NATO
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...
Cyprus
Conditional cooperation: The EU’s ‘positive agenda’ and Turkey’s policies in the Eastern Mediterranean
Once again, relations with Turkey took center stage at the European Union’s summit meeting. ”We are ready to put more concrete proposals on the...
China
US and its allies adapt to face new challenges
Secretary of State Antony Blinken wants to revitalize the US' alliances to counter modern threats, including economic coercion, disinformation and climate change.In a speech...
Analysis
Blinken reaffirms America’s focus on rebuilding partnerships
During his March 22-25 trip to Brussels, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken emphasized repeatedly that the Biden administration will work to rebuild America’s...
Analysis
Erdogan starts a political earthquake in Turkey
Significant developments are underway in Turkey. Most ominously, the government of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan of the Justice and Development Party (AKP) has moved...
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...
Analysis
Legal case over melee during Erdogan’s 2017 DC visit moving ahead
Legal proceedings against Turkish security officers continue to move forward in Washington DC, based on actions they were seen taking against protestors in video...
Georgia
Understanding Georgia’s current political situation
Georgia has been facing a political crisis for more than three months, which reached its peak on February 17. A Tbilisi city court sentenced...
Analysis
The aftermath of a rare visit to Moscow that went badly wrong
People remember moments. Over the years, Josep Borrell, the EU's foreign policy chief, has stressed the importance of talking to Russia. And so, against...
Analysis
Is Turkey Biden’s “ally from hell”?
Ten years ago, The Atlantic ran as its cover story a piece titled “The Ally From Hell”. The article followed the raid that killed al-Qaeda...
Armenia
Good cop, bad cop? How the US and Europe want to deal with Erdogan’s Turkey
These are not good times for Turkey’s relations with the West. European diplomats in Ankara refer to a downward spiral to describe the relationship....
Germany
Poland’s dangerous new direction
I am deeply concerned for Poland. Something is changing, and I’m afraid a country I care about deeply is moving in a very dangerous...
Albania
An advocacy for giving precedence to the EU’s Copenhagen Criteria in the Western Balkans
Among the precious little remaining friends of a quick EU enlargement towards the Western Balkans, the threat of non-friendly powers encroaching in the region...
Analysis
A new dawn for Libya brings hope for regional stability
While it may seem as though only one subject has dominated the news for the past year, and our lives came to a very...
Albania
Karl von Habsburg: Speech on the future of Europe
The following speech was given on January 11 to honor the 60th birthday of Karl von Habsburg, the head of the House of Habsburg-Lorraine...
Analysis
Ukraine has lost its way
Ukraine has lost its way. Its chosen road towards transforming itself from a corrupt, post-Soviet thinking culture into a rules-based society has stalled.
Actually, it...
Archive
Biden and the EU’s fight against climate change and disinformation
President Joe Biden has made clear his foreign policy objectives for his first 100 days in office. Clear signals have been sent about a...
China
With Navalny’s arrest, Russia hands Biden his first test on human rights
Alexey Navalny’s arrest upon his return to Russia on Sunday has handed newly-inaugurated President Joe Biden his first challenge from the Kremlin in office.Navalny...
Albania
Montenegro’s parliament passes crucial religion law, but who’s really in charge?
The Montenegrin parliament, in a repeat vote, passed on January 20 a crucial Law on Religious Freedoms which President Milo Djukanovic refused to sign...
Archive
Turkish FM Cavusoglu to visit Brussels for talks with EU, NATO
Turkey's Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu is set to pay a two-day visit in Brussels on Wednesday, to hold meetings with EU officials and with...
Africa
Potential head of presidential council looks fit to pull Libya out of quagmire
The United Nations Support Mission in Libya (UNSMIL)-brokered Libyan Political Dialogue Forum (LPDF) has so far failed to bring the light at the end...
Africa
NATO voices concerns over Russian military presence in MENA region
Russia's increasing military presence in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region is a matter of "great concern" for NATO, its Secretary-General Jens...
Albania
Albania’s Rama cautiously balancing between Erdogan and Mitsotakis
Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama met with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan in Ankara on January 7, and made a hastily arranged “private” stop,...
Archive
Stunned world reacts to Capitol Hill disruptions
Even though the January 6 disruptions in Washington that resulted in five deaths are seen to fall exclusively in the domain of the term...
Analysis
Washington delivers a holiday sanctions snowball to Ankara and Moscow
Although already well understood by Moscow’s elite, tens of millions of Turkish citizens learned on December 14 what the American acronym CAATSA means --...
Analysis
Secretary Pompeo lets Turkey know what Washington really thinks
In an exchange that warmed the hearts of all Greeks and Greek Cypriots everywhere and was reported as front-page news, US Secretary of State...
Albania
The Hague to assist Albania and Greece resolve maritime border
In an ironic twist of historical events, Albania and Greece jointly announced October 20 that they were requesting assistance from the International Court of...
Energy
Pompeo's Greece visit underlines Turkey’s isolation
US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo visited Greece on September 28-30 with the objective of making it clear to Turkey that the Trump Administration...
Albania
Short Greece vacation for two Balkan leaders
Taking the opportunity to visit Athens in conference speaker mode, the leaders of Albania and North Macedonia paid stealthy visits to Athens September 15-16...
Archive
France steers EU attention to Greece-Turkey standoff in East Med
French President Emmanuel Macron has taken a strong position in support of the rights of Greece and Cyprus, calling on Turkey to stop unilateral...
Archive
Athens pivots to Washington for help with Turkish provocations
In the latest sub-chapter of the seemingly never-ending dispute over energy exploration rights in the Aegean and Eastern Mediterranean, Athens has again called for...
Albania
North Macedonia’s elections unfold, marginally, as directed
To the delight of North Macedonia’s western supporters, the Social Democratic Union of Macedonia (SDSM) landed a razor-thin electoral majority on July 15 in...
Archive
ECR Party Vice President and former Polish Foreign Minister Anna Fotyga appointed to group of experts as part of NATO’s reflection process
Secretary-General of NATO, Mr Jens Stoltenberg announced the appointment of a group of experts this week to support his work in a reflection process...
Archive
NATO chief appoints experts for reflection process to strengthen political alliance
NATO chief Jens Stoltenberg on Tuesday appointed a group of experts to study ways to further strengthen the political dimension of the alliance.
The creation...
Analysis
North Macedonia’s (unaffordable) NATO dream takes shape
North Macedonia’s flag is flying over NATO Headquarters today in Brussels as the alliance’s 30th member after the final accession formalities were completed on...
Albania
In desperate times, EU approves new Balkan Enlargement steps
Moving on a trajectory that senior EU leaders publicly outlined at the Munich Security Conference in mid-February, the EU’s General Affairs Council (GAC) agreed...
Analysis
Kosovo action moves to Washington
With global attention increasingly focused on the Covid-19 pandemic, US diplomats amazingly found time in early March to continue pressing Kosovo and Serbia to...
Archive
Trump suspends most travel from Europe amid coronavirus outbreak, drawing the ire of EU leaders
In a speech that has garnered intense criticism on both sides of the Atlantic, President Donald Trump announced on March 11 that the United...
Archive
NATO HQ in Brussels confirms Coronavirus case
A staff member working at NATO headquarters in Brussels has been tested positive for COVID-19 and is currently at home, in self-isolation, NATO's spokesperson, Oana...
Archive
NATO to expand training mission in Iraq
NATO agreed to expand the Western alliance’s training mission in Iraq. The move comes amid United States' calls do more in the Middle East.
Last...
Analysis
North Macedonia takes a small step forward and one backwards this week
Since being installed in early January in preparation for the country’s April 6 elections, Caretaker Government Labour Minister Rashela Mizrahi, from the ultranationalist VMRO-DPMNE...
Analysis
Greece ratifies new defence deal with Washington
Late on January 30, the Greek parliament voted to ratify Greece’s new defence agreement signed with the US last October during the visit of...
Archive
US diplomatic engagement helps reopen Kosovo-Serbia flights
Representatives of Serbia, Kosovo, the US, and Lufthansa Group signed a milestone agreement on January 20 to establish an air link between Serbia and...
Analysis
Greek Prime Minister meets President Trump amid Mid-East turmoil
The January 7 White House meeting between US President Donald J Trump and Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis did not yield any new US...
Archive
White House finally schedules Washington meeting with Greek prime minister
The White House announced on December 2 that President Donald J. Trump would be meeting with Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis on January 7...
Albania
Brussels casts Zaev a thin lifeline
Brussels cast a thin Italian-flavoured political lifeline to North Macedonia’s Prime Minister Zoran Zaev over the last ten days, something sorely needed after Zaev...
Archive
Zaev fumbles after EU Enlargement let-down
North Macedonian Prime Minister Zoran Zaev fumbled badly this week when discussing the relationship between his country’s now-frozen EU accession bid and the standing...
Albania
Enlargement is not Eurovision, Zoran
Enlargement boosters across Europe were stunned by the third failure of the European Council to announce a decision on 18 October on a date...
Albania
France unyielding on EU Enlargement, elections triggered in North Macedonia
The scenario that emerged late last week with multiple reports that France would oppose immediate decisions on EU Enlargement has come to pass.
EU European...
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