louder than words […]

Cybersecurity Russia

IranSource

Jun 13, 2018

Cracks in Iran-Russia Alliance in Syria Widen as War Winds Down

By Farhad Rezaei

As the Syrian government increasingly consolidates control over its territory after seven years of civil strife, cracks are widening between its key external supporters, Iran and Russia. The issue of Syria’s future has generated a heated debate among political elites in Tehran and in Farsi media over Iran’s continued military presence and how it can […]

Iran Russia

UkraineAlert

Jun 12, 2018

Ukraine’s Next Reform Challenge May Be the Toughest One Yet

By Olena Halushka and Anastasia Krasnosilska

Ukraine’s Security Service (SBU) recently made headlines after masterminding a dramatic plot to spare the life of Russian journalist Arkady Babchenko. On May 29, newspapers announced that Babchenko had been assassinated in Kyiv, Ukraine, where he had been living as a dissident Russian journalist. The next day at what many thought was an ordinary SBU […]

Russia Ukraine

New Atlanticist

Jun 11, 2018

Director of National Intelligence Dan Coats Speaks Truth to Power

By Michael Morell

Trump administration should provide details of Russian meddling ahead of midterms On June 8, Dan Coats, US President Donald J. Trump’s Director of National Intelligence, gave an important speech that went largely unnoticed.  Speaking at an event in Normandy, France—co-sponsored by the Atlantic Council, Le Figaro, and the Tocqueville Foundation—Coats essentially said that the Russians […]

Intelligence Russia

In the News

Jun 11, 2018

Kempe Joins MSNBC’s Morning Joe to Discuss Donald Trump, Russia and North Korea

By Fred Kempe

Read the full article here

Korea Russia

UkraineAlert

Jun 11, 2018

How to Keep the Kremlin and the Oligarchs Out of the Ukrainian White House

By Anders Åslund

The other night in Kyiv, one of Ukraine’s best political analysts came to see me. He asked me what the United States wants in the next Ukrainian presidential election slated for March 2019. I told him that the United States doesn’t have a favorite. Nor will it. My interlocutor was highly dissatisfied with the answer. […]

Russia Ukraine

Experts