Ukraine
Archive
Ukraine to boost low-carbon hydrogen development with EU help
The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) and the Gas Transmission System Operator of Ukraine (GTSOU) signed an agreement on July 23 to...
Archive
Germany bypasses EU, makes Nord Stream 2 deal with US
An agreement reached between Washington and Berlin this week effectively removed a threat of sanctions against the controversial Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline from...
Analysis
If Europe is serious about fighting antisemitism, it must skip Durban 20
Countries are lining up to declare they will not attend the20th anniversary of the UN’s notorious 2001 World Conference Against Racism, held in Durban,...
NATO
Going Dom(e): An Israeli ticket home for Ukraine
Home is where the heart is. Since fighting in the Donbass erupted back in 2014, the residents of Mariupol have had trouble getting home,...
Analysis
To sanction or not? Will Ukraine’s National Security Council act?
The next chapter of the legal confrontation between TIU Canada and the oligarch Igor Kolomoisky over the illegal termination of TIU’s access to Ukraine’s...
Analysis
Ukraine’s “oligarch” bill
The recent introduction and subsequent passing on the first reading of what has become known as the “oligarch” bill is a sign of the...
Archive
EU and Ukraine ink MoU on raw materials and batteries
The European Union and Ukraine have signed a Memorandum of Understanding on a strategic partnership in the raw materials sector and batteries, European Commission...
Archive
The COVID-19 situation across Eurasia is getting worse
The COVID infection rate in Moscow is still growing and is also starting to rise in St Petersburg as well as in the Moscow...
Archive
Ukraine’s robber barons must be held accountable
On June 1, Ukraine’s Ambassador to Canada, Andriy Shevchenko, was called to testify before the Parliaments Standing Committee on Foreign Relations and International Development....
Analysis
Did Biden draw a line in the sand with or legitimize Putin in Geneva?
When President Joe Biden arrived at the historic Villa la Garange in Geneva for a much-anticipated meeting with Russia’s President Vladimir Putin, he triumphantly...
Analysis
No more lip service: The EU must be more resolute vis-à-vis Russia
The first meeting between Joe Biden and Vladimir Putin showed that the US is no longer letting Moscow lead it around by the nose...
Archive
Sanctions have to hurt
Can the EU topple Alexander Lukashenko, the dictator of Belarus, with new sanctions? Probably not, but after the forced landing of Ryanair Flight 4978,...
Analysis
Climate management key in repairing Biden-Putin relationship
After seven years of sanctions and accusations of malign activities by both sides, political relations between Russia and the United States are the worst...
Analysis
A fiscal pandemic on the EU’s eastern border may eventually strike at the heart of Europe
The economic crisis in the European Union that was caused by the fallout from the COVID-19 pandemic has slowly started to subside after months...
Archive
No discounts on the EU’s fundamental values
Alexander Schallenberg has been Austria's Federal Minister for European and International Affairs in the second Sebastian Kurz government since January 2020. He previously served...
Archive
European weakness and the rise of authoritarians
A diverted plane is nothing new, bomb threats may be rare but are no longer a novelty, but an armed interceptor fighter jet “escorting”...
Archive
The West must find its spine
I usually take the greatest satisfaction in having been proved right, whether it's a case of 'I told you the turning to the hotel...
Analysis
Tougher sanctions against Belarus
It was a clear act of state-sponsored terrorism. An Irish passenger plane from the Irish budget airline Ryan Air, while on its way from...
Archive
Recusal in the case of TIU Canada and the Ukrainian oligarch Kolomoisky
In the ongoing legal battle between TIU Canada and Ukraine’s notorious and heavily sanctioned oligarch, Igor Kolomoisky, over what seems a pretty straight-forward dispute...
Archive
No waves here: US waives sanctions for Nord Stream 2, CEO too
The US Department of State submitted on May 19 a report to Congress pursuant to the Protecting Europe’s Energy Security Act (PEESA), as amended,...
Archive
Ode to the Cold War: Geopolitics is more complicated than ever
“Christ, I miss the Cold War,” hisses Judi Dench while playing the role of 'M' in the 2006 James Bond reboot, Casino Royale. Well,...
Albania
Ukraine’s chances to join NATO are slim to none, despite Zelensky’s claims
The Russian-Ukrainian conflict was once again back in the headlines in April when people across the world followed massive troop build-ups in and around...
Analysis
It’s hard to make friends but easy to lose them: A tale of Russia’s self-inflicted isolation
In recent years Estonia did its best to develop an engaging and pragmatic approach towards Russia. In April 2019, President Kersti Kaljulaid visited Moscow,...
Op-Eds & Guest Contributors
The unfortunate state of the “renewables” industry in Ukraine
Ukraine’s government was euphoric over the visit of US Secretary of State Tony Blinkin to Kyiv last week. Grip and grin photos aside, behind...
Analysis
The soft power of big business in a former Soviet republic
The increasing isolation of Belarus president Alexander Lukashenko’s regime on the international stage raises important questions about the future of the country’s economy. As...
Albania
Learning from past mistakes and moving ahead in the wake of the Albanian elections
In the first days of this week after the election results were announced, I conducted a computer exercise, dividing the result of each subject...
Archive
Chernobyl and the hope for a safer and more sustainable future
The accident that took place 35 years ago on April 26, 1986, at the Chernobyl nuclear power station remains one of the worst man-made...
Archive
Check the Czechs
With the Czech Republic having the dubious honor of hosting the latest chapter in the ongoing saga of the West versus Vladimir Putin's Russia...
Archive
Learning the lessons of Chernobyl and Fukushima
Thirty five years after the Chernobyl nuclear explosion in 1986 it is now clear that the long term consequences have been very different from...
Ireland
The Trying Game: Why extreme caution is needed in Northern Ireland
I doubt that any of those who predicted resurgent violence in Northern Ireland is taking pleasure in being proved exactly correct as riots, fighting,...
Afghanistan
Ukraine is a test for the West and ‘Westlessness’
The G7 foreign ministers of Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, The United Kingdom and the United States, as well as the High Representative of...
Archive
Confrontation in Ukraine
The recent unprovoked amassing of Russian troops on Ukraine’s border has overtaken a significant event that took place a few weeks earlier when Russia...
Archive
US sanctions against Russia less damaging that had been expected
The sanctions announced last week were milder than had been expected, with the exception of the ban on US investors buying Russian state issued...
NATO
NATO accession would not be a way for the West to help Ukraine
Ukraine is directly threatened militarily from the East. There is a worry that the situation can quickly deteriorate to the levels last experienced in...
Archive
The Ides of March have brought new tensions on Ukraine’s eastern border
Since mid-March, Russia and Ukraine have both been massing troops along the borders of the Russian-annexed Crimea and the conflict zone in Ukraine's eastern...
Analysis
Keep Calm and Carry On: Ukraine needs a good relationship with the Western media more than ever
'You can't do right for doing wrong', as the old saying goes. Then there's also 'no good deed goes unpunished'. I had the first-hand experience...
Analysis
The Eastern Mediterranean sideshow
We have just been through a week in which the world focused its attention completely on the Russia-Ukraine conflict. Second place went to Afghanistan...
Archive
Ukrainian president’s rule becomes increasingly corrupt, authoritarian
It has recently become clear that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky loves kleptocracy as much as his predecessor Petro Poroshenko.Zelensky has consistently protected corrupt officials...
Archive
Energy Week Central Asia & Mongolia 2021 highlights renewable energy project potential
Central Asia’s promising renewable energy projects, including Uzbekistan’s clean energy ambition and reaching its climate action goals to reduce greenhouse gas emissions (GHGs) and...
Analysis
A ‘burn’ on the Ukrainian border
If you have been to Ukraine, you have surely tried 'gorilka', the national vodka-style spirit. The word 'gorilka' is derived from the verb 'gority',...
Analysis
US sanctions for Turkey’s S-400 procurement come into effect
The State Department revealed on April 5 that previously announced US sanctions on Turkey’s military-industrial sector would come into effect on April 7 with...
Armenia
How real is the Russian threat to the Baltic States?
During the events that unfolded in Georgia in 2008 and later in Ukraine in 2014, Russia has demonstrated great resolve in attaining geopolitical leverage...
Analysis
TIU Canada vs Ukrainian oligarch, Igor Kolomoisky
It was a sunny, but bitterly cold January day in Nikopol in 2018, a typical industrial city on the Dnieper River in Ukraine's southwestern...
Analysis
Has Uzbekistan achieved its goal to integrate education and science?
The period of rapid globalization that the world continues to experience requires renewal and a greater form of integration in every field. To achieve...
Armenia
More of the West is needed in Georgia
Before I start describing Georgia as a regional reforms leader and a country, which is well-known for its success while on its way towards...
Georgia
The EU in the Georgian political crisis: Is it time to expand the cooperation?
The ongoing political crisis in Georgia has now been a consistent issue for almost five months. Matters deteriorated when the country’s opposition refused to...
Analysis
Biden’s narrow timeline to get tough on Putin
On March 2, President Joe Biden’s administration, together with the United Kingdom and the European Union, announced new sanctions against Russia over last summer's...
Archive
US sanctions powerful Ukrainian oligarch Kolomoisky
The US has imposed sanctions on one of Ukraine’s most powerful oligarchs, Igor Kolomoisky over corruption allegations, the US Secretary of state, Antony Blinken said...
Armenia
Post-Soviet foibles lead to European nowhereness
Before I get into the thrust of today's business, I'd like to preface my argument by stating unequivocally that nobody can find former Soviet...
Archive
Gorbachev at 90: The man who awkwardly pushed humanity forward
As a Soviet teenager growing in the western Ukrainian city of Lviv in the mid-1980s, I was a happy camper. I was going to a...
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