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Florian Broschk: While the rest of the world ponders the impact the unrest in Iran will have on foreign policy issues, there is a much greater struggle going on inside the country. Different factions are manoeuvring for control of Iran and there is little that the West can do to influence this power struggle.
For a moment, developments inside Iran have overshadowed questions of foreign policy. When trying to grasp how foreign policy is influenced by the domestic unrest, we must remember that two different levels of conflict exist: in addition to outrage and frustration on the streets and rooftops, behind the curtains of power another - but probably more decisive - power-struggle takes place.
While many ordinary protesters would shed no ...More
Irina Aervitz: The purchase of a slice of car company Opel by a consortium consisting of Magna, Canada’s largest automobile parts manufacturer, and Sberbank, Russia’s state-owned bank, may be another step in Moscow’s plan to revive the nation’s automotive sector.
Under the terms of the deal, shares in Opel will be divided as follows: Sberbank and GM will each have 35 percent; Magna, 20 percent; and Opel employees will have 10 percent. Russian automaker GAZ, will be an industrial partner. In 2005, as part of the strategy to revive the domestic production of cars, then Russian President Vladimir Putin introduced favorable terms which sought to decrease foreign ...More
Lekshmi Rajasekharan Nair: Although financial liberalization can enhance the efficiency of channeling saved resources into productive use, it is also possible that it leads to a sharp decline in saving ratios in industrial and developing countries. In India this phenomenon resulted in a significantly lower household saving rate.
This paper examines the impact of financial sector liberalization measures on the household saving rate in India by constructing a financial sector liberalization index for past decades. The index's impact is estimated using a general model, which aims to include other determinants of household savings as well.The results suggest significant negative repercussions on the household saving rate.This can be directly linked to ...More
Marie Lall: The West continues to misunderstand Pakistani realities on the ground. It must alter its hawkish approach towards the region and embrace a deeper understanding of the views across Pakistan. A radical policy shift and investments to stabilize the economy must be made before Western involvement turns sour.
Pakistan's geopolitical position has also been its greatest problem -
located between south, west and central Asia,
the country has consistently served as a platform from which foreign interests
were played out and defended. Consequently Pakistan's domestic destiny has
often been hostage to the foreign policy priorities of other, mostly western
governments. Most notable, and at the origin of today's instability was the
American ...More
Editorial Team: You are in a crowded, run-down basement. Lights are flashing in your eyes and your heart is racing. You’ve broken out in a sweat and it’s running down your back. People are anxious. Someone is screaming. Danger seems imminent.
Suddenly, your perspective changes, and this menacing situation reveals itself to be a party scene. In reality the dark basement is the venue for a rave, and people are dancing and having a good time. We are reminded of the fact that peace, security and freedom of expression cannot be taken for granted – and of the purpose and mission behind NATO’s 60-year existence.
We would like to invite you to join a debate about this NATO ...More
Andrey Chubyk: Achieving energy security in the EU remains one of the most challenging tasks for EU politicians. The recent pipeline crisis in the Ukraine led to the temporary slow down of supply and underlines the urgency of the issue. To prevent further crises, the “European Initiative of Gas Transparency” (EIGT) must be adopted in the Eurasia region.
Gazprom continues to accuse Ukraine of stealing gas. Gazprom's deputy CEO Alexander Medvedev said during a press
conference on Wednesday June 24, that the company will refuse to store gas,
designated for EU customers, in Ukrainian Underground Gas Storage Facilities
(UGSF) because Ukraine had stolen 8 billion cubic meters of gas during last winter. This is a highly surprising
claim because Ukraine
has not stored Gazprom's gas in recent ...More
Editorial Team: Prior to Chancellor Merkel’s trip to Washington DC both US and German journalists described a strained personal relationship between President Obama and Chancellor Merkel. Do you believe the two leaders’ different personalities and rhetorics have a negative effect on US-German relations?
"President Obama may be the most popular politician in Germany. But that hasn't won him any favors from the German government," writes Craig Whitlock in the Washington Post and criticizes Merkel and German lawmakers for "a string of rebukes and lectures:"
The sorest point has been over how to respond to the economic crisis, with Merkel and some of her ministers warning darkly that U.S. fiscal and monetary policies ...More
Jakob von Weizsäcker: It is still possible to stop climate change in this current economic environment. Governments should “green the debt” from their fiscal stimulus packages by repaying it with proceeds from higher carbon taxes and cap and trade systems, improving both economic and environmental sustainability.
The
global economic crisis and climate change are probably the two signature
challenges of our time. Luckily, there are ways to make our responses to these
challenges mutually reinforcing. One
approach is to green the expenditures of the fiscal stimulus packages, as
called for by the final communiqué of the G20 summit. But the room for
maneuver here is limited. An estimated 15 percent of the stimulus packages are
already green. And because it is the ...More
Luca Ratti: Expansion of NATO membership into Eastern Europe has provoked Russia. NATO must attempt constructive dialogue with Russia to solve this problem. The future and continued success of NATO will depend on either including Russia, or ceasing its open membership policy.
As Vladimir Putin recently put it, the planned "reset" in relations between Russia and the West has not happened; if anything, Washington should "step on the brake hard" to prevent the relationship from deteriorating any further. While Russia welcomed the Obama administration's recent overtures, the expulsion at the end of April of two Russian diplomats from Brussels over spying allegations was perceived by Moscow as a ...More
Andreas Michael Bock: Terrorism is able to thrive when it has the support of local people. Therefore, in order to win the war on terror, it is vital to win the loyalties and convictions of the people. An initiative outlined by US President Barack Obama in his Cairo speech, intends to strike terrorism at its Achilles’ heel by removing the people’s voluntary support of terrorist groups.
I will show that terrorism is substantially dependent on the voluntary support terrorist groups receive. Therefore, the current efforts to fight terrorism mainly by military means is not only futile, but counterproductive by playing into the opponent's hand: helping terrorists to create the support that is vital for them.US President Barack Obama is obviously aware of this vicious circle, in which violence not only creates more violence, but also delivers ...More
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