A Brief Guide To The EU's Lisbon Treaty
The Treaty of Lisbon is set to finally go into force on December 1. Answers some of the most pertinent questions about the landmark European reform document. READ MORE
Who is going to be the next?
Who is going to be the first to recognize Abkhazia and South Ossetia: Belarus or Peru? The delegation from Minsk has studied the situation in Tbilisi, Sukhum and Tskhinval to submit its conclusions to the parliament. At the same time, it became known that the opposition of Peru put forward a proposal to recognize the independence of the two Caucasian republics following the example of Nicaragua and Venezuela. READ MORE
Azerbaijan Seeks Alternative Gas Export Routes: Sending a Signal to Ankara
“We are interested in exporting our resources through different routes,” Azerbaijan’s President Ilham Aliyev stated during his visit to Bulgaria on November 13. On the same day, he paid a short working visit to Sofia to meet his counterpart Georgi Parvanov and to sign an inter-governmental agreement on the transit of Azeri gas to Europe though the Black Sea. This was the third agreement signed with a foreign country during the past month. Previous agreements were signed with Russia and Iran. Analysts believe that these latest developments hint at Baku’s plans to diversify its export options and reduce its dependence on the so-called “Turkish route”. READ MORE
The Molotov-Ribbentrop Pipeline
Rügen is best known as a popular German tourist destination. But now the Baltic Sea island has taken on a new role as staging point for an energy project that is as ambitious as it is controversial: the Nord Stream gas pipeline from Russia to Germany. Next spring the first pipeline segments will likely be dropped to the sea floor in a line that will wind through Russian, Finish, Swedish, Danish and German waters—conspicuously avoiding the Baltic states and Poland. READ MORE
Bridge on the Dnieper
Ukraine is in the news again, this time for its panicked response to a flu epidemic that has claimed over three hundred lives. In many countries, this would simply be a matter of public health, but in Ukraine, where politics is polarized by culture and region, an epidemic is another excuse for partisan wrangling. President Viktor Yushchenko is engaged in an escalating verbal battle with Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko, a onetime ally now angling for his job. A presidential election is scheduled for January 17. READ MORE
