Foreign policy & defence
Defending European defence in partnership with NATO, strengthening the EU's military muscle is the right idea
09 December 2008
The Wall Street Journal
Ten years ago in St. Malo, Tony Blair and Jacques Chirac launched the European security and defence policy, or ESDP. They had the right idea: The European Union needs a defence arm if it is to play a global role, and with the demand for peacekeepers rising, ESDP could give a needed boost to the efforts of NATO and the United Nations. Or at least that was the theory.
The new Russia and how to deal with it
18 September 2008
Open democracy
Dmitri Medvedev compares '8/8', the date of Georgia's attack on South Ossetia, with 9/11. The Russian president is right that the war in Georgia, and the way the West reacted, have fundamentally changed the worldview of many Russians.
Europe must bring Ukraine into the fold
07 September 2008
In a spectacular case of bad timing, Ukraine’s government all but collapsed last week. President Viktor Yushchenko withdrew most of his deputies from the ruling coalition with Yulia Tymoshenko, the prime minister.
Can the west help prevent an all-out war between Russia and Georgia?
08 August 2008
The Guardian
This week, Georgia made a bold gamble: it moved forces into South Ossetia; a province of Georgia that broke free in the early 1990s, in an attempt to re-assert its authority over parts or all of it.
Russia-China: Axis of Convenience
20 May 2008
Open democracy
The China threat looms large in the Russian imagination, but is not justified by the facts suggests Bobo Lo, writing for openDemocracy's new collaboration on Russia and the world.
Turkey: The constitutional frontline
14 April 2008
Open democracy
A legal case against Turkey's ruling party reopens the secular-Islamist argument over the country's future. It's time for wise leadership, says Katinka Barysch.
Sarkozy's bold European defence initiative
24 March 2008
Financial Times
Gordon Brown will welcome Nicolas Sarkozy to London on March 27. Almost 10 years ago, their predecessors as British prime minister and French president, Tony Blair and Jacques Chirac, launched the European Security and Defence Policy (ESDP) at St Malo. At this week's Franco-British summit, defence co-operation will once again...
Global Perspectives 2008
01 January 2008
International Affairs Forum
Insisting that the EU must unblock accession talks with Ankara in the energy area if it is serious about diversifying its supply, the December 2007 paper by Katinka Barysch from the Centre for European Reform (CER) claims that Turkey can make a "substantial contribution" to Europe's energy security.
Barysch argues that...
Barysch argues that...