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Archive - 2011

May 11th

U.S.-Pakistani Relations Beyond Bin Laden

By George Friedman

The past week has been filled with announcements and speculations on how Osama bin Laden was killed and on Washington’s source of intelligence. After any operation of this sort, the world is filled with speculation on sources and methods by people who don’t know, and silence or dissembling by those who do. READ MORE

U.S. May Place Fighter Jets in Poland

By Marcin Sobczyk

WARSAW — President Barack Obama, set to visit Warsaw this month, will announce the details of a permanent move of U.S. Air Force F-16 fighter jets to Poland from the Aviano Air Base in Italy, the Polish press reports today. If the plan becomes reality, the move will irk Russia and may become a serious test of the quality of the reset in relations between Washington and Moscow, as well as those between Moscow and Warsaw. READ MORE

May 9th

Georgia to veto Russia’s WTO bid?

By Isabel Gorst

Russia and Georgia have hardly been on speaking terms since they fought a short war in August 2008 that cost Georgia a fifth of its territory. READ MORE

Poland and Ukraine: miles to go

By Jan Cienski

The fastest way to appreciate just how far Poland has advanced in the last two decades is to make a quick trip to neighbouring Ukraine. The visual evidence is overwhelming. READ MORE

May 6th

U.S. and Romania Move on Missile Plan

By Thom Shanker and Ellen Barry

WASHINGTON — The United States and Romania announced an agreement on Tuesday on the location for basing American antimissile interceptors in Romania as part of a program designed to link Washington and its NATO allies against an Iranian threat. The agreement immediately drew complaints from Russian officials. READ MORE

India Courts a Distant Kazakhstan

By Rupakjyoti Borah

Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s Apr 15-16 revisit to Kazakhstan noted an critical step brazen in India’s ties with a rising Central Asian nation. Relations between a dual countries have gained movement given Jan 2009, when Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev was a arch guest during India’s Republic Day celebrations. READ MORE

Iraq, Iran and the Next Move

By George Friedman

The United States told the Iraqi government last week that if it wants U.S. troops to remain in Iraq beyond the deadline of Dec. 31, 2011, as stipulated by the current Status of Forces Agreement between Washington and Baghdad, it would have to inform the United States quickly. Unless a new agreement is reached soon, the United States will be unable to remain. The implication in the U.S. position is that a complex planning process must be initiated to leave troops there and delays will not allow that process to take place. READ MORE

Time for Plan B

A 14-year effort to negotiate an international treaty banning the production of nuclear weapons fuel is getting nowhere. Under the terms of the United Nations’ Conference on Disarmament, all 65 participants must agree. Pakistan, which is racing to develop the world’s fifth largest arsenal, is refusing to let the talks move forward. READ MORE

Europe’s Neighborhood: Can Turkey Inspire?

Since the Arab Spring dawned,Turkey’s potential value as an inspiration for and facilitator of reform in the Middle East and North Africa has been a heated topic of discussion. Critics have been concerned that this debate would both work against Turkey’s EU integration by distracting intellectual and political attention and complicate domestic political dynamics through overemphasis on Turkey’s Muslim identity — in essence making Turkey more Middle Eastern rather than spreading reform and open society. READ MORE

Russian energy moves indicate a shift in priorities

By Ioannis Michaletos

The Russian energy moves in natural gas and oil as they are being developed since late 2010, indicate a shift in priorities, namely more reliance on exports in the dynamic Asian markets and at the same time acceleration of the ongoing collaboration schemes with Western producers and traders. READ MORE