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The decision of Ukraine’s president Viktor Yanukovysh not to sign the Association Agreement with the European Union was the starting point of the still on-going Ukrainian crisis. In this conflict, Russians and Ukrainians, who have historically had extremely close cultural ties, have been confronting each other. The western community, which does not seem ...
Amid endless talks about the ramifications of sanctions imposed against Russia, Western commentators and policy pundits are missing a critical point. Economic coercion imposed against Moscow, their argument runs, will enfeeble the Russian government and force it to yield to Western demands. Part of the logic is that Russia's extractive economy is Vladimir Putin's Achilles' feet, and economic challenges will likely undermine his legitimacy and popularity in the long run. A...
It's been a while since the rivalry between Russia and the West took such harsh forms. Actually, the object of the contestation - Ukraine - may imply that apart from China and few other countries Zbigniew Brzezinski may be a beneficiary. "Told ya", thinks probably the former security advisor to President Carter awaiting reprintings of his Chessboard. All kidding (or not?) aside, let theory work. The current crisis can be explained from different points of view. The simplest and...
... seen as harmless. If pursued in batch, under a single programme, they send out the powerful, and potentially threatening, message that the EU is looking to tie its partners down in the ‘Euro-Atlantic’ sphere of interest. As it happens, the European Union has the resources (in the External Action Service) to step up relations with partner countries on a bilateral basis; this would certainly be more effective and look less threatening. As an integration tool, the Eastern Partnership looks ...
By the end of 2013 the numerous miscalculations of the Yanukovych regime had deepened the systemic crisis in Ukraine, the crux of which was the tension between the people's hopes of independence and the inefficiency of the country's post-Soviet political and social system. The 2013-2014 revolution in Kiev paved the way for systemic reforms, but at the same time exposed the weaknesses of Ukrainian statehood. Russia's leadership perceived this overthrow as the failure of Yanukovych's policies and resorted...
... has a host of daunting tasks at hand. Amid the Kremlin's belligerent policy towards Kiev, Poroshenko has to modernize the economy, diversify Ukraine's gas supplies, quell the separatist rebellions, and integrate the country into the European Union. Fortunately, at least one of these tasks can almost be crossed off the list. The president elect has vowed to pay his first visit to the separatist region of Donetsk, where having failed to derange Ukrainian elections in the region, the ...
... at European and Eurasian integration after the Ukraine crisis Abstract: Driven by the negative narratives through which it explains the world, Vladimir Putin’s Russia has launched an ambitious integration project in direct competition with the European Union. Although it is acknowledged by both Russia and the EU that only a deep and far-reaching cooperation agenda can bring benefits to either, an astounding lack of trust renders any marriage of convenience unlikely. The unequal and essentially ...
With the increasingly tension in Eastern Ukraine, the US imposes the tougher sanction against Russia, which covers Putin’s ‘inner circle’ and the restrictive measures on defense exports to Russia, on April. 28, 2014. Through the recent indicators on Russian domestic economy, Kremlin has tasted the pains from the weakening economics that “Capital flight in the first three months of 2014 is thought to exceed $60 billion. The stockmarket is down by 20% since the start of the...
... like in the Yugoslav wars, but worse. Many have pushed for a cooperative Greater Europe, a common economic and security space from Lisbon to Vladivostok, on the level of high politics as well as in the expert discourse, in Russia as well as in the European Union. How do you assess this initiative in light of the Ukraine crisis? This idea was always a non-starter. Until Russia can reassure countries that are frightened of it that it means no harm, all such initiatives will be viewed with grave ...
Russia, China, the five members of European Union (France, Germany, the UK, Spain, and Italy) take the 66 percent of international arms transfer in the period of 2009~2013 (Siemon T. Wezeman, 2014). Compared with the 2004~2008, the percentage of arms importers of major weapon regional,...
In Eastern Ukraine, we are seeing an ingenious Russian plot unfold — for the second time. Russian servicemen, wearing no insignia, infiltrate into the area and, capitalising on marginal grassroots separatism, spark unrest. They establish control in a professional manner, quickly, and largely without blood. The government in Kiev is helpless. Struggling with a crisis of legitimacy since the moment of taking control, it can hardly rely on the armed forces to establish order in its insurgent...
The release of atomic energy has not created a new problem. It has merely made more urgent the necessity of solving an existing one. Albert Einstein On begining of march Alexey Miller, Chairman of the Gazprom Management Committee took part in the South Stream Transport Supervisory Board meeting in Zurich (Switzerland). The Board members approved the signing of a contract for laying the first string of South Stream's offshore section and a pipe procurement contract for the second string of...
In March18, 2014 in Berlin has been presented four scenarios of EU-Ukrainian relation that were developed by a team of 26 civil societies experts, academics and state workers across Ukraine. The event supported by European Council of Foreign Relation www.ecfr.eu and Friedrich-Ebert Foundation www.fes.de and opened a discussion of perspectives, difficulties and trends in modern Ukraine after 2013-2014 Euromaidan revolution. The experts´ team worked since November, 2013 and up to January, 2014...
Elections in Serbia 2014 - Options without Choice It is enough that the people know there was an election. The people who cast the votes decide nothing. The people who count the votes decide everything. Joseph Stalin Immediately after the release of the first relevant results of the elections in Serbia, began comparing the new parliamentary convocation with those of the 90s and, if you are talking about the balance of power, it is not an exaggeration. Progressives have not won 194 parliamentary mandate...
Vladimir Putin’s annexation of Crimea has enraged the West. His lack of openness to any compromise has forced it to launch a — weak — sanctions regime. Putin finds this ‘unacceptable’ and threatens retaliation. In yesterday’s speech — which many noted might have been his most important ever —, Putin hit a markedly anti-Western tone. Partially rewriting history, he bemoaned the West’s hypocrisy, double standards, and mingling in foreign countries;...
Having invaded Crimea, set up a puppet government and organised a sham referendum, now Vladimir Putin will have to facilitate the region’s accession to Russia. There is little doubt this is going to happen swiftly. Any different reaction to yesterday’s clear, if unfair, results, will seem much too cynical even to Russians, who now — thanks to the lies seen on television —overwhelmingly believe that Putin is fighting to save Russian-speakers in Ukraine, put in real danger by...
... context than she did in her phone conversation, tapped and leaked by the Russian secret service. What the EU still needs, now more evidently than ever, is a strong High Representative to forge, not just manage, the EU’s common foreign policy. The European Union needs a new face as its foreign policy chief. It needs to be someone with a vision and strategic thinking; someone whose allegiance to European ideals is unquestionable but who is a realist and not ashamed, or worse, afraid of geopolitics....
The Eastern Partnership summit in Vilnius in November 2013 demonstrated that the European Union’s policy toward its eastern neighbors has developed into a highly contentious issue between the EU and Russia. The summit was overshadowed by the decision of the Ukrainian government not to sign an Association Agreement with the EU ...
... As we can see, international background changed very dramatically so as its response to happening in Ukraine since 2004. Russia consolidated its power in the international arena and employs much more complex foreign policy towards its neighbours. The European Union also developed remarkably in the course of nine years and even despite the crisis it grew much stronger than it ever was. It achieved good results with the Eastern Partnership in Georgia and Moldova. Yet, EU's ability to influence its neighbourhood ...
It might seem that, Ukraine having decided not to sign a deal with the EU last week in Vilnius, the Union lost the integration contest to Russia. But developments seem to be on the way. In light of the happenings of the past few days, Europe may come out of this better than it would have, had things gone another way. It has long been known that the talks between the EU and Ukraine should end at the Eastern Partnership summit in Vilnius, with the signing of a Free Trade and Association Agreement...
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| U.S. wants to establish partnership relations with Russia on condition that it meets the U.S. requirements |
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| U.S. wants to deter Russia’s military and political activity |
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| U.S. wants to dissolve Russia |
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| U.S. wants to establish alliance relations with Russia under the US conditions to rival China |
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