Russian geopolitics of the 21st century will be different from the days of empire and conflict of the nineteenth and twentieth. The increased accessibility of the Arctic, with its energy and mineral resources, new fisheries, shortened sea routes and shipping along the rivers between the Arctic coast and the Eurasian heartland, is both enabling and propelling Russia to become a major maritime state. READ MORE

On October 30, Poland announced its intention to privatize the state-owned majority stake in the country’s second-largest oil industry concern, Lotos Group. The Polish government is inviting interested parties to pre-tender talks on the Lotos Group. READ MORE

The Turkmen President Gurbanguly Berdimuhammadov and the Turkish President Abdullah Gul, who met the day before in the Caspian city of Turkmenbashi, expressed their intention "to develop cooperation in the sphere of supplies of Turkmen natural gas to world markets through alternative routes, the final joint communiqué, issued by the local media on Saturday, says. READ MORE

Britain and France last week announced that they would begin a new era of defense cooperation intended to conserve their military power at a time of shrinking military budgets. The plan involves sharing nuclear weapons research and other expensive weapons development programs, pooling aircraft carriers in times of crisis and jointly training rapid-reaction brigades that can fight side by side under a single commander. READ MORE

During the visit to Tbilisi on 30 September – 1 October, NATO Secretary General A.F.Rasmussen said that the door of the Alliance remains open to Georgia and that the decision made during the Bucharest NATO Summit in 2008 is still in force. However, this statement could hardly be considered as an introduction to fast Georgia‘s integration into Alliance. It could first of all be based on several examples reflecting the dialogue between Georgia and NATO (or, to be more exact, the state of relations close to stagnation) during the recent years. READ MORE

German Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle, speaking during a parliamentary debate, has again called on the country’s NATO allies to remove their stockpiles of nuclear weapons from German soil. READ MORE