On November 5 the Finnish and Swedish governments gave Nord Stream, the Gazprom-led consortium, permission to lay the pipeline through their respective economic zones on the Baltic seabed, on an approved route from Russia to Germany. The Danish government had given its permission in late... MORE

General Motors had given its consent to the Opel sale with considerable reluctance, which could only grow in the face of demands for technology transfers to Russia as part of the sale. These and other differences did not allow the transaction to be finalized. Meanwhile,... MORE

Late on November 3 (November 4 in Europe) the General Motors (GM) corporation decided to retain ownership of its heavily indebted German subsidiary Opel. The decision reverses GM’s September 10 tentative consent to sell a majority stake in Opel to a Kremlin-dominated consortium.GM’s reversal became... MORE

International Monetary Fund (IMF) Managing Director Dominique Strauss-Kahn on November 2 called Ukraine “a big problem” when asked about the situation in Central and Eastern Europe as the region worst hit by the global crisis. Recent steps in the economy aimed to “buy” voters ahead... MORE

Russia currently holds a greater degree of relevance and influence in Moldovan politics than at any time during the eight years of nominal communist rule (2001-2009) and indeed since 1991 in that country. Russia’s growing political role is a direct result of Moldova’s indecisive parliamentary... MORE

From October 30 to November 1 the Moldovan parliamentary majority’s candidate for head of state, Western-oriented Marian Lupu, as well as the communist opposition leader, and former head of state (2001-2009) Vladimir Voronin, undertook parallel visits to Moscow upon invitations there. Such a turn of... MORE

Viktor Yanukovych was put forward as a presidential candidate at the congress of the Party of Regions on October 23 (www.partyofregions.org.ua, October 23). Yanukovych’s foreign policy can be gauged from several policies that he and his party have previously supported and the content of his... MORE

The French government and, apparently, the Élysée Palace are moving fast to sell at least one Mistral-class helicopter carrier to Russia, possibly for deployment in the Black Sea. Such a sale would endow Russia with a modern naval and amphibious warfare capability that Russia currently... MORE

White Stream, the proposed gas pipeline from Georgia to Romania on the seabed of the Black Sea, is intended to maximize European gas imports from Central Asia through the E.U.-initiated Southern Corridor. The Corridor grand design spans Azerbaijan, Georgia, Turkey, and –with White Stream– also... MORE

Amidst much furor, French anti-terrorism judge Christophe Tessier announced that year-old Algerian-French scientist Dr. Adlene Hicheur had been brought up on charges of “association with terrorists” on October 12. Allegedly in contact with al-Qaeda’s North African affiliate, al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM), Dr. Hicheur... MORE