Section: Atlantic Council (USA)
A Security Dilemma in Northeastern Europe?
At NATO’s summit in Warsaw this week, the Alliance is expected to approve a plan to rotationally deploy as many as four battalions—roughly 4,000 troops—on the territory of the Baltic States and Poland in what it calls a new “persistent presence.” This represents a significant qualitative improvement in the reassurance and deterrence steps...
NATO Should Stand Up Black Sea Command Before It’s Too Late
At its summit in Warsaw on July 8 and 9, NATO should take urgent steps to protect its allies and partners on its southeastern flank. Bulgaria, Romania, and Turkey, as well as Ukraine and Georgia, are all under severe pressure from Russia and require NATO assistance. Stephen Blank has urged NATO to pay more attention to the Black Sea at the Warsaw...
Could Ukraine’s New Civil Service Law Be Undermined?
In a major achievement for reformers, Ukraine’s parliament passed a revolutionary new civil service law last year that included key provisions related to the appointment of heads of local state administrations (LSAs). But if some members of parliament and perhaps even the presidential administration have their way, those elements of the law...
Brexit is a Win for Putin
A vote for Brexit is a big win for Russia’s foreign policy. Moscow has made no secret of its desire to upend the post-Cold War settlement in Europe. Russian President Vladimir Putin and other senior Russian officials have regularly said that there will be new rules for global order or no rules. They insist that Moscow has the right to a...
Worried About Brexit? No, Scared, Says Ukraine’s Former Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk
“I’m not worried [about Brexit]. I’m scared,” said Arseniy Yatsenyuk at the Atlantic Council on June 30. In one of his first public appearances in Washington since stepping down as Ukraine’s prime minister on April 14, Yatsenyuk urged Europe to get its act together. Brexit, he said, is a “huge geopolitical crisis”: the United...
Now Is Not the Time to Scrap the Minsk Agreement
A Reply to David J. Kramer Editor’s Note: On June 22, Ambassador John Herbst and David J. Kramer debated whether we should bury the Minsk agreement, the troubled ceasefire agreement in Ukraine, at an Atlantic Council event in Washington, DC. Their remarks have been adapted from the debate.Ukraine’s discussion of the war with Russia...
It’s Time to Scrap Minsk
Editor’s Note: On June 22, Ambassador John Herbst and David Kramer debated whether we should bury the Minsk agreement, the troubled ceasefire agreement in Ukraine, at an Atlantic Council event in Washington, DC. Their remarks have been adapted from the debate.The Minsk ceasefire agreement, signed February 15, 2015, by the leaders of Russia,...
Memo to NATO: Wake Up Before Putin Turns the Black Sea into a Russian Lake
By invading Ukraine and annexing Crimea, Russian President Vladimir Putin has transformed the security situation in the Black Sea.Upon capturing those territories, Moscow lost no time in seizing Ukrainian energy facilities in the Black Sea and accelerating its ongoing military modernization there. As a result, Moscow has built a combined arms...
What Brexit Means for Ukraine
After British voters approved a referendum to leave the EU on June 23, Ukraine’s Vice Prime Minister for European Integration Ivanna Klympush-Tsintsadze said: “We respect the British citizens’ decision, but Ukraine feels sorry for these events. To my mind this will weaken the EU and it will have to concentrate on its own...
The Dangerous Perspective of Theo Sommer
This time, Theo Sommer has outdone himself. After closing his eyes to the mass murders of the Soviet regime in an article published on May 31, the editor-at-large of Germany’s prestigious Die Zeit newspaper has now demonstrated in a just-published piece an alarming ignorance not just of Ukraine but of elementary strategic logic. The former...
