Latest Articles about Foreign Policy
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When Belarusians of All Stripes Perform in Vilnius
According to Kirill Koktysh, an ethnic Belarusian and a professor of the Moscow State Institute of International Relations, any souring of relations between Russia and Ukraine boosts Russia’s generosity with respect to Belarus. This is because relations with Ukraine are seen as a touchstone for... MORE
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Ukraine and the European Union at the Vilnius Summit and in Its Aftermath (Part Two)
Russia has temporarily derailed the European Union–Ukraine Association Agreement (AA) and Deep and Comprehensive Free Trade Area (DCFTA) deal at the EU’s Vilnius summit, November 28–29. Moscow achieved this success through economic pressures on Ukraine and threats to escalate such pressures, which the EU could... MORE
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Belarusians in the Russian Federation Increasingly Nationalistic
Many Russian and Western analysts have assumed that Belarusians and Russians are so similar ethnically that the nearly 1 million Belarusians living in the Russian Federation will inevitably identify with the larger nation and assimilate into it. But in fact, most are retaining their Belarusian... MORE
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Ukraine and the European Union at the Vilnius Summit and in Its Aftermath (Part One)
Ukraine failed to sign the Association Agreement (AA) and Deep and Comprehensive Free Trade Area (DCFTA) agreement with the European Union at the Vilnius summit (November 28–29) under the EU’s Lithuanian presidency. The negotiations had been completed and the documents initialed in March 2012, ready... MORE
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Georgia’s Association with the EU: Start of a Complicated and Hazardous Journey
During the third Eastern Partnership summit in Vilnius, on November 28–29, the European Union’s High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Catherine Ashton and Georgia’s Foreign Minister Maia Panjikidze initialed the Georgia-EU Association Agreement as well as the deal on a Deep and Comprehensive... MORE
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Failure to Sign Association Agreement with EU Triggers Violence in Ukrainian Capital
Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych refused to sign an association and free-trade agreement with the European Union at the Eastern Partnership summit in Vilnius on November 29. He blamed this on Russian pressure and the West’s failure to provide assistance. Nevertheless, EU officials said the doors... MORE
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Parallel Soul-Searching: EU on Belarus and Belarus on Russia
Dzianis Melyantsou, from the Belarusian Institute for Strategic Studies, a Minsk-based think tank funded by the West, subjects the European Union’s Eastern Partnership (EaP) policy to criticism (https://www.eesc.lt/uploads/news/id521/Bell%202013_6(36).pdf). According to Melyantsou, for countries that are not willing to join the EU, the conditionality approach (aid... MORE
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East China Sea Air Defense Moves: What for and Why Now?
China’s declaration of an Air Defense Identification Zone (ADIZ) covering the disputed Diaoyu/Senkaku Islands—as well as the greater part of the East China Sea, including sections of Taiwan’s and South Korea’s own ADIZs—demands explanation. The announcement, issued by China’s Ministry of National Defense (MoD) on... MORE
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Kazakh Nationalists as a Wild Card in Kazakhstan’s Domestic Politics
Following the recent inter-ethnic clashes in Moscow’s Biryulyovo suburb in mid-October, a growing number of Russia-watchers have been predicting the forthcoming establishment of a new nationalist political party. As Russia’s economic growth is slowing down and the country’s political system is invariably corrupt and inefficient,... MORE
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Georgia Between Russia and the European Union: Toward the Vilnius Summit and Beyond (Part Two)
To balance its contradictory goals—advancing Georgia’s Western orientation while conciliating Russia—Prime Minister Bidzina Ivanishvili’s government initiated a “reset” of Georgia-Russia relations from the moment it took office in November 2012 (see Part One, EDM, November 25).Twelve months later, Georgian Dream leaders have no significant Russian... MORE