Angela Merkel’s Pyrrhic Victory
As far as Germany is concerned, the drama of the euro crisis is over. The subject was barely discussed in the country’s recent election campaign. Chancellor Angela Merkel did what was necessary to ensure the euro’s survival, and she did so at the least possible cost to Germany – a feat that earned her the support of pro-European Germans as well as those who trust her to protect German interests. Not surprisingly, she won re-election resoundingly. READ MORE
Kazakhstan and Belarus Host High-Level Ukrainian Officials
Ukrainian Foreign Minister Leonid Kozhara has visited Kazakhstan and Prime Minister Mykola Azarov went to Belarus earlier this month to assure Russia’s Customs Union partners that Ukraine’s plans to sign an association and free trade agreement with the European Union in November will do them no harm. Judging by statements made during and after the visits, attitudes to Ukraine’s plans in Astana and Minsk are more pragmatic than in Moscow, which keeps threatening Kyiv with sanctions for preferring the EU to its own regional bloc (see EDM, October 10). READ MORE
Don’t forget China in the EU-Russia-Ukraine triangle
In the context of Ukraine’s political and economic options, Beijing can be the ideal supplemental partner for Kyiv. READ MORE
Transnistria: Time to Make a Choice
Everyone knows how it feels to deal with a suitcase without a handle: you can’t carry it and you can’t drop it. In a way, this conveys the attitude toward Transnistria of most actors interested in settling this long-standing conflict, including the two sides (Chisinau and Tiraspol), mediators (Russia, Ukraine and the OSCE) and observers (the U.S. and the EU). Contemporary international politics presumes that “frozen” and similar ethno-territorial conflicts can be settled without delay. Everyone involved is supposed to pretend that this is a priority. But this abstraction has little to do with reality. The first and overriding concern of the leaders of the dominant political forces and parties to the conflict is to maintain the stability of their own positions of power and their current governments. External actors are pursuing their own geo-political and geo-economic interests, both genuine and fake. Since both Transnistria and Moldova, due to their small size and socio-economic underdevelopment, are of little value to these actors, only rivalry between the outsider players incentivizes conflict resolution. READ MORE
SERGEY DROBYSHEVSKIY: I EXPECT MORE ‘TRADE WARS’ BETWEEN RUSSIA AND EU
Exclusive interview of the managing director Russia's G20 Expert Council dr. Sergey Drobyshevskiy. READ MORE
GEORGIA AHEAD OF PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION
On the eve of the presidential elections in Georgia, the situation in the country remains, in general, relatively predictable and very stable. You can already say with confidence that no matter who becomes president of Georgia after scheduled for October 27, 2013 presidential elections in the country, particularly the sensation will not. READ MORE
Integrational Pragmatism
The worst, the better – this is what, probably, can be said when analyzing the hysteria which has been raised for the last several weeks in European, and especially, American newspapers regarding hardening of the Russian line towards the states willing to join the European Union. The more clearly Moscow imagines russophobic attitudes of a significant segment of Western elites, the more rational, cold and efficient shall be Russian foreign policy within post-Soviet space. READ MORE
Azarov: Ukraine, Russia, Kazakhstan may create grain pool in six months
Prime Minister Mykola Azarov has stated that Ukraine, Russia and Kazakhstan could create a grain pool within six months. READ MORE
Approaches to Conflict Resolution in the OSCE Area (2013)
Launched in 2012 at the initiative of the Secretary General Lamberto Zannier, the OSCE Security Days is the forum for dialogue on the current and future role of the OSCE as a security organization. Another Security Days event was dedicated to very important topic of current and new approaches to conflict resolution in the OSCE area. There are still number of mutually hurting frozen conflicts in the OSCE area which remain unresolved. Certainly, OSCE should further focus on conflict prevention, conflict management and conflict resolution issues. Protracted conflicts in Moldova, Georgia and Nagorno-Karabakh have deep negative impact not only to parties involved but also for wider international community and , therefore, these conflicts should remain high on international security agenda. READ MORE
Georgian ambassador: Baku-Tbilisi-Kars railway shortest route for ISAF's return
The top Georgian diplomat in Ankara Irakli Koplatadze has said that the Baku-Tbilisi-Kars railway offers the cheapest and shortest way for the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) in Afghanistan to return home. READ MORE
