London agreement sends strong message, says NATO Secretary General
Today’s creation in London of an international Contact Group on Libya is a strong expression of international community support for the Libyan people’s wish for freedom, democracy and human rights, says NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen. The group will give political guidance to the international community's actions in response to the Libyan crisis. READ MORE
March 30th
Poland Determined to Produce Shale Gas
Polish PM Pledges Support for Shale Gas Exploration. READ MORE
German press review: The 'nuclear' elections
German front pages have been painted green after state elections seen as a "spectacular" boost for the Greens, and a "debacle" for Angela Merkel's Christian Democrats. Many papers put the result down to nuclear power. READ MORE
Visa Regime for “South Stream”
The negotiations between the President of Russia Dmitry Medvedev and the Prime Minister of Turkey Recep Erdogan took place in Moscow, the most important result of which was the abolishment of visa regime. However the main subject covered energy relations: the Kremlin specified clearly, that it is ready to refuse of the “South Stream” piping, if Turkey won’t give the permission on it in favor of the condensed natural gas production plant. It’s hardly worth to take the kind of intentions seriously: Moscow has already used the kind of pressure tactics in order to force the partner-state to choose more flexible line. READ MORE
Tripoli and the Russian Rift
U.S. President Barack Obama’s “reset” with Russia is looking flimsy in the wake of vitriolic rhetoric from Moscow. Prime Minister Vladimir Putin has had harsh words about U.S. military action against Libya. He and Defense Minister Anatoly Serdyukov have gone so far as to repeat Muammar Qaddafi's canards about exorbitant civilian casualties and Western “crusades.” READ MORE
Successful partnership within international organizations – joint interest of Lithuania and Croatia
President of the Republic of Lithuania Dalia Grybauskaitė met with President of Croatia Ivo Josipović, who arrived in Vilnius on a working visit. READ MORE
Chinese threat to the former son-in-law of Kazakh President
The situation on the eve of the snap Presidential elections in Kazakhstan to be held on April 3rd can’t be called trivial. Voters are being attracted with various curious statements. A disgraced ex-son-in-law of the President Nursultan Nazarbayev attempts to gain the most attention. Sometime influential Rakhat Shorazov-Aliyev undertook another informational attack from Vienna, where he hides from justice. Snap elections for him became a surprise, having broken the plans to ballot for the post of the Head of the state in 2012. He expressly tries to destabilize the situation around Kazakhstan and inside of it. After the announcement of the date of the snap Presidential elections, Rakhat Aliyev extraordinarily commented on the last state visit of Nazarbayev to China. READ MORE
Building Bridges Between Baltic and Central Asia states
The European Union has been engaged with the five countries in Central Asia from the very moment they gained their independence in the early 1990s. At the beginning of the 21st century, the globalization process has required a new partnership to be established between them, and Central Asia became one of the objectives of the EU Common Foreign and Security Policy. READ MORE
March 28th
Kazakhstan plays active role in promotion of SCO development - Chinese expert Qu Xing
As is known, in June 2011 Astana will host the jubilee Summit of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization. According to Minister of Foreign Affairs of China Yang Jiechi, Chinese side gives special attention to this regional event and intends to contribute to this meeting and promote regional interaction. READ MORE
Eastern Partnership: Turn Point
Success of European policy of neighborhood depends on official recognition by the EU of the existence of fundamental differences between East and South. The most important of them is that Eastern partners (in distinction from South ones) possess European intentions and prospects. READ MORE