Eastern Europeean and Russian Region
[captionpix align=”left” theme=”elegant” width=”320″ imgsrc=”http://www.globaltimes.cn/attachment/090722/fa51f45ba3.jpg” captiontext=” US Vice President Joe Biden on Tuesday voiced support for Ukraine’s NATO bid and its own will to choose allies.”] The 2012 Chicago Summit was the biggest NATO summit to date, with over sixty leaders in attendance, as well as “folks who were exercising their freedom of speech and Read More…
On May 20th, at its Chicago Summit, NATO announced that the US led, NATO-backed ballistic missile defence (BMD) system in Europe would become fully operational by 2018.
Decades later, there is a lingering sense that more could have been done to prevent the conflict that unfolded in Yugoslavia in the early 1990s. During this time, the primary international institution that shouldered the task of maintaining the peace in Bosnia and Croatia from 1992-1995 was the United Nations. It did so through its Read More…
From Ice to Fire Nagorno-Karabakh, a de facto, but unrecognized state fought over by Armenia and Azerbaijan, may not appear on any map, but recent events warrant increased attention on this part of the globe. Several developments in Azerbaijan, including increased military spending, an arms deal with Israel, and the talks with Russia over the Gabala Radar Read More…
By: Amina Abdullayeva Russia has seen its fair share of domestic turmoil this week as crowds took to the streets to protest falsified parliamentary elections. Such activity on the part of thousands of ordinary citizens had not been seen since the break-up of the Soviet Union. Mass agitations are often emblematic of notable socio-political changes, Read More…
By: Amina Abdullayeva Russia has two main problems with NATO at present: missile defence in Europe and NATO’s presence in the Arctic zone. While the missile question is at the forefront of the media these days, the Arctic issue is less acute, simmering in the background with the potential to cause problems in the near Read More…
Even as the debt crises of Italy and Greece continue and the economic malaise of the “big two” of Europe, France and Germany, has made the headlines in the past few months, Europe watchers may have noticed that the latest region to be affected is in fact outside the Euro-zone altogether. Worries are surfacing that Read More…
By: Pavle Levkovic The political climate in Kosovo is heating up as 2012 gets under way. The latest round of protests that took place over Orthodox Christmas (6-7 January) are signs that the status of the breakaway nation is far from being resolved. The move by ethnic Albanians to disrupt Serbian President Boris Tadic’s motorcade Read More…
By: Simon Miles It has long been acknowledged that Russia possesses a powerful military; but equally broadly accepted that it is in dire need of modernization. Of late, the Russian government of Dmitri Medvedev and Vladimir Putin has been taking steps to rectify this defect and bring the Russian military in line with the standard Read More…
By Simon A. Miles Following the spate of political protests which transpired in Russia during late 2011, many in the West have wondered what the Putin regime’s response would be. In an earlier article, I argued that Putin would not play the role of Nicholas II in this turbulent time. Recent events have borne this Read More…