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Archive - 2009 - News Item

August 14th

Questions abound over Ukraine's European future

Ukraine is currently negotiating visa-free travel with the EU as part of a wide-ranging association agreement, as some of the country's politicians express hopes for a clearer "European perspective". EurActiv outlines various scenarios for Ukraine's expected rocky path towards closer EU integration. READ MORE

August 12th

Zeyno Baran: the USA Wants NABUCCO to Go Round Russia

The USA have no economic interests in the Nabucco gas pipeline project, as well as there was no economic interest in the oil pipeline Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan. This was stated by Zeyno Baran, the Director of the Center for Eurasian Policy at the Hudson Institute. According to Zeyno Baran, who is also a wife of the US State Secretary Deputy Assistant Matthew Bryza, Washington has a pure political interest in these projects. “We should assure for the countries of Caucasus and Central Asia, through the territories of which Nabucco pipeline will be laid, have no fear to become dependent of Russia”, - she noted. READ MORE

Azerbaijan: No Jitters Over Turkmenistan’s Caspian Sea Threat

By Shahin Abbasov

Turkmenistan’s pledge to take Azerbaijan to court over the two countries’ rival claims to Caspian Sea oil fields has sparked more confusion than anger in Baku. Some Azerbaijani experts even believe that an international arbitration hearing could prove the best way to resolve a long-standing energy dispute. READ MORE

August 10th

Russia And Turkey Agree On South Stream Pipeline Project

Russia has signed an agreement with Turkey to build the South Stream undersea gas pipeline in Turkish waters. The deal comes one month after Turkey signed transit accords for the rival European-backed Nabucco pipeline. READ MORE

Propagandist Gamble On A Global Tragedy

By Marine Voskanyan

Why does OSCE equalize Communism to Nazism? READ MORE

August 7th

Romanian President Says Moldova Protests Reminiscent Of 1989

Romanian President Traian Basescu has said that April's post-electoral clashes in Chisinau were a sign that Moldova’s young generation wants real political and economic change. In an interview at RFE/RL's Prague headquarters with correspondent Eugen Tomiuc, Basescu strongly rejected Moldova’s accusations that Romania was behind the violence, and said that Romania's stance toward Moldova will always be “one people, two countries.” The president also spoke about the EU’s eastward expansion plans and about relations with Russia and the United States. READ MORE

Georgia, Russia Tensions Flare Ahead Of War Anniversary

South Ossetia has accused Georgian forces of firing at it while Russia has warned Tbilisi it's ready to use force to defend civilians. The renewed tensions come just one week ahead of the first anniversary of the war. READ MORE

August 5th

New NATO: Germany Returns To World Military Stage

By Rick Rozoff

When the post-World War II German states the Federal Republic of Germany and the German Democratic Republic, West and East Germany, respectively, were united in 1990, it was for many in Europe and the world as a whole a heady time, fraught with hopes of a continent at peace and perhaps disarmed. READ MORE

New NATO Chief Favors Dialog With Moderate Taliban

The new head of NATO Anders Fogh Rasmussen says he is ready to open a dialog with moderate Taliban elements. His comments come amid reports that western soldiers were killed by insurgents in Afghanistan on Saturday. READ MORE

August 3rd

Quo Vadis Moldova?

By Ahto Lobjakas

Followers of the Moldovan elections can be forgiven for feeling the results have been something of an anticlimax. READ MORE