Serbia has said Kosovo wants to create a political fait accompli by trying to seize two border checkpoints with force. Meanwhile, a NATO convoy was unable to reach its soldiers due to a blockade by ethnic Serbs. READ MORE

Among the mutual recriminations ringing out between the U.S. and Europe regarding NATO's already stressed-out intervention in Libya, we have seen the usual raft of analyses regarding that military alliance's utility -- or lack thereof. As someone who has argued for close to a decade now that America will inevitably find that China, India and other rising powers make better and more appropriate allies for managing this world, I don't find such arguments surprising. You don't have to be a genius to do the math: Our primary allies aren't having enough babies and have chosen to shrink their defense budgets, while rising powers build up their forces and increasingly flex their muscles. In terms of future superpowers, beyond the "CIA" trio -- China, India and America -- nobody else is worth mentioning. READ MORE

Starlight half year of Poland started yesterday with its Chairmanship in the European Union. At least this is how Warsaw perceives the following six months, although they are perfectly aware of that after the coming into power of the Lisbon Treaty the Chairmanship of any EU state has devaluated more than Polish Zloty towards USD during world financial crisis. READ MORE

Politicians from the European Union (EU) like success stories; they need them. In that vein, they would like their neighborhood to be stable, secure, and prosperous, and assume that their neighbors can provide these commodities on their own. This assumption may prove to be correct. However, by focusing on the Eastern neighborhood’s latest hopeful for EU membership—Moldova—it becomes immediately apparent that, in addition to lending a helping hand, the EU may also be undermining the processes that could bring change to the country. READ MORE

Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has said in Baku that Armenian President Serzh Sarksyan should apologize for calling on school children to occupy eastern Turkey. READ MORE

Minister of Foreign Affairs of Kazakhstan Yerzhan Kazykhanov has visited Belgium, Great Britain and Germany on July 18-20. READ MORE

For many years, Russian diplomats have openly proclaimed that the former Soviet republics that make up the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) are not truly sovereign states. Russian analysts have stated that Russia regards the Obama Administration’s “reset” policy as a U.S. admission that the CIS is within Russia’s sphere of influence. The reset policy has hitherto conspicuously failed to address important U.S. interests in Eurasia, including preventing the emergence of a hegemonic power in Eurasia, maintaining a level playing field in access to markets and natural resources, and developing democracy and free markets based on the rule of law. Since the “reset,” President Obama has downgraded his meetings with post-Soviet heads of state, signaling a lesser U.S. involvement and interest. Some senior U.S. officials have even told their subordinates not to bother them with the problems of the Caucasus. READ MORE

Analyst Eugene Chausovsky examines the current politics of energy infrastructure from the Caucasus region to central Europe as the European Union seeks alternatives to Russia. READ MORE

Despite continuing dependence on trade ties with the EU, Russia is seeking closer links with US and China and makes joining WTO a priority READ MORE

Plunging unemployment, rocketing growth, soaring exports and a budget surplus: that is the story of Estonia as it bounces back from a precipitous economic collapse. This burst of good news shows not only the virtues of flexibility and austerity (a sensitive subject, as other euro countries taste the same medicine); it also gives heart to Latvia and Lithuania, the British weekly The Economist writes. READ MORE