Turkey's Room to Maneuver Against the United States
Tensions between the U.S. and Turkey have been on the rise, beginning with different priorities over Syria and ISIS, and then ham-handed American reactions to, and Turkish accusations of, U.S....
View ArticlePutin Could Hit the Trifecta If Trump Wins the White House
The relationship between Russia and the United States has always been and will always be complicated. In the U.S. and the West in general, hope seems always to spring eternal. The thinking, boiled...
View ArticleHave We Reached a Bosnia Moment in Syria?
It’s often hard to discern when a tipping point arrives in any international crisis. For those of us working the Balkan beat in the 1990s, it wasn’t until the 1995 massacre at Srebrenica that U.S. and...
View ArticleBudapest's One-Party Democracy
Hungary has decidedly taken a turn toward “illiberal” democracy, which is hurting its relationship with the United States. The Cipher Brief spoke with Ambassador András Simonyi, who served as Hungarian...
View ArticleThe "Most-Worsened" Country
The Fund for Peace’s (FFP) 2016 Fragile States Index ranks Hungary, under Prime Minister Viktor Orban, as the “most-worsened” country this year, due in part to its recent track record on refugees,...
View ArticleEU and U.S. Interests in Hungary in Jeopardy
Hungary’s Viktor Orban is creating an illiberal democracy in central Europe. This is souring relations with the European Union (EU) and the current U.S. administration, while pulling Hungary back into...
View ArticleTrump's Win Creates Uncertainty in Europe
The election of Donald Trump as the next U.S. President has created uncertainty among European leaders as they consider the future of defense and security cooperation with the United States. Trump’s...
View ArticleChoppy Seas Ahead for U.S.-NATO Relations
Donald Trump’s win over Hillary Clinton for the presidency of the United States surprised a number of European leaders. Given Trump’s statements about NATO being “obsolete” and the need for all allies...
View ArticleHow Russia Likely Sees Nordic Defense
Sweden and Finland are moving closer to the western sphere of defense, while Norway has long held strong defense relations with the U.S. and NATO, as one of NATO’s founding members. The Cipher Brief’s...
View ArticleSweden, Finland & Norway Deepen Defense Ties with the West
Sweden, Finland, and Norway (the only NATO member of the three) are inching closer to the western sphere of defense. Russian incursions over the past few years – from Georgia in 2008 to Ukraine in 2014...
View ArticleNordic Nations Need NATO
The Nordic countries – in particular Sweden, Finland, and Norway – are bolstering defense relations with the United States at a time when Russia had taken a more aggressive stance in Europe. In June,...
View ArticleThe U.S. and Russia: No Détente Anytime Soon
In the recent past, every new U.S. administration has attempted to improve relations with Russia to address mutual security threats such as combating terrorism. Both President George W. Bush and...
View ArticleNATO Reassures Russia Amid Tensions
NATO envoys and Russia’s ambassador to the 28-nation military alliance met in Brussels on Monday, as relations between the two sides remain tense. It was their third meeting this year.In July, the...
View Article"A Gift from God:" The Bungled Coup and the U.S.
The attempted military coup against Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan is perhaps the most important political event in Turkey of the past 16 years, and has fundamentally changed the country's...
View ArticlePoland, the U.S., and NATO: Key Security Allies
Poland’s democratic institutions are under pressure from the ruling right-wing Law and Justice party (PiS). PiS efforts to control the judiciary and media risk alienating its Western allies, which it...
View ArticlePoland Inches Closer to “Illiberal Democracy”
From Constitutional Court reforms that make the judiciary less independent of political power to restrictions on journalists to suppressing of the opposition, Poland’s ruling Law and Justice (PiS)...
View ArticlePoland: Strong Defense Partner But Taking Undemocratic Steps
President-elect Donald Trump will inherit a close defense alliance with Poland when he enters the White House later this month. America is getting ready to deploy additional troops to Poland. An...
View ArticleNATO’s Changing Face Under the Trump Administration
The future of the transatlantic defense alliance is in jeopardy, according to news reports from the past few months.It all started with then-candidate Donald Trump’s comments in March about NATO being...
View ArticleNATO’s Future – Grim or Hopeful?
Poland and other countries in the region – particularly NATO members located on Europe’s eastern flank – look to the new American administration with both anxiety and hope. During the election...
View ArticleThe New Administration and the NATO Alliance
The start of a new U.S. administration, elections across Europe in 2017 that could drastically alter politics on the continent, and an increase in the number and kinds of external threats facing the...
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