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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

In the News

May 22, 2014

Hof on US Failure in Syria

By Frederic Hof

The Christian Science Monitor quotes Resident Senior Fellow in the Rafik Hariri Center for the Middle East Frederic Hof on how US-Russia relations impact crises such as Syria and Ukraine:

Russia Syria
Aleksandr Borodai, a Russian nationalist militant from Moscow, speaks to reporters last week as the "prime minister" of the secessionist republic he wants to establish in Ukraine's Donetsk province.

New Atlanticist

May 22, 2014

A Ukraine Secessionist from Moscow Builds Greater Russia, One Province at a Time

By Irena Chalupa

Alexander Borodai Helped the Kremlin Seize Crimea; Now He’s ‘Prime Minister’ of Donetsk As leaders of the secessionist uprising in Ukraine’s Donetsk province go public this month, they turn out to be from Moscow, not Donetsk. Alexander Borodai, named last week as the “prime minister” of the Donetsk People’s Republic, is not only Muscovite, he’s […]

Russia Ukraine

In the News

May 21, 2014

Carstei on Russia-China Gas Deal

By Mihaela Carstei

Mihaela Carstei, acting director of the Atlantic Council Energy and Environment Program, joins Al Jazeera English to discuss the recently announced energy deal between Russia and China:

China Energy & Environment
Ukrainian Prime Minister Arsenii Yatseniuk and NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen

NATOSource

May 21, 2014

NATO After Ukraine

By Bogdan Klich, Project Syndicate

Russia’s aggression in Ukraine has dispelled doubts about NATO’s importance. But recognizing potential dangers is not the same as developing an effective response.

NATO NATO Partnerships
German Chancellor Angela Merkel and Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk, March 12, 2014

NATOSource

May 21, 2014

Poland Concerned Germany is Impeding NATO’s Response to Russia

By Judy Dempsey, Strategic Europe

Poland fears that Germany will not make the hard decisions required to stop Russia from acting again.

Germany NATO
NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen, April 16, 2014

NATOSource

May 21, 2014

Secretary General: NATO’s Eastern Allies ‘Gravely Concerned’ About Russian Actions

By Anders Fogh Rasmussen, NATO

[W]hat we have seen in… in Ukraine is outrageous.

NATO Russia

In the News

May 21, 2014

Ullman: History Counts II

By Harlan Ullman

Brent Scowcroft Center Senior Adviser Harlan Ullman writes for UPI on the importance of looking at events in Ukraine and other places through a historical lens:

Russia Syria

Congressional Relations

May 21, 2014

Merkel Testifies Before House on Energy Resources in Central Asia

By David Merkel

Eurasia Center Senior Fellow David Merkel testified before the House Foreign Affairs Committee on the subject of the development of energy resources in Central Asia:

Russia
US paratroopers in Estonia

NATOSource

May 20, 2014

European Ground Troops Need to Join US Units Defending NATO’s Eastern Allies

By Steven Pifer, Financial Times

Given Moscow’s aggression in Ukraine, companies of airborne soldiers have been deployed to Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania and Poland to assure those countries and serve as tripwires. But the soldiers are all Americans. Where are the Europeans?

Europe & Eurasia NATO
REUTERS/Konstantin Grishin

New Atlanticist

May 20, 2014

For Crimea’s Tatars, Russia’s Occupation is a ‘Third Tragedy’

By Idil Izmirli

Note to Western Allies: ‘Tatars Understand That They Now Face a Long, New Struggle’  In the dark first hours of May 18, 1944, Soviet army convoys rumbled into the villages of Crimea’s native Tatars and began forcing 230,000 of them into exile. Soldiers packed the Tatars into rail cars, typically without food or water, to […]

Russia Ukraine

Experts

Events