The conclusion in early November of the trial against 21-year-old Roshonara Choudhry, convicted of attempting to murder British member of Parliament Stephen Timms, marked the end of a case that dealt with the importation of the concept of the “lone jihadi” as espoused by American-Yemeni... MORE

Mass arrests of alleged terrorists in three European countries –Belgium, Holland and Germany– were shown live on TV in Holland and Belgium in late November. The campaign started with bold headlines referring to the arrests of individuals from the Chechen branch of Islamists. In an... MORE

In November, the European Union offered Kyiv a plan for visa-free travel and the European parliament recognized that Ukraine has a right to apply for EU membership. Previous Ukrainian governments, perceived in Europe as more pro-European than the current one, could not boast such achievements.... MORE

Moldova’s Communist Party has won yet again a solid plurality in the parliamentary elections held on November 28. The party chairman, former head of state (2001-2009) Vladimir Voronin led the campaign this time from the opposition, against heavy odds. With all in-country votes counted by... MORE

In late October Kazakhstan’s President, Nursultan Nazarbayev, visited Brussels where he met with Belgian Prime Minister Yves Leterme, the European Council president, Herman Von Rompuy, and NATO Secretary-General Anders Fogh Rasmussen. The parties discussed energy and economic relations, Kazakhstan’s chairmanship of the Organization for Security... MORE

Vienna’s Prosecutor Office announced on November 17 that it has brought charges against OMV’s oil and gas company CEO, Wolfgang Ruttenstorfer, following the Austrian financial regulators’ investigation into OMV’s sale of a large stake in Hungarian MOL to Russian Surgut Neftegaz (Austria Presseagentur, November 17,... MORE

The fictional character, George Smiley, was fond of saying that bargaining with the Russians tends to result in giving away the Crown Jewels in return for chicken feed.  Unfortunately, the same cannot be said about what is currently being bargained away by the West to... MORE

Beijing is waging an economics-focused diplomacy of reassurance to counter the “China Threat” theory and to augment its political clout particularly in the Asia-Pacific and European regions. In the last two years of its term of office, the Hu Jintao leadership is expected to use... MORE

The European Commission is calling for changes to the Bulgarian-Russian inter-governmental agreement on the South Stream gas project. The project agreements, just signed for the Bulgarian section of this Gazprom-led project (EDM, November 16) are also generating serious complications in and for Bulgaria.On November 15... MORE

Russian Prime Minister, Vladimir Putin, and Gazprom CEO, Aleksei Miller, have collected Bulgaria’s signature on the South Stream project on November 13 (“Bulgaria Rejoins Gazprom’s South Stream Project,” EDM, November 16).The signing marks the latest move in a rapid expansion of Kremlin-controlled energy companies into... MORE