Section: Atlantic Council (USA)
Taking Stock of the Challenge Posed by Russia
US representative to the OSCE, Daniel B. Baer, responds to European call for arms control talks with Moscow The United States shares European concerns about the erosion of Russian compliance with international treaties, but “it is not self-evident that the way forward is new commitments,” as has been proposed by the foreign ministers of fourteen...
Trump, Brexit, and the Myth of Ukrainian Nationalism
The election of Donald Trump to the US presidency is the latest indication that the liberal globalist consensus of the post-Cold War era is finally over. The sanctity of political correctness has been shattered and we now find ourselves hurtling headlong into the uncharted territory of anti-establishment populism.Trump’s triumph is part of...
There’s More to DC Fashion than Gray Suits and More to Ukraine than War
Vogue cannot get enough of Ukraine’s new designers and eye-catching traditional designs. Since the Euromaidan, the magazine has covered the country’s hot fashion scene half a dozen times.On November 30, seven of Ukraine’s designers were on display at a fashion show in Washington, DC, “to celebrate Ukraine’s creative...
“Ukraine Is Approaching the Turning Point: The Choice Is Reform or Chaos,” Saakashvili Warns
Former Georgia President Mikheil Saakashvili’s opening remarks at the Kyiv Post’s Tiger Conference on November 29 were puzzling. “Thanks for a couple of cameras,” he said.He was referring to the fact that even though he is a national figure with a resonant message in Ukraine, he’s the victim of a news blackout by the...
Ukraine’s Most Overlooked Reform Could Bring in Billions
Of the key battles fought in post-Maidan Ukraine, the one over land reform attracts little attention. That’s a shame, too. Parliament’s unwillingness to allow the sale of private farmland “is the biggest source of immediately available economic growth that the government has failed to utilize,” Swedish economist Anders Åslund has...
A New Approach to Reintegrating Eastern Ukraine and Crimea
Russian aggression is not likely to go away soon. As a result, Ukraine needs to revise the current framework guiding its economic disengagement from the occupied regions of the Donbas and Crimea. Economic disengagement limits the risks of financing terrorism with money coming from mainland Ukraine, and makes sure that the occupied areas of Donbas...
Yatsenyuk at the European Parliament: It’s Time for Europe to Do Its Part
With respect to Ukraine and Russia’s aggression in the eastern part of the country, Europe needs to step up its game.That was the consensus at “The War in Ukraine’s East: The Military Conflict, Diplomacy, and the Humanitarian Crisis,” a discussion co-hosted by the Atlantic Council and Members of the European Parliament Anna Maria...
Ukraine Fails to Get More IMF Funding
A mission from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) visited Ukraine November 3-17. The Ukrainian government had hoped that it would decide to give Ukraine another tranche of its four-year $17.5 billion loan package of March 2015, of which Ukraine has received $7.7 billion, but the answer was a resounding no.The IMF is normally very diplomatic in...
Mr. Trump, Don’t Be Too Hasty About Lifting Russia Sanctions
The US approach to Russia, specifically the future of sanctions imposed in response to Russia’s actions in Ukraine in 2014, is one of the many US foreign policies thrown into question by Donald Trump’s election as the next president of the United States. Quickly lifting these sanctions may simplify compliance efforts for the private...
In Time of Trump, Advice to Friends of Ukraine (And Democracy)
Friends of Ukraine, brace yourself. There’s no way to sugar-coat this for the democracy crowd either.Donald Trump has suggested that Ukraine is not our business (it “affects Europe a lot more than it affects us”). Our president-elect admires Russia’s authoritarian leader (he’s “brilliant,” a “strong...
