Section: Atlantic Council (USA)
Holodomor Remembrance Day: Why the Past Matters for the Future
As Americans sit down to their Thanksgiving meals on the last Thursday in November, Ukrainians will be commemorating the memory of millions who were murdered in 1932-33. The last Saturday in November is Holodomor Remembrance Day in Ukraine, a time to mark the anniversary of Joseph Stalin’s engineered starvation of the nation. In the West,...
How Ukraine Can Use E-Declarations to Target the Most Corrupt
This year, thousands of Ukrainian members of parliament, government officials, and civil servants were required by law to declare their incomes and assets in a publicly available database by October 30. Although the introduction of the e-declaration system was initially blocked numerous times, today the public can view the vast amount of wealth...
The Dissolution of the Soviet Union: Then and Now
Former Ukrainian President Leonid Kravchuk still believes deeply in the power of international norms to maintain peace.“Today’s world is based on great principles: sovereignty, territorial integrity, and untouchable borders. And as far as I understand the situation, the United States is the guardian of these principles,” said Kravchuk at an...
Trump Must Avoid the Russia Reset Trap
As a candidate, Donald Trump said that if elected president he would examine the possibility of recognizing Russia’s claim to Crimea and lifting sanctions imposed by the United States in response to Kremlin-orchestrated aggression in Ukraine. On November 8, Trump was elected the forty-fifth president of the United States. The question now...
Why Georgia Deserves More Love from the EU, NATO, and the US
On November 11, Mikheil Saakashvili stole the show again. After resigning from his post as regional governor of Odesa oblast in Ukraine, he vowed to build a new political party and called for early parliamentary elections there. While Saakashvili dominates the news cycle and pundits continue to examine his every move, it’s worth taking a...
Former NATO Leaders to Trump: Don’t Make Bad Deals with Putin
Jaap de Hoop Scheffer, Anders Fogh Rasmussen warn against turning Ukraine into a ‘bargaining chip’ US President-elect Donald Trump must not strike any deals with Russian President Vladimir Putin that turn Ukraine into a “bargaining chip,” and must send a clear signal of commitment to the security of the United States’ NATO allies, two...
Ukraine’s Reforms Are Pointless without Resolving Security Issues
Making Western assistance to Kyiv more effective is crucial to Ukraine’s future. Yet, the West’s current approach is plagued by a strategic defect. When Western aid and Kyiv’s reforms reach a tipping point, they will trigger increasingly aggressive counter-reactions from Moscow for domestic political reasons in Russia. Until...
Watch Out, Silicon Valley. Here Comes Ukraine
Ukraine has the potential to become Europe’s top hub for information technology and other innovation-based industries. Some major private sector businesses have already chosen Ukraine as the site of their research and development centers; among them are Aricent, Boeing, Ericsson, Oracle, and Siemens. Private business initiatives in Ukraine...
We Are Building the New Ukraine, Three Years after Euromaidan
The need for reconciliation between eastern and western Ukraine is often emphasized in Ukrainian and international media, and has been the subject of dozens of roundtables in the past couple of years. Though originally from western Ukraine, I have lived and worked in the east for nearly two years, and I have come to realize that the approach and...
Will Bulgaria Tilt Toward Russia?
Bulgaria’s orientation toward Russia, and the renewed awareness of this shift, has become a major political issue in its presidential elections. While neither of the leading candidates has directly disputed Bulgaria’s membership in NATO and the European Union (EU), they have both argued that the EU should lift the sanctions imposed on...
