Latest Articles about Europe
BELARUSIAN OPPOSITION PREPARES FOR CHERNOBYL MARCH
April 26 has traditionally been the date of the biggest opposition protest march in Minsk. In 1996, on the tenth anniversary of the nuclear accident at Chernobyl, more than 50,000 people took part in an event besmirched by violence and the arrest of more than... MORE
Capabilities and Restraints in Turkey’s Counter-Terrorism Policy
Turkey has long faced a broad range of domestic terrorist threats, ranging from left-wing and Kurdish radicals to violent indigenous Islamist groups and Turkish militants affiliated with or sympathetic to transnational organizations such as al-Qaeda. The country’s geographical location, often porous borders and thriving black... MORE
ANOTHER PRECONDITION SET FOR POLITICAL NEGOTIATIONS ON TRANSNISTRIA
The first meeting since 2001 between Moldovan President Vladimir Voronin and Transnistrian “president” Igor Smirnov (see EDM, April 168) marked the resumption of direct negotiations between Chisinau and Tiraspol after a seven-year hiatus. This direct channel might lead to a quick resumption of the international... MORE
POLAND IS CAUGHT BETWEEN MOSCOW AND WASHINGTON
Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk won the parliamentary elections last November, promising to improve radically relations with Russia, which went sour under the previous administration of the Kacziynski brothers. Lech Kacziynski continues to be Polish President but has little influence on actual decision making. Tusk... MORE
Police Raids Uncover al-Qaeda’s Parallel World in Turkey
Al-Qaeda is taking roots in Turkey, as indicated by recent police crackdowns and the discovery of a parallel jihadi society in Istanbul. In a two-day operation, Turkish police forces arrested 43 alleged members of al-Qaeda. On April 1, police forces launched four simultaneous raids in... MORE
HAS THE TRANSNISTRIA CONFLICT GONE FROM DEAD END TO WRONG TURN?
Negotiations between Chisinau and Tiraspol toward resolving the conflict in Transnistria have restarted after a pause of almost seven years. Moldovan President Vladimir Voronin met “Transnistria’s president” Igor Smirnov on secessionist-controlled territory on April 11. With Voronin fixated on resolving the conflict in 2008 while... MORE
CAN THE UKRAINIAN COALITION HOLD TOGETHER?
The ruling coalition of Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko’s Bloc (BYT) and President Viktor Yushchenko’s Our Ukraine, People’s Self-Defense (NUNS), is on the verge of breaking apart. Yushchenko’s team not only criticizes Tymoshenko’s economic policy but also publicly accuses her of fostering corruption. Tymoshenko, for her... MORE
Improved Intelligence Behind Turkish Success in Latest Anti-PKK Operations
The latest operations by the Turkish Armed Forces (TSK) against the facilities and personnel of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) in northern Iraq and in southeastern Turkey have displayed a growing competence on the part of the TSK in the use of real-time information in... MORE
UKRAINIANS DIFFER ON NATO SUMMIT RESULTS
Both President Viktor Yushchenko and opposition leader and former Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovych have claimed that the April 2 to 4 Bucharest NATO summit’s decision on Ukraine was a “victory.” It was a victory for Yushchenko, because NATO members promised that Ukraine would definitely be... MORE
BELARUS IS BACK TO A POLICY OF CONFRONTATION
Three recent events in Belarus have apparently returned the country to the repressive atmosphere of the late 1990s and thrown into doubt the prospects for any significant democratic changes under the regime of Alyaksandr Lukashenka. The actions suggest a government under intense pressure but bereft... MORE