NATO embarked almost haphazardly in March on the Libya mission. The Alliance became the third entrant to this mission in a rapid sequence, after the United States and the Franco-British tandem. The respective leaderships never defined the political, economic, or strategic interests in Libya for... MORE

The arrest of opposition leader Yulia Tymoshenko on August 5 derails Ukraine’s integration into Europe at the same time as its relations with Russia are poor (video of arrest here: https://www.pravda.com.ua/photo-video/2011/08/5/6454611/).The disunited opposition has rallied to Tymoshenko’s side with Arseniy Yatseniuk’s Front for Change issuing... MORE

NATO is only nominally in charge of the stalemated war in Libya. The Alliance’s leader, the United States, was quick to move to a back seat in this operation after having sparked it. Europe’s residual military powers, France and Britain, are mainly in charge of... MORE

Moscow is piling the heat on Minsk and Kyiv to subordinate their economies, notably their energy sectors, to Russia and with that accept Russia’s political tutelage. In both cases, Moscow is using the instruments of its gas and its customs union (EurAsEc). EurAsEc has lent... MORE

After 18 months in captivity, the Taliban released Hervé Ghesquière and Stéphane Taponier on June 29. The two journalists from the French public television channel France Télévision were taken hostage on December 30, 2009 as they were working on a documentary on reconstruction in Afghanistan.... MORE

Latvia is headed for pre-term parliamentary and presidential elections, potentially challenging the country’s strategic choices for the first time in two decades (see EDM, July 27). The political forces are grouped, broadly speaking, in three camps, none of them fully homogenous: parties of national-democratic and... MORE

Ukraine has launched the first stage of a long-planned project to upgrade its pipelines, which carry Russian gas to Europe. As the cash-strapped national oil and gas behemoth, Naftohaz Ukrainy, has no money for an upgrade costing billions of dollars, Ukraine will rely on assistance... MORE

Latvia’s upcoming elections will be the most difficult political test for the nation since the restoration of its independence 20 years ago. Pre-term elections are due to be held, as decided by a referendum on July 23. The upcoming elections will basically replay those held... MORE

On July 18, Belarusian President Alyaksandr Lukashenka dismissed the chairman of the National Bank of Belarus, Pyotr Prakapovich. Last month, Lukashenka asserted that the latter had “made mistakes” (Bloomberg, June 23). No replacement was announced, so in the meantime Yury Alymov continues as acting chairman.One... MORE

On July 12, the leader of the German Green party Cem Oezdemir resigned from the board of trustees of Germany’s Quadriga fund. Oezdemir was one of the first public figures to protest Quadriga’s plan to give an award to Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin. He... MORE