
Latest Articles about Europe

France and the Prospects for Military Intervention in Mali
France has watched warily as Mali has descended into chaos after the March 22 coup d’état overthrew Amadou Toumani Touré’s government and the Islamist rebellion took control of northern Mali. [1] France threw the weight of its diplomacy behind regional efforts to restore the constitutional... MORE

Belarus’ Economic Turnaround: Is It Sustainable?
In early December, the Anti-Crisis Fund Council of the Eurasian Economic Community approved the latest (fourth) tranche of a $3 billion loan (Belarusian Telegraph Agency, December 7), approved in June 2011 to assist Belarus in overcoming an economic crisis. The Council is expected to release... MORE

Alyaksandr Lukashenka and the Martians
On November 26, Alyaksandr Lukashenka gave a 1.5-hour interview to Reuters. The text of the interview was published on the internet portal “Belorusskie Novosti” (https://naviny.by/rubrics/politic/2012/11/27/ic_articles_112_180033/), but Lukashenka’s seemingly casual remark about Vladimir Putin “twisting his spine” during a recent bout of judo when “he lifted... MORE

Scandal Mars Launch of Ukrainian LNG Terminal Project
Ukraine has started construction of a liquefied natural gas (LNG) terminal designed to process 10 billion cubic meters (bcm) of gas per annum out of some 55 bcm the country consumes. After the start of gas imports from Europe last month (see EDM, November 20),... MORE

Ukraine Facing Economic and Financial Instability
Political instability in post-election Ukraine may soon be be compounded by economic and financial instability that has the potential for social unrest. The World Bank calculates that Ukraine has the second lowest per-capita income in Europe followed by Moldova. Ukraine, which was the second largest... MORE

Privatizing and Nationalizing Companies in Belarus
Under the presidency of Alyaksandr Lukashenka, Belarus’s relationship with Russia has always been one of amity combined with duplicity. In theory, Minsk’s position is that of the weaker partner, dealing with a country that can be quite ruthless in terms of using its economic clout... MORE

Ivanishvili’s Blunders May Be Very Costly for Georgia
The new Prime Minister of Georgia Bidzina Ivanishvili appeared quite surprised when he heard criticism from the Secretary General of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), Anders Fogh Rasmussen. Speaking at a press conference in Prague, on November 12, where the Parliamentary Assembly of NATO... MORE

Belarus and Lithuania: The Estranged Brethren
On November 6, two unknown perpetrators threw two bottles with a flammable substance into the Lithuanian embassy compound in Minsk. The Investigating Committee of Belarus launched a criminal investigation; the Belarusian ambassador to Vilnius was handed a note of protest; and the Lithuanian ambassador to... MORE

Ukraine Starts to Import Gas from Europe, Cuts Imports from Russia
As Russia refuses to cut gas prices for Ukraine and proceeds with its South Stream pipeline project—aimed at diminishing Gazprom’s dependence on Ukrainian gas pipelines (see EDM, November 16)—Ukraine has announced plans to further cut Russian gas imports. Even more notably, Ukraine began buying gas... MORE

Reinterpretations of Soviet History in Georgia and the Post-Soviet Space: Never-Ending Battle
On November 12, Georgia’s Deputy Minister of Culture Yuri Metchitov, serving in the “Georgian Dream”–led new government, declared that Georgia should change the name of the Museum of the Soviet Occupation, opened in Tbilisi in 2006. As Metchitov stated, the museum draws the irritation of... MORE