Georgia and Russia: The Search for Peace, Stability and Territorial Integrity
BACKGROUND Georgia is strategically located at the juncture of Western Asia and Eastern Europe, on the Black Sea between Russia, Turkey, Armenia and Azerbaijan.…
Interview with Stefan Aust: Author of Baader-Meinhof: The Inside Story of the R.A.F.
The Red Army Faction (RAF), also known as the Baader-Mainhof Gang, was postwar Germany’s most violent left-wing terrorist group. Most active in the 1970s, the group…
Scaling the Climate Summit: Reaching a Deal This December Will Be a Major Climb
DEVELOPMENTS The European Union has declared as one of its main policy objectives for 2009 the signing of a global treaty on climate change. In December, a…
(Still) Separate and Unequal: Roma Education in Central and Southeast Europe
DEVELOPMENTS The Roma are one of Europe’s largest, least known, and most disadvantaged ethnic minorities. Numbering approximately 10 million, the Roma—also…
A Difficult Birth: Kosovar Independence and Eastern European Stability
On February 17, 2008, Kosovo declared its independence fromSerbia. While Serbia's government officially announced it wasannulling the declaration of independence,…
A New Cold Conflict: Arctic Claim Disputes
DEVELOPMENTS On August 2nd, 2007, Russian scientists grabbed headlines by successfully planting a titanium Russian flag on the seabed directly underneath the North…
Corruption Concerns Plague Kazakstan's Rise
DEVELOPMENTS On January 1, 2010, Kazakhstan assumed the chairmanship of the Organization of Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), amid unusual controversy.…
Cyprus: An Island Long Divided
DEVELOPMENTS In April 2009 Turkish Cypriot voters gave the hard-line National Unity Party a parliamentary majority for the Northern Turkish enclave, lending urgency…
Diplomacy and the Vatican Sex Abuse Scandals
DEVELOPMENTS In recent weeks the Catholic Church has been besieged by accusations of sexual abuse of children by priests. The accusations are being made across…
Effects of the Greek Bailout on E.U. Development Aid
DEVELOPMENTS The financial situation in Greece has become the biggest threat to the process of European economic integration that began more than half a century…
Human Commodities? - A Look at Human Trafficking and the Rise of this Illicit Global Trade
DEVELOPMENTS Slavery as we once knew it no longer exists, but new, contemporary forms have taken its place. One of the largest rings of contemporary slavery exists…
Is Free Trade in the West in Danger?
DEVELOPMENTS As the global community deals with a financial crisis of astronomic proportions, the casualties continue to mount. The latest endangered…
Kosovo Revisited
DEVELOPMENTS On March 24th, 1999, Bill Clinton announced the bombing of Yugoslavia. By June 10th of that year the UN had approved a peace plan for Kosovo,…
Migration Island: The Plight of African Refugees in Malta
DEVELOPMENTS As the third most densely-populated nation in the world, the island country of Malta is best known for its pristine beaches, centuries-old temples, and…
Post-Communist Democracy
In early November, Georgian President Mikhail Saakashvili broke up opposition demonstrations with riot police and tear gas, shut down independent television…
Protecting Europe’s Indigenous, Regional and Minority Languages
DEVELOPMENTS A patchwork of languages makes up modern Europe and Russia. The region’s linguistic diversity includes numerically small, indigenous language…
Rebuilding Alliances and Managing Expectations in a Post-Bush World
DEVELOPMENTS The next U.S. President will inherit a complex and dangerous set of foreign policy challenges: wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, a global financial crisis,…
Scared Into Action? The EU's Energy Future
DEVELOPMENTS At their respective parties’ national conventions, John McCain and Barack Obama called attention to America’s need for energy independence. With…
Serbia: The Little Engine that Could
DEVELOPMENTS In December 2009, people waved good-bye to family members boarding a morning train from Belgrade, Serbia to Sarajevo, Bosnia-Herzegovina. While…
Something Old, Something New: Security Issues to Watch in 2009
DEVELOPMENTS European leaders face a burgeoning inbox of new strategic challenges as 2009 begins. Addressing the fallout from the global economic crisis, working…
The Global HIV/AIDS Epidemic and Eastern Europe
DEVELOPMENTS Recent statements by the Pope have revived the controversy surrounding the Catholic Church’s stance on condom provision, underscoring the role of this…
The Nato Effort in Afghanistan
DEVELOPMENTS Recent months have seen key changes in the leadership of NATO and a renewed public focus on its operation in Afghanistan. Former Danish Prime…
The New Czar: Russia's Relations with the West Under Medvedev
On March 2nd, Dmitry Medvedev was elected the next president of the Russian Federation. He will succeed Vladimir Putin when he is sworn into office on May 7. A…
The Other Energy Crisis: Europe's Increasing Dependence on Russian Natural Gas
DEVELOPMENTS Despite the end of the Cold War in the early 1990s, relations between the West and Russia remain critically important to global peace, security, and…
Western Europe and Its Muslim Minority: An Unbreakable Cycle of Alienation and Mistrust?
DEVELOPMENTS The majority of Western Europe today is a secular, nominally Christian society. In recent years, however, the growth of Islam as a minority…
What's Next for Europe?
DEVELOPMENTS Voters in Ireland rejected the Lisbon Treaty on June 12th, leaving a question mark hanging over the European Union’s latest attempt to reform its…
Is Free Trade in the West in Danger?
DEVELOPMENTS As the global community deals with a financial crisis of astronomic proportions, the casualties continue to mount. The latest endangered institution is…
The United States Cancels European Missile Defense In Search of Alternatives
DEVELOPMENTS After lengthy consultations with Defense Secretary Robert Gates and the Joint Chiefs of Staff, President Obama has decided to cancel the anti-ballistic…
Invisible Citizens: Statelessness in Europe
DEVELOPMENTS Although human rights are inherent in all individuals by virtue of their humanity, citizenship has been called “the right to have rights” because of…
Domesticity and Equality in Europe
DEVELOPMENTS European women – and European women’s groups – are beginning to question their rights, and are finding what they consider to be surprising deficiencies…
Turkish and Israeli Relations and the Eastern Mediterranean Region
DEVELOPMENTS During October and November 2010, an unexpected friendship has emerged in the Mediterranean. Increased politico-military cooperation between Israel and…
Toxic Waste in Eastern Europe: Yesterday’s Byproduct, Today’s Nightmare
DEVELOPMENTS Aging chemical waste management facilities are found across Europe, relics of the Soviet era. Many have been decommissioned since the communist era,…
SPECIAL FEATURE: The Arrest of the World’s Most Wanted Man
DEVELOPMENTS Radovan Karadzic was arrested in Belgrade, Serbia, on July 21 after more than a decade in hiding. There have been riots and protests in Belgrade from…
The Other Energy Crisis: Europe’s Increasing Dependence on Russian Natural Gas
DEVELOPMENTS Despite the end of the Cold War in the early 1990s, relations between the West and Russia remain critically important to global peace, security, and…
United States and Russia Sign a New Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty
DEVELOPMENTS U.S. President Barack H. Obama and his Russian counterpart, Dmitri A. Medvedev , have signed a treaty to succeed START I. F or clarification , START II…
Russia Burning: The Case Against a “Winners Theory” of Global Warming
DEVELOPMENTS From historic blizzards to flooding, headlines in 2010 have been dominated by extreme weather—even environmental chaos. One of the latest victims of…
Russian Nuclear Exports: Balancing Nonproliferation with National Interest
DEVELOPMENTS Russia has chosen to back India’s accession to the Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG), a non-treaty based group seeking to limit the spread of sensitive…
Increased Taxes Take a Bite out of Innovative Small Business
DEVELOPMENTS An internal argument over higher taxes on business has been shepherded to a close by Russia’s prime minister Vladimir Putin in a decision that deals a…
Russia and Modernization: The United States versus China
DEVELOPMENTS The word “modernization” has become ubiquitous in almost all major government policies and initiatives since the 2009 release of Russian president…