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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.

The Russia Tomorrow series

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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

In the News

May 15, 2018

Åslund Quoted in Reuters on Rusal’s Escape of U.S. Sanctions

By Anders Aslund

Read the full article here

Russia

UkraineAlert

May 15, 2018

What Does Ukraine’s New Military Approach Toward the Donbas Mean?

By Vera Zimmerman

Ukraine wants to reframe its approach to resolving the ongoing conflict with Russia. Beginning last month, the military is now in charge of ground operations. The launch of the Joint Forces Operation (JFO) replaced the four-year Anti-Terrorism Operation (ATO) and marks Ukraine’s shift to a more active defense. President Petro Poroshenko thinks that the new […]

Russia Ukraine

In the News

May 9, 2018

Shaffer Quoted in DW on Russian-German Gas Pipeline

By Brenda Shaffer

Read the full article here

Germany Russia

New Atlanticist

May 9, 2018

Russia’s 2017 Defense Spending Cut Is Not What It Seems

By Brooks Tigner

BRUSSELS — The May 2 announcement by SIPRI, the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute, that Russia’s defense budget in 2017 fell by 20 percent made many headlines across the West, with predictions of major fallout for Moscow’s military modernization goals, operations, and tactics and its international influence. However, the reality is far from that scenario […]

NATO Russia

Report

May 9, 2018

Georgia’s path westward

By William Courtney, Daniel Fried, and Kenneth Yalowitz

Georgia has overcome many challenges and now stands as a striking example of a reforming and Western-oriented country transcending the limitations of decades of Soviet rule.

Conflict Defense Policy

UkraineAlert

May 9, 2018

Unreality TV: Why the Kremlin’s Lies Stick

By Diane Francis

In 2014, Russian-backed rebels used a Moscow-supplied missile to shoot down Malaysia Airlines flight 17 over eastern Ukraine, killing all 298 people on board. Russian state TV made wild claims such as the passengers were already dead, a Ukrainian fighter jet shot down the plane, and the CIA was behind the plot. Since 2016, Russian […]

Russia Ukraine

In the News

May 8, 2018

O’Toole Quoted in Bloomberg on a Russian Oil Company’s Detour around Sanctions

By Brian O'Toole

Read the full article here

Russia

New Atlanticist

May 7, 2018

Where Does the P5+1 Stand on the Iran Nuclear Deal?

By Ashish Kumar Sen

US President Donald J. Trump is expected to reveal his decision on May 8 as to whether he will extend key sanctions waivers on Iran. A failure to do so would effectively take the United States out of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA)—the Iran nuclear deal—which it signed with the United Kingdom, France, […]

China European Union

New Atlanticist

May 7, 2018

Cast Off By The United States a Decade Ago, Keflavik is Again a Key Lookout

By Teri Schultz

In its Cold War heyday, the tiny town of Keflavik (population 15,129 today) played an outsized role on the world stage as a strategic outpost for the United States and its NATO allies, keeping an eye on Soviet and Russian activities. The Icelandic airbase was home to thousands of US servicemembers and their families. As […]

Russia

UkraineAlert

May 4, 2018

Why the Bucharest Summit Still Matters Ten Years On

By Walter Zaryckyj

A decade ago, I received a four word message from a close German acquaintance who had accompanied Chancellor Angela Merkel to the NATO summit in Bucharest, Romania, that was tasked to decide whether to provide Georgia and Ukraine with a NATO Membership Action Plan (MAP). It read: “Yes, but not now!” Having just seen a […]

Moldova Russia

Experts