Ashish Kumar Sen

Kremlin Report: A Missed Opportunity to Check Russian Aggression The US Treasury Department’s decision not to slap sanctions on Russian oligarchs and officials, some with ties to the Kremlin, is a missed opportunity to check Russian aggression, according to the Atlantic Council’s Daniel Fried.

At a meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland on January 25, US President Donald J. Trump suggested that he would withhold more aid from the Palestinians and that Israel “will pay” for his decision to agree upfront to recognize Jerusalem as its capital.

An appeals court in Brazil on January 24 upheld the conviction of the country’s former president, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, on charges of corruption and money laundering.

On January 26, US President Donald J. Trump is expected to address the World Economic Forum in Davos—a summit that espouses globalization and multilateralism, practices that are diametrically opposed to the president’s America First worldview.

US Vice President Mike Pence made news in his address to the Israeli Knesset in Jerusalem on January 22 when he declared that the Trump administration would open the US Embassy in Jerusalem before the end of 2019.

US President Donald J. Trump started off 2018 with a tweet blasting Pakistan for providing safe havens to terrorists. Days later, the Trump administration cut off what is expected to be $1.3 billion in annual security aid to Pakistan. It is betting that this strategy will lead Pakistan to get tough with all terrorists on its soil. Will it?

US President Donald J. Trump has threatened to withdraw from the Iran nuclear deal unless the United States’ European allies and the US Congress fix what he believes to be a “disastrously flawed” agreement.

Although Trump recognized Jerusalem to be Israel’s capital, he didn’t describe it as the undivided capital of Israel. Why does this matter?

When it comes to nuclear energy, there are two distinct and opposing trends in the world today—in the United States and Europe, aging reactors are being phased out and there is a reluctance to build new ones, while countries like China are on a building spree, according to Fatih Birol, executive director of the International Energy Agency.

US Deputy Secretary of Energy, Dan Brouillette, on January 13 lashed out at what he described as the “war on coal” in the United States which, he said, had thwarted the construction of clean power plants, discouraged investments in new mining operations, and, as a result, put the nation at risk.

China’s heavy investment in electric cars will have a significant global impact, panelists said at the Atlantic Council’s Global Energy Forum in Abu Dhabi on January 12.

The United Arab Emirates’ minister of energy and industry said on January 12 that a deal that cuts oil output with the goal of pushing prices higher will stick through the end of December 2018—despite rumblings in Russia for an early exit.

The Atlantic Council kicked off its second annual Global Energy Forum in Abu Dhabi, the United Arab Emirates, on January 12. Atlantic Council President and Chief Executive Officer Frederick Kempe said that the forum, which marks the start of Abu Dhabi Sustainability Week, convenes the world’s energy leaders to “take stock of the challenges we face in the year ahead, to identify opportunities, and to set the agenda for a year of cooperation and progress.”

The Trump administration has cut off what is expected to be as much as $1.3 billion in annual security aid to Pakistan in an effort to compel this South Asian nation to end its support for terrorists. Is this a winning strategy? Unlikely.

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un is likely trying to drive a wedge between the United States and South Korea with his uncharacteristic offer of an olive branch to Seoul, according to the Atlantic Council’s Robert A. Manning.

Iran has been rocked by the most significant protests in almost a decade. At least twenty people have been killed . Amir Handjani, a senior fellow in the Atlantic Council’s South Asia Center and a Council board member, discussed the reason for the protests, the Iranian government’s response, and how US President Donald J. Trump should respond ( Spoiler alert: Handjani says Trump should be frugal in his commentary on the situation). Here are excerpts from Handjani’s interview with the New Atlanticist’s Ashish Kumar Sen.