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Archive - Jul 2009

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July 8th

Stefan Eriksson: “I think Belarusian side knows our expectations well”

By Viktor Pavlov

Sweden replaced Czech Republic in its position of a head country of European Union. On this subject the ambassador of Sweden in Belarus Stefan Eriksson answered the questions. READ MORE

European Vector of Higher Priority

Russia should care of itself to become attractive for CIS countries. In the end of last week western Mass Media informed that the European Union suspends the “Eastern Partnership” program till December. This message referred to the comments of Fredrik Reinfeldt the Prime Minister of Sweden, the country currenlty chairing the EU. The Prime Minister explained this move with “new arising challenges”, meanwhile six former Soviet states lay their greatest integration hopes on this program. READ MORE

Opposition takes Bulgarian elections

Bulgaria' ruling Socialists have suffered a resounding defeat in parliamentary elections, but the jubilant centre-right opposition will still need coalition partners to form a new government. READ MORE

None of the EU Program “Eastern Partnership” Member-States Has Presented Its Financial Projects for the Commission

The EC representative Christiane Hohmann states that the “Eastern Partnership” program is performed as planned and won’t be “frozen”. READ MORE

Erdogan Avoids Confrontation with the Military over Alleged Plot

By Saban Kardas

Since the publication of a document, allegedly prepared by Colonel, Dursun Cicek, outlining a plan to undermine the governing AKP and the Gulen movement , Turkish domestic politics has focused on the future of civil-military relations (EDM, June 15). Nonetheless, fears over a split between the government and the military did not transpire, and Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan has avoided such a dangerous confrontation. Instead of pursuing punitive action against the military authorities, Erdogan has demonstrated restraint and instead referred the matter to the courts. READ MORE

July 6th

Armenia: Washington Cuts Millennium Challenge Funding

By Joshua Kucera

The United States has cut aid for a $67-million road construction program in Armenia, due to displeasure over the slow pace of democratization in Yerevan, US officials say. But some in Armenia and in the Armenian diaspora dispute that rationale, and instead suggest that Yerevan is being punished for geopolitical reasons. READ MORE

July 3rd

"We can offer very much to Europe”

"We can offer very much to Europe: share our experience of a compromise culture and solidarity, and cope together with the still existing divisions," the President underlined in Lublin READ MORE

Kazakhstan: Geopolitical Rivalry Flares At Nato Forum In Astana

By Joanna Lillis

NATO Secretary-General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer used a June 25 security forum in Kazakhstan’s capital Astana to encourage debate on how the Atlantic Alliance can evolve in the age of globalization. He also sought to reassure cautious Central Asian leaders that partnership with NATO was a "two-way street." READ MORE

Speculation Intensifies over the Future of Manas

By Erica Marat

The U.S. military has now started preparing to leave the Manas base in Bishkek as part of its anticipated eviction, according to Colonel Christopher Bence, the newly-appointed commander of the airbase. The United States military will vacate Manas by August 18, as the Kyrgyz regime first officially demanded in February. READ MORE

July 1st

The Eurasian Pipeline Calculus

By F. William Engdahl

Calculus has two main variants—derivative and integral. The Eurasian energy pipeline geopolitics between Turkey Washington and Moscow today has elements of both. It is highly derivative in that the major actors across Central Asia from China, Russia to Turkey are very much engaged in a derived power game which has less to do with any specific state and more to do with maintaining Superpower hegemony for Washington. Integral as the de facto motion of various pipeline projects now underway or in discussion across Eurasia hold the potential to integrate the economic space of Eurasia in a way that poses a fundamental challenge to Washington’s projection of Full Spectrum Dominance over the greatest land mass on earth. READ MORE