... are being put to the test. The outcome will have repercussions that go far beyond Europe
The military confrontation between Russia and Ukraine is not an ethnic conflict: ethnic Ukrainians and ethnic Russians are fighting on both sides of the frontline.... ... for the World Order after the Russia-Ukraine conflict
It would be hard to argue that Ukraine has already emerged as a model of Western-style liberal democracy. But the country is persistently moving in this direction—slowly, inconsistently and with understandable ...
The Ukrainian and Russian-Western crises seem a long way from resolution, and are starting to affect the areas of relations intended to maintain contact and help break political deadlock. What kind of future is in store for expert-level dialogue, educational exchanges and interaction ...
Russia and the West should refrain from hostile and inflammatory rhetoric that fuels public mistrust
Relations between Russia and the European ... ... importance, and could therefore easily be shelved or even sacrificed for the sake of more central and more urgent needs.
The Ukrainian crisis has thus become a very explicit manifestation of the fragility of our relations. Both sides pursued their own ...
... ministers from across Central and Eastern Europe.
Also taking part are high-ranking officials from the U.S. State Department and the European Commission, as well as the heads of large defense companies, top international affairs experts and journalists.
Russia-West relations are the leitmotif of the forum. As expected, criticism of Russia is not in short supply. However, it is no longer 2014, when the political changes in the region were nigh on catastrophic.
The first impression from the 2015 meeting is that ...
... Union, which needs the Ukrainian market. Nevertheless, they allowed the conflict to become so deep as to cause damage to both sides (both the Russian and EU economies are suffering from the sanctions currently in force).
The destructive impact that the Ukrainian crisis has had on trust between Russia and the West is felt at all levels.
At the
institutional level
, Russia is perceived as a country that violates international norms and treaties, as well as the key principles of the modern world order, which are based on the concept of national sovereignty,...
Irina Khakamada
, one of Russia’s most prominent female liberal politicians, met RIAC website editor Maria Smekalova to share her views on the future ... ... differ from the continental versions of France, Italy and Spain. The Japanese and Indian systems markedly diverge from their Western counterparts. But they all represent liberalism.
Is Russian liberalism a reality?
Wikimedia.org
Maxim Bratersky:
Is Liberalism ...
... their current course.
[9]
In the most radical version, it implies a change of the country’s leadership.
[10]
This logic dictates not so much containment as it does intimidation of the Russian elite.
The realistic narrative envisages convincing Russia that its fears regarding both the Ukrainian crisis and the overall trend in the development of its relations with the West are exaggerated.
Predictably, the recommendations of realists differ both from constructivist and liberal advice. In their opinion, attempts to punish, intimidate, or even replace the Russian leadership would merely strengthen existing fears in ...
... published before the public inquiry into Litvinenko’s death, delivered a heavy blow to British-Russian relations [
15
]. While this information was not accepted by the court as evidence, it contributed to the crime being considered a state one.
The West’s failure to make Russia change its policy toward the Ukrainian crisis, even by imposing the most severe sectoral economic sanctions, as well as the rebels’ successful advance on Ukrainian troop positions in early 2015 prompted the hasty deployment of NATO troops in Baltic countries, also sparking ...
Shuttle diplomacy exercised by European leaders gives us a phantom of a chance that we must not overlook
The first impression from the Munich conference is that relations between Russia and the West are beginning to resemble a game of chicken. It is as if two airplanes are rushing towards each other head-on, and both crews refuse to deviate from their planned route. The only way for one side to win is for his opponent to lose. It is a virtually ...
... and tangible results (especially, given the current political and social instability in many countries around the world), but in the long term this approach may prove incorrect.
What should the basis of the new Russian patriotism be?
Sergey Lavrov:
Russia’s Priorities in Europe and the World
Today the patriotic upsurge is considered to be one of the main positive outcomes of the Ukrainian crisis. However, one doesn’t have to be a sociologist to note that this upsurge is largely due to anti-American, anti-Western, anti-Ukrainian sentiments, rather than to the fostering of one’s own although rather ambiguous values. Whether these anti-Western sentiments reflect the real picture of the modern world is a separate topic. But in any case, this foundation ...
