NATO
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...
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...
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...
Analysis
The “Europeanization” of Greek-Turkish relations: Why the Greeks favor Ankara’s EU membership
Harmonious relations with Greece has become an objective of Turkish diplomacy. The European Union’s policy of conditionality linking progress in EU-Turkey relations to Ankara’s...
Albania
Dialogue for mutual recognition will succeed when the EU joins the US in its Kosovo approach
After the snap parliamentary elections of February 14, Kosovo has a new government facing the EU's facilitated dialogue with Serbia for normalization of relations...
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...
Archive
EU frets, Iran plans 60% uranium enrichment after nuke site attack
The European Union said Brussels is extremely worried by Iran’s deputy foreign minister announcement that the regime in Tehran will start enriching uranium at...
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...
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...
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