KYIV—This week, the Atlantic Council’s Eurasia Center took sixteen of its congressional fellows, Senate and House staff members from both parties, on a whirlwind trip to Warsaw and Kyiv. We rode the train from Warsaw to Kyiv overnight and spent two full days meeting with Ukrainian government officials responsible for security, foreign policy, the economy,
For the past few weeks, the Middle East has been shaking at the fear of an all-out Iranian-Israeli confrontation. Ever since July 31, when Israel allegedly killed Hamas’s political chief, Ismail Haniyeh, on Iranian soil, Tehran has promised to retaliate harshly. An important calculation that might give Iran pause is its Arab neighbors and what
Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine has evolved into the largest European war since World War II, but two and a half years on, many are still struggling to grasp exactly what is at stake. Instead, we continue to hear calls for some kind of compromise with the Kremlin, while the international community refuses to hold
As Russia’s war in Ukraine continues to drag on, much is uncertain about its eventual end. But one thing that is clear—and that may greatly influence how the war ends and the regional landscape afterward—is Turkey’s critical role in shaping a cease-fire and post-war arrangement. As a major military and diplomatic power committed both to
Kyiv has this week called on Belarus to withdraw its army from the Ukrainian border and warned of “tragic consequences” if the Belarusian military joins the Russian invasion of Ukraine. The strongly worded August 25 statement from Ukraine’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs came in response to mounting reports of Belarusian troops concentrating close to the
On August 15, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy submitted a bill to the Ukrainian parliament on ratification of the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court (ICC), which would make Ukraine an ICC member state. Parliament duly ratified the bill on August 21, and President Zelenskyy signed it into law on August 24. This is a
In my twenty-six-year career at the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), I found that there were many misnomers in the intelligence business that were shared by the public and even policymakers. One is the notion that the CIA should be able to foresee world events, a concept that I termed (with some derision) “predictive certainty.” Policymakers
For almost a month, the Middle East and the international community waited on edge for Hezbollah’s retaliation for Israel’s assassination of its military commander Fuad Shukr in Beirut on July 31. Its promised vengeance finally materialized on the morning of August 25. Hezbollah’s attack appears to have largely been a failure, and it remains unclear
Ukraine officially began accession talks with the European Union on June 25. While these negotiations offer hope for a nation that has long sought more comprehensive integration with European political and economic structures, they will also be qualified by contemporary security and political considerations. To achieve EU accession, Ukraine must strengthen its defense capabilities, execute
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