Latest Articles about Europe
PRESIDENT’S PARTY IS WEAKEST LINK IN ORANGE COALITION
Friday, November 2, was the last day that the Our Ukraine-People’s Self Defense (NUNS) bloc could collect signatures to support a “democratic” (orange) coalition with the Yulia Tymoshenko bloc (BYuT). BYuT deputies have openly expressed their fear that disunity in NUNS will lead to an... MORE
DAYS OF REMEMBRANCE IN MINSK
Today, November 2, members of the European diplomatic corps, including ambassadors and their families, will visit the mass burial site of Kurapaty, recalling the 70th anniversary of executions conducted by the Stalin regime in Belarus. This event follows closely upon the commemoration on October 28—the... MORE
DIFFERENCES WITHIN UKRAINIAN COALITION ESCALATE
A coalition consisting of President Viktor Yushchenko’s Our Ukraine-People’s Self-Defense bloc (NUNS) and the Yulia Tymoshenko Bloc (BYuT) is showing cracks long before the newly elected parliament even has its first meeting, which is expected in late November. There is no unity of opinion among... MORE
Tactical and Strategic Problems of a Turkish Winter Campaign in Northern Iraq
As Turkish troops mass along the border with Kurdish northern Iraq, chief of the Turkish General Staff General Yasar Buyukanit has promised to make the rebels of the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) “grieve with an intensity they cannot imagine” (AP, October 27). While an attack... MORE
LEX MOL REFLECTS EUROPEAN RETHINKING ON ENERGY INVESTMENT REGIME
Overwhelmingly approved by the Hungarian parliament, the legislation known as “Lex MOL” [MOL law] is set to take effect after the presidential signature as a final formality. The law reacts to Austrian state-controlled energy champion OMV’s hostile takeover bid against MOL, Hungary’s largest economic entity,... MORE
LEX MOL AND THE VOLKSWAGEN RULING: COMPARING APPLES AND ORANGES
On October 23 the European Court of Justice (ECJ), the European Union’s highest court, overturned Germany’s Volkswagen law, which restricts the voting rights of that company’s shareholders to 20%, regardless of the size of the stake owned. The European Commission had initiated the case three... MORE
Current Trends in Jihadi Networks in Europe
The terrorist related events that took place during the summer in Europe—the doctors' plot in Great Britain, the dismantling of various cells in Italy, Austria and Spain, and, finally, the September arrests in Germany and Denmark—have confirmed that Europe is a key staging ground for... MORE
Recasting Jihad in the Maghreb
It has been a little over one year since Ayman al-Zawahiri announced the official merger between al-Qaeda and the Salafist Group for Call and Combat (GSPC), and since that time the jihad in the Maghreb has passed through a tumultuous and dynamic period. On the... MORE
Azerbaijan Increasingly Caught Between Salafism and Iran
After the collapse of the Soviet Union, Azerbaijan became a battleground for many religious groups, sects and radical organizations. Being a predominantly secular society, Azerbaijanis cautiously watched the appearance of new religious movements. Neighboring countries such as Iran, Turkey as well as the Arab Gulf... MORE
PKK Changes Battlefield Tactics to Force Turkey into Negotiations
Recent attacks by the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) suggest that the organization is adopting new battlefield tactics in order to increase the psychological pressure on Turkey in the hope of forcing the Turkish authorities to enter into peace negotiations. Since it resumed its armed struggle... MORE