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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.

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In the News

May 29, 2014

Scowcroft Center’s US and Global Missile Defense Conference Featured

Seapower magazine covered the Atlantic Council’s conference on US and Global Missile Defence, highlighting attempts by the US military to reassure Russian leadership that its ballistic missile defence is not designed to antagonize Russia:

Indo-Pacific Missile Defense
Ukraine's Verkhovna Rada begins a session on February 20, 2014, days before it ratified the removal of President Viktor Yanukovych. (CC License)

New Atlanticist

May 29, 2014

As Ukraine Builds a Stronger Government, Parliamentary Elections Will Be Necessary – and Difficult

By Irena Chalupa

Ukraine’s election of a new president on May 25 was an essential first step in building a Ukrainian government with enough democratic legitimacy to lead the country through the crises it faces.  But establishing a government with a strong enough mandate to make painful economic reforms and resist Russia’s assault on Ukraine’s independence also will […]

Russia Ukraine
French frigate Surcouf (F711)

NATOSource

May 29, 2014

Third NATO Ship Enters Black Sea, Russia Vows Increased Military Air Presence

By Sam LaGrone, USNI News

A French frigate entered the Black Sea on Wednesday, growing the number of NATO surface warships in the region to three, according to a ship spotting blog and Russian press reports.

France Russia
Estonia plans to upload government databases to the cloud

NATOSource

May 29, 2014

Concerned About Russian Invasion, Estonia Plans ‘Data Embassies’ in Allied Countries

By Tom Cheshire, SKY News

Estonia intends to back up crucial national databases in the UK and other countries, because of fears of a Russian invasion.

Cybersecurity Northern Europe
Locked Shields is the largest international cyber exercise in the world

NATOSource

May 28, 2014

Estonia Exercise Shows NATO’s Growing Worry About Cyber Attacks

By Peter Apps, Reuters

With more than 300 participants and teams from 17 nations, organizers said it [Estonia’s Locked Shields cyber exercise] was the largest international cyber maneuver yet mounted, simulating an attack on a fictional nation called “Berylia” by a 50-strong team of computer experts.

China Cybersecurity
President Barack Obama at West Point, May 28, 2014

NATOSource

May 28, 2014

Obama Sees US as the ‘Hub of Alliances’ Unrivaled in History

By Barack Obama, Federal News Service

From Europe to Asia, we are the hub of alliances unrivaled in the history of nations.

China NATO

Defense Industrialist

May 28, 2014

Buying Out a Ship Contract, or a Whole Shipyard?

By James Hasik

The French sale of helicopter carriers to Russia shows just how hard industrial rationalization in Europe really is. Back in March, I argued (“Did NATO rearm Russia?”) that arms sales to Moscow had been been more embarrassing than alarming, but that the occupation of Crimea meant that it was really time to stop. Most egregious, I still […]

France Russia
Europe at night, July 28, 2008

NATOSource

May 27, 2014

Russia Crisis: Why Europe Must Adopt a Comprehensive Energy Strategy

By Sigurd Neubauer

Amid escalating U.S.-Russian tensions over Moscow’s illegal incursion of Crimea and subsequent provocations in eastern Ukraine, Russian Energy Minister Alexander Novak threatened last week to halt gas supplies to Ukraine and Europe should Western leaders decide to impose punitive sanctions on his government.

Energy & Environment Energy Markets & Governance
Presidents of the Baltic republics at NATO's Steadfast Jazz exercise, Nov. 6, 2013

NATOSource

May 27, 2014

Europeans Explore Regional Security Relationships as Ukraine Crisis Tests NATO Solidarity

By Edward Lucas, POLITICO Magazine

[N]ow there are new concerns – verging from mere worries to outright fears of a new generation of abandonment by the West provoked by Russia’s land-grab in Ukraine and the Western weakness it has exposed.

NATO NATO Partnerships
Petro Poroshenko tells reporters he will not negotiate with Russian-backed secessionist militias as a nearly complete vote count showed him winning Ukraine's presidency. REUTERS/David Mdzinarashvili

New Atlanticist

May 26, 2014

Poroshenko’s Task: Halt Rebellion and Bankruptcy, Then Fix the System

By Irena Chalupa

In declaring victory yesterday as Ukraine’s president-elect, Petro Poroshenko is preparing to take the helm of a country whose economy is broken, its political system dysfunctional, three of its provinces either occupied or terrorized by Russian soldiers or proxy forces. The leaders of its huge, aggressive neighbor bluntly say that Ukraine shouldn’t really exist as […]

Elections Politics & Diplomacy

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