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Archive - Jun 2013

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June 10th

Geopolitical Journey: The Search for Belonging and Ballistic Missile Defense in Romania

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By George Friedman

During the Cold War, Romania confused all of us. Long after brutality in other communist countries declined, Romania remained a state that employed levels of violence best compared to North Korea today. Nicolae Ceausescu, referred to by admirers as the Genius of the Carpathians, ruled Romania with a ruthless irrationality. Government policies left the country cold and dark, and everyday items readily available just a few kilometers south in Bulgaria were rarities in Romania. At the same time -- and this was the paradox -- Romania was hostile and uncooperative with the Soviets. Bucharest refused to submit to Moscow, and this did not compute for many of us. Resistance to Soviet power, in our minds, meant liberalization, like what we saw in Hungary and Czechoslovakia. But not in Romania; Romania played a different game. READ MORE

The Platform for Full Cooperation

Developing countries intend to suggest the world community a new format of response towards global challenges. In the end of June 2013 Kazakhstan, which has launched an interactive platform G-Global, intends to sound the recommendations for the leaders of the Great 20. They were developed under the results of the VI Astana Economic Forum (AEF) and the World Anti-Crisis Conference (WACC) with the participation of the representatives from 132 countries of the world. READ MORE

June 7th

Ambassador Ion Stavila: The main thing in Transdniestrian settlement is not to stand still

On May 23, Odesa hosted the next round of negotiations on the Transdniestrian settlement in the 5+2 format (Chisinau and Tiraspol as the parties to the conflict, Russia, Ukraine and the OSCE as mediators, and the EU and the United States as observers). This is the second meeting that was held as part of Ukraine's chairmanship of the OSCE in 2013. READ MORE

Obama, Xi summit could help define U.S.-China relationship for years to come

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By Scott Wilson and William Wan

President Obama and his new Chinese counterpart, Xi Jinping, will retreat to the California desert this weekend for an unusual series of meetings that could help define one of the world’s most important relationships for years to come. READ MORE

Italian Story of the Escaped Oligarch’s Family

By Alina Kantor

There is a new turn in the case of the escaped Kazakhstani ex-banker Mukhtar Ablyazov. Ablyazov has blamed the authorities of Kazakhstan in kidnapping of his family from Italy. Rome still declares that the family of the escaped banker lived in the country under fake documents. READ MORE

June 5th

NATO Starts Security Drills in the Baltics

NATO countries start on Monday large-scale security cooperation exercises on the territory of the former Soviet republics in the Baltic region, the Estonian military said. READ MORE

President: Access to Baltic Sea important for Kazakhstan

Access to the Baltic Sea is important for Kazakhstan, the President of Kazakhstan Nursultan Nazarbayev said at a press conference on Monday following a meeting with his Latvian counterpart Andris Berzins in Astana. READ MORE

Turkish Cyprus demands deadline for peace talks, rejects ‘perpetual negotiations'

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By Sinem Cengiz

Frustrated by decades of unfruitful negotiations between the Turkish and Greek sides to reunify the divided island of Cyprus, Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (KKTC) Ambassador to Turkey Mustafa Lakadamyalı has stated that there should be a definite deadline for negotiations on the divided Mediterranean island, adding that the talks cannot go on forever. READ MORE

June 3rd

Astana-Tashkent: Reaching of Mutual Agreement

By Arthur Dunn

Regional neighbors Islam Karimov and Nursultan Nazarbayev keep on reaching greater understanding and support of each other, the same they more often acknowledge the interdependence and acute need to strengthen the cooperation. READ MORE

NATO’s contribution to European Security

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Address by Ambassador Dirk Brengelmann, NATO Assistant Secretary General for Political Affairs and Security Policy, at the plenary session of the Conference on Military and Political Aspects of European Security, Moscow, 23-24 May READ MORE