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Latest Articles about Europe
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Maritime Security Weaknesses in the Black Sea
Russian naval operations in August 2008 highlighted the security deficit in the Black Sea. As a littoral country, Russia misused the territory of another littoral country, Ukraine, as a staging ground for attacking a third littoral country, Georgia, using its Black Sea Fleet based in... MORE
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Presidential Election Campaign Paralyzes Ukrainian Parliament
Ukrainian lawmaking has fallen victim to the presidential election campaign. Parliament has failed to resume its work after the summer vacation as the opposition Party of Regions (PRU) physically blocks the rostrum making it impossible to vote. The party is protesting against the refusal by... MORE
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Cyprus Peace Talks Intensify
The troubled peace talks have resumed in Cyprus after Greek Cypriot officials boycotted them in the first week of September. As the second part of the negotiations began, the Turkish Cypriot leader Mehmet Ali Talat and his Greek Cypriot counterpart Dimitris Christofias met for their... MORE
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The Ukrainian Coal Mining Industry: Problem Child or Savior?
Coal mining, and especially coking coal, has been a very problematic industry in Ukraine -it is highly inefficient due to outdated machinery and the depth of its mines. According to the International Energy Agency (IEA), "The average mine depth is more than 700 meters; in... MORE
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Putin Takes Opel’s Wheel
On September 10 General Motors, partly owned by the U.S. government, changed its position and allowed its ailing German subsidiary, Opel, to be "rescued" by a Kremlin-controlled consortium. The German government strongly pressed for the Russian solution in preference to an American one. The issue... MORE
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Lukashenka Admits Rigging 2006 Presidential Election
In an interview that appeared in Izvestiya in Moscow on August 27, the Belarusian President, Alyaksandr Lukashenka, maintained that the results of the 2006 presidential elections were falsified. However, rather than raising his total, Lukashenka had allegedly demanded that it be lowered to appear more... MORE
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Moldova on the Threshold of Post-Post-Communism
Two electoral cycles behind most of Eastern Europe, Moldova stands on the brink of the post-post-Communist era. Uniquely in Moldova, moreover, the post-communist transition and the post-post-communist era will be telescoped into a single stage, the start of which is now. Other East European countries... MORE
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Moldova Emerging From its Constitutional Crisis
Moldova's parliamentary elections on April 5, subsequent confrontations, and repeat elections on July 28, along with ambiguities and loopholes in the fundamental law, dragged the country's political system into a constitutional crisis. The system is now working its way out of that situation in a... MORE
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Yanukovych and Tymoshenko Courting Moscow Ahead of Election
The Russian factor might well determine the outcome of the January 2010 presidential election in Ukraine. The two leaders in the presidential race, Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko and former Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovych, both seek Moscow's support. Yanukovych has played the Russian language card in... MORE
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Sochi Meeting Shows Russian Impact on German Foreign Policy
German Chancellor Angela Merkel's August 14 meeting with Russian President Dmitry Medvedev in Sochi illustrated how this business-centered "strategic partnership" can distort or weaken German foreign policy. In that meeting the Chancellor failed to mention (or perhaps to deem worth mentioning) three major Russian actions... MORE