... of the city. One might wonder, how do these people end up there in the first place?
Disclaimer 2
. I cannot agree with those politicians and public figures from Emmanuel Macron to George Soros, who consider the rise of populism a mortal threat to the European Union. I think it is an obvious exaggeration. Moreover, Europe needs populists, both highly active right-wingers and less conspicuous left-wingers, as it needs Eurosceptics. As the saying goes, “a pike lives in the lake to keep all the fish ...
What might be a “second option” for Russia in Syria?
The situation around Russia in Syria is up for debate. No doubt, Russia would like to lead a reconstruction effort in Syria, in harmony with all relevant partners, including the UN, the EU, the USA, China, India, Turkey, Iran, Israel, the Sunni Arab states including the Golf Council Countries (GCC-states), Egypt and Morocco. However, many of the parties on the list of wished-for partners are strongly hostile to each other, and it might therefore...
... Europe and USA may be of good utility for Russian global foreign policy
With ongoing debates on Russian-made S-400 deliveries to Turkey, fate of continuing cooperation of Russia, Turkey and Iran in Syria and future of Ankara’s relations with the European Union and NATO, it is high time to make an honest review of Russian-Turkish relations, define weaknesses of bilateral cooperation and try to sketch a framework for a better future. Inspection of historical legacy and nature of current ties may ...
... rules of coexistence and conduct. In other words, the generation of fifty- and sixty-year-olds on both sides of the long-gone Iron Curtain is sharing a common historical experience but interpreting it differently.
Twenty- and thirty-year-olds in the European Union and Russia set out from the same platform but moved along diverging tracks. A new generation has grown up in the West which knows that the period of 1989-1991 liberated many peoples from tyranny and eliminated the threat of nuclear war,...
One of the distinctive features of the modern Western political narrative with regard to NATO is an almost total misunderstanding of how the alliance is perceived in Russia. First and foremost, the Western political establishment seems blithely unaware of the fact that the issue of NATO is the main stumbling block in Russian-Western relations, and that any detente is impossible while that obstacle remains unresolved.
This is the first of a two-part commentary on a Russian perspective of NATO, and...
... Chinese Belt and Road Initiative. Despite the fact that 13 other EU countries have signed similar memorandums with China, the significance of Italy’s decision cannot be overstated, as it is the first G7 country and the first founding member of the European Union to officially confirm its readiness to participate in Silk Road projects.
Ever since Undersecretary of State at the Italian Ministry of Economic Development Michele Geraci announced the imminent signing of the document on March 5, 2019,...
... problems than on international issues. This propensity for political introspection (some may even call it political autism syndrome) is present, to some extent, in the U.S., Russia, China, and India. However, it is particularly characteristic of the European Union, which currently has to simultaneously deal with Brexit, prepare for the upcoming European Parliament elections, restore financial discipline in the eurozone, and reconcile differing views on migration issues along with many other urgent ...
A man's ego is the fountainhead of human progress.
Ayn Rand, author of “The Virtue of Selfishness: A New Concept of Egoism”
Selfishness is not living as one wishes to live, it is asking others to live as one wishes to live.
Oscar Wilde
The modern conservative is engaged in one of man's oldest exercises in moral philosophy; that is, the search for a superior moral justification for selfishness.
John Kenneth Galbraith
Today’s international scene is dominated by Realpolitik – national interest...
Assessing the prospects and context of Ukraine’s EU drive
Ukraine first embraced the European path during the 2004 revolution. Institutionally, this path implies the country’s aspiration to join the EU and NATO. The recent amendments to the Ukrainian constitution legitimise this drive. This very fact suggests that Ukraine is committed to development and reforms, but a number of paradoxes cast doubts on the project.
This article aims to dissect Ukraine’s European integration process in the context...
... Assessment Section, Primakov Institute of World Economy and International Relations, Russian Academy of Sciences.
In the opening speech Sergey Utkin noted that Brexit, dividing the British public into two blocs, is an extremely difficult challenge for the European Union.
The discussion began with a speech by Oksana Antonenko, who gave the general overview of the factors that had influenced the results of the referendum on the UK’s withdrawal from the European Union. According to the speaker, the ...
