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Latest articles from Vladimir Socor
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European Envoys Trying in Vain to Reason With Opposition in Tbilisi
The European Union's Special Representative for Moldova, Kalman Mizsei, has made notable headway in brokering a dialogue between rival political forces in an incendiary post-election situation. The EU's High Representative for the Common and Security Policy, Javier Solana, visited Chisinau on April 25 to endorse... MORE
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Numbers Declining, Risks Mounting in Tbilisi Demonstrations
As crowds dwindle to near-insignificance at the Tbilisi protest rallies, their leaders are abandoning the failed tactics of mass mobilization, shifting to new efforts designed to spark violence and blame it on the authorities. The daily protest rallies outside the Parliament building since April 9... MORE
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Nabucco Project Faces Turkish Hurdles at Critical Turn
Capitalizing on the European Commission's November 2008 initiative to promote the Corridor and to create a Caspian Development Corporation, the Budapest meeting set the goal of signing the Intergovernmental Agreement (IGA) and at least clear the way for signing the Project Support Agreements (PSA's) during... MORE
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Molodova’s Political Crisis Deepens
The security situation in Chisinau has stabilized in the wake of the April 7-8 violent riots, devastation of the parliament and presidency buildings, and post-factum police crackdown. While order has been restored, the political crisis is deepening as the opposition rejects the outcome of the... MORE
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The Strategic Implications of Russian Move Against Hungary’s MOL
The European Union remains a passive bystander to Russia's attempted capture of MOL, the Hungarian oil and gas company (EDM, April 3, 6). The Kremlin-connected Surgut Neftegaz became the single largest shareholder in MOL, literally overnight, through surreptitious acquisition of Austrian OMV's entire 21.2 stake... MORE
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Turkmenistan Delays Russian Pipeline Project and Rejects Russian-Led Gas Cartel
Evidently disturbed by Turkmenistan's recent moves to crack Gazprom's monopsony, Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin has publicly instructed Deputy Prime Minister Igor Sechin and Gazprom CEO Aleksei Miller to "step up work with Turkmenistan" (Interfax, April 16). Putin was speaking on the day when Turkmenistan... MORE
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German RWE Signs Groundbreaking Agreement for Turkmen Gas
On April 16 in Ashgabat, the German energy giant Rheinisch-Westfaelische Elektrizitaetswerk (RWE) entered into an agreement with Turkmenistan on offshore gas field development and gas deliveries. RWE board chairman Juergen Grossmann and Yagshgeldi Kakayev, head of the Turkmen State Agency for the Management and Use... MORE
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“Nashi” Foray into Georgia Stopped in Time
On April 16, Georgian authorities prevented the Kremlin-coordinated youth group, Nashi, from provoking incidents at the South Ossetia demarcation line and in Tbilisi. A convoy of five vehicles carrying 20 Nashi activists, the "Moscow-Tskhinvali-Tbilisi Motorcade," had set off from Moscow on April 10, reaching Tskhinvali... MORE
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Moldova’s Body Politic in Gridlock After Elections and Riots
The political crisis seems narrowly confined to downtown Chisinau with its state institutions, political party headquarters, and those colleges and lyceums that supply protest demonstrators from time to time. Beyond Chisinau's center, however, the countryside, "the profound Moldova," remains apathetic and seemingly uninterested. There, opinion... MORE
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Moldovan Authorities Caught Unprepared by Violent Riots
Moldova faces a prolonged political crisis following the April 7 violent devastation of the parliament and presidential buildings by a young mob, after the opposition's loss of the April 5 parliamentary elections (EDM, April 7, 9). The election observation mission, representing the major European institutions,... MORE