Latest Eurasia Daily Monitor Articles
NATO MEMBERS STATING THE CASE FOR GEORGIAN AND UKRAINIAN MEMBERSHIP ACTION PLANS
The German government’s all-out, public campaign against Georgian and Ukrainian Membership Action Plans (MAPs) risks splitting NATO ahead of the alliance’s April 2-4 Bucharest summit. Germany alone has embarked on such a public crusade, in the avowed expectation that other NATO countries would follow Berlin’s... MORE
GAZPROM MAKES INROADS INTO SOUTH AMERICA
On March 17 Gazprom International Business Department head Stanislav Tsygankov signed an agreement on natural gas exploration in Bolivia with Santos Ramirez, president of the Bolivian state-owned petroleum company Yacimientos Petroliferos Fiscales Bolivianos (YPFB) in the presence of Bolivian President Evo Morales (Bolivian Information Agency,... MORE
LAWS AND LOOPHOLES: AKP EXAMINES ITS LEGAL OPTIONS TO STAVE OFF CLOSURE
The application to the Constitutional Court for the closure of the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) has had party officials poring over the statute books to see whether they can preempt the court’s decision by pushing through legal amendments that would make it impossible... MORE
TURKISH SECURITY OFFICIALS ADMIT COVER-UP IN DINK MURDER CASE
On March 20, two members of the Turkish Gendarmerie admitted receiving detailed intelligence regarding a plot to assassinate Turkish-Armenian journalist Hrant Dink and then, after Dink’s murder, trying to cover up their knowledge by lying to investigators. The confessions came as two Gendarmerie officers, known... MORE
CHANCELLOR MERKEL’S “ALLEINGANG” IN MOSCOW AHEAD OF THE NATO SUMMIT
“Alleingang,” a go-it-alone policy of rapprochement with Moscow and differentiation from Washington, is an oft-discussed temptation and pitfall of German foreign policy. At present the Christian-Democrat chancellor, Angela Merkel, is engaged in an Alleingang to satisfy Russia by stopping Georgian and Ukrainian Membership Action Plans... MORE
IS NATO FACING A RUSSIAN VETO THROUGH FRANCO-GERMAN HANDS?
Several articles appearing in quick succession in the French press suggest a possible understanding with Russia to block Georgian and Ukrainian Membership Action Plans (MAPs) at the upcoming NATO summit. This idea emerges at its clearest in Le Monde of March 12 (straight news-and-analysis article... MORE
TYMOSHENKO WANTS KYIV MAYOR OUT
Yesterday, March 18, the Ukrainian parliament called an early election for the post of mayor of Kyiv. This is a victory for Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko’s bloc (BYuT), which spearheaded a campaign to oust Kyiv Mayor Leonid Chernovetsky, accusing him of corruption. However, there is... MORE
TYMOSHENKO MOST POPULAR POLITICAL FORCE IN UKRAINE
Parliament’s March 18 vote to call pre-term elections for Kyiv’s city mayor was a second major victory for Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko this month, following the new gas contract with Russia signed on March 6. The vote is symbolically important because Ukraine’s legislation requires that... MORE
GAS COMPANIES WELCOME HUNGARIAN MOL’S “NETS” PROJECT FOR CENTRAL AND SOUTHEASTERN EUROPE
On March 14 Romania hosted the first joint meeting of the gas transmission companies from Central Europe and Balkan countries to consider the NETS project. Hungary’s energy company MOL initiated the NETS project -- New Europe Transmission Systems -- last December (see EDM, December 10,... MORE
RUSSIAN FOREIGN MINISTRY REPORTEDLY PICKED CIVIL SOCIETY REPS TO MEET WITH RICE
During their visit to Moscow this week, U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and Secretary of Defense Robert Gates held meetings with President Vladimir Putin and president-elect Dmitry Medvedev. They also met with Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and Defense Minister Anatoly Serdyukov to discuss such... MORE