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Moscow Objects to Patriots in Poland

By Pavel Felgenhauer

US-Russian relations were dominated by the arrival and deployment of US soldiers with Patriot missiles in Poland near the Russian border. The Patriot deployment was agreed between Warsaw and Washington to offset possible Russian threats to station Iskander ballistic missiles in Kaliningrad in response to the deployment of US Ballistic Missile Defense (BMD) interceptor missiles in Poland and the BMD radar in the Czech Republic. Last September, US President, Barack Obama, scrapped existing BMD plans for deployment in Poland and the Czech Republic and President, Dmitry Medvedev, announced that Iskander missiles would not be deployed in Kaliningrad. However, the plans to deploy Patriots in Poland did not change, apparently in order to calm Polish irritation over the BMD reversal and fear of Russia. READ MORE

Azerbaijan, Turkmenistan study cooperation potential in energy sphere

By H.Hasanov

Azerbaijan and Turkmenistan, as energy powers, are studying the potential of cooperation in the energy sector, said in the Azerbaijani Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary Ambassador to Turkmenistan Vahdet Sultanzade's report spread by Turkmen media outlets. This report is timed to the 92nd anniversary of the declaration of the Azerbaijani Democratic Republic. READ MORE

Germany's dangerous code of silence

By Anne Applebaum

Last week the president of Germany quit his job. Just like that. "I declare my resignation from the office of president," said Horst Koehler, "with immediate effect." And he walked away. READ MORE

Interview: German ties with Russia on the upswing as Medvedev visits

By Mark Caldwell

Deutsche Welle spoke with Alexander Rahr, a Russia expert at the German Council on Foreign Relations, about the state of Russo-German relations. READ MORE

The Euro Crisis Is Bigger Than You Think

By Uri Dadush, Shimelse Ali

The eight newest European Union (EU) members (Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, and Romania) are committed to eventually adopting the euro. But, all already suffer from the problems that dragged the GIIPS—Greece, Ireland, Italy, Portugal, and Spain—into crisis: lost competitiveness, widening external deficits, and deteriorating public finances. However, the “peggers”—Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, and Bulgaria, who have fixed exchange rates—are in much worse shape than the “floaters”—the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland, and Romania. READ MORE

OSCE-CICA Forum can become a permanent dialogue platform - Kazakh Sec of State-Foreign Minister

At special meeting "Security and Economic Cooperation in Eurasia in XXI Century" in Istanbul OSCE Chairman-in-Office, Kazakhstan Secretary of State - Minister of Foreign Affairs Kanat Saudabayev has suggested discussing the issue of establishing the OSCE-CICA Forum. READ MORE

UN prosecutor still critical of Serbia and Croatia

By Zeljko Pantelic аnd Augustin Palokaj

A highly anticipated report by the chief prosecutor of the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia (ICTY), Serge Brammertz, on Serbia's and Croatia's cooperation with the court appears less positive than both countries were expecting. But it might just be enough to allow them to move another half step down the path towards EU integration. READ MORE

New U.S. Strategy Focuses on Managing Threats

By David E. Sanger and Peter Baker

President Obama’s first formal national security strategy describes a coming era in which the United States will have to learn to live within its limits — a world in which two wars cannot be sustained for much longer and the rising powers inevitably begin to erode some elements of American influence around the globe. READ MORE

The impact of conflicts on trade and goods turnover

Free trade: the lost opportunity of unresolved conflicts READ MORE