Russia
Belarus: An artful balancing act
23 February 2009
International Herald Tribune
Compared with most former Soviet states, Belarus has a lot going for it. The government is less corrupt than in neighboring Russia and Ukraine. Belarus has no oligarchs, since the state never sold its big companies, and social inequalities are low.
Pipe down, price up
06 January 2009
The Guardian
The Russian-Ukrainian gas dispute is turning from a bilateral spat into a regional crisis. EU countries that share a border with Ukraine have reported dramatic drops in the volume of gas deliveries.
Unilateral Germany threatens to weaken Europe
05 December 2008
Financial Times
In Brussels, Paris, Washington and other capitals, one increasingly hears the same complaint: Germany is acting unilaterally. On a broad range of issues, the Germans seem to think the European Union no longer advances their interests and are more prone to go their own way. Germany’s foreign policy has evolved...
The Russian challenge
03 October 2008
Yale Global Online
The US and Europe increasingly seem at odds over an assertive Russia, flush with oil money, strong militarily and ambitious with an educated, nationalistic population. This two-part YaleGlobal series explores the implications for Europe, the US and the world.
Europe and the Georgia-Russia conflict
30 September 2008
Open democracy
The European Union played a key diplomatic role in mediating the Caucasus war. Now it must do more to manage the wider tensions with Russia that have followed. Katinka Barysch offers a policy checklist.
The headlines about the conflict in the Caucasus in August 2008 have been replaced by news about...
The headlines about the conflict in the Caucasus in August 2008 have been replaced by news about...
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.
Conflit russo-géorgien: un nouveau souffle pour l'OTAN
09 September 2008
RIA Novosti
Le conflit entre la Géorgie et la Russie donnera une nouvelle impulsion à l'OTAN, a estimé dans un entretien accordé à RIA Novosti mardi le directeur du Centre britannique pour la Réforme européenne, Charles Grant.
"L'OTAN a été confrontée au problème de son activité à l'issue de la "guerre froide". Certes...
"L'OTAN a été confrontée au problème de son activité à l'issue de la "guerre froide". Certes...
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.
The bear's Achilles heel
15 August 2008
The Guardian
For many American commentators, plucky little Georgia has been the victim of Russian imperialism. The Guardian's Seumas Milne takes an simplistic view: Russia is blameless for a war caused by US "expansion".
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.
The era of the grand treaty is over
16 June 2008
The Guardian
Ireland has sent Europe into tumult by garrotting the Lisbon treaty at the ballot box. The possibility of resuscitating the treaty is slight. Given the large turnout, a second referendum on the text is likely to be ruled out by Irish politicians as unfeasible.
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.
A new deal with Russia?
01 November 2007
Prospect
"The Soviet Union was easier to deal with than Russia is today," says a senior French diplomat. "Sometimes the Soviets were difficult, but you knew they were being obstructive in order to achieve an objective. Now Russia seeks to block the west systematically on every subject, apparently without a purpose."
Relations...
Relations...
Russia: Analyst sees potential in Europe's new relationship
17 July 2007
Radio Free Europe
Katinka Barysch, the head of the Russia research program at the London-based Centre for European Reform, has written extensively about politics and economics in Eastern Europe and advised Britain's House of Lords and European Commission on foreign policy.
The EU's premier foreign policy is enlargement
09 February 2007
DW-World.de
At the annual security conference, which opens in Munich on Friday, Javier Solana will be awarded a prize for his efforts in promoting peace as the EU's foreign policy chief.
Can the EU deal with its unruly neighbours?
21 December 2006
European Voice
What future security and defence challenges should the EU prepare for?Europe should be worried about the spread of weapons-of-mass-destruction (WMD), failing states and terrorism. In fact it already is.
Failed EU entrance could mean stronger ties to Russia
26 November 2006
Zaman online
According to a British think-tank, the Centre for European Reform (CER), if EU membership negotiations were postponed, Turkey would look for a new alliance, perhaps in Russia.
What to do about Russia?
22 October 2006
The Guardian
Perhaps the most important challenge for EU foreign policy is to develop a more unified approach to Russia. The EU member-states have very similar interests in Russia.
At last, some hope for Ukraine
04 August 2006
The Guardian
The formation of a new government - four months after parliamentary elections - is good news for Ukraine. The coalition is broad-based: the party of President Victor Yushchenko, Our Ukraine, has strong roots in the rural west of the country; the Regions party, led by the new prime minister, Victor Yanukovich, dominates the east; and the Socialist party, the third member of the coalition, is popular among farmers in the centre.
Belarus blue
15 March 2006
The Wall Street Journal
To a first-time visitor, the capital of Belarus seems normal. People look content, streets are clean and orderly, and cafés ring with lively and frank exchanges.