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Russian Belligerence Will Strengthen Transatlantic Relations

Marek Swierczynski: Even though technically Russia won the war, the victory will paradoxically weaken Russia’s position towards its western partners, especially the US. Military action against Georgia – however limited in scale – is a symbolic resurrection of Russia’s imperial ambitions and will thus strengthen transatlantic partnership.

This may be a turning point in Russia's relations with the US and western Europe. Aggression against Georgia has disillusioned decision makers and the public about whether Putin's Russia is a peace-loving nation. Implications may be widespread, the first one being stronger American committment to placing missile defence shieldin the countries of the former soviet-bloc. Military action against Georgia - however limited ...More

Think Tank Analysis: Central Europe's Energy Security Schism

Ryan R. Miller: Central European countries are, on balance, divided, not united, when it comes to Russian energy supply dominance. Washington should find ways to step up its involvement and combat both the symptoms of Central Europe’s energy security ‘schism’ as well as the disease itself.

CEPA analyst Ryan R. Miller describes the problem of Russia's energy grip on post-communist Central Europe and outlines how the Central European policy response varies from country to country. In doing so, he divides the ten countries of the region into "strategic players" like Poland and "commercial opportunists" such as Bulgaria. Miller argues that there is still more the United States could be doing in support of its allies' energy security. (July 2008)

How America Should Respond to Resurgent Russia

Wess Mitchell: The United States should announce its intention to transfer the entire Europe-based American military establishment to new locations in Central Europe, because many of the EU’s largest states are more interested in avoiding a rupture with Moscow than in protecting the vital interests of the Union’s eastern members.

Crises, so the saying goes, have a nasty way of exposing pretensions. The Russian invasion and occupation of the republic of Georgia exposed the pretension that the United States is capable of effectively underwriting the security of small, isolated powers in Russia's backyard. In singling out Georgia - America's longtime regional protégé - Moscow employed a tactic that is as old as geopolitics itself: humbling a small-power ...More

Doing Good Efficiently

Finn E. Kydland: Six Nobel Peace Prize laureates asked themselves what the most effective way would be to spend $75 billion in order to make the world a better place. The ranking list they developed gives very different answers than those policymakers usually do.

Policymakers can concoct many excuses not to invest in global aid and development projects. Three weeks ago, I joined a group of five Nobel laureates and three distinguished economists to undermine one of those excuses, by providing information about where money can achieve the most good. For each issue examined, we focused on benefits relative to costs. To guide our thinking, we asked ourselves: if we had, say, an extra $75 billion to spend, where could ...More

Only Transatlantic Unity Can Stop This War

Richard Holbrooke and Ronald D. Asmus: Moscow’s behavior in Georgia poses a direct challenge to European and international order. Georgia deserves our solidarity and support. Only strong transatlantic cooperation can put an end to this conflict and begin to repair the immense damage done.

In weeks and years past, each of us has argued on this page that Moscow was pursuing a policy of regime change toward Georgia and its pro-Western, democratically elected president, Mikheil Saakashvili. We predicted that, absent strong and unified Western diplomatic involvement, we were headed toward a war. Now, tragically, an escalation of violence in South Ossetia has culminated in a full-scale Russian invasion of Georgia. The West, and ...More

Food for thought about war on terror

Zoltan Papp [konor.org]: Dear Reader, Just some food for thought i thought about today on the train on my way to Budapest : How could in the 21th century, a global operation against terrorism fail by the largest defense forces on this planetincluding the co-operative local governments in the known countries such as Iraq ? Isn't it interesting that global security forces could not win against local terrorists without billion dollar economybackgrounds or international ...More

Parag Khanna: The Second World

Natalia Ruban: The topic of „post-American world order" is not new. A whole series of books dealing with the question of relative American decline and Asian rise was recently published and discussed. Parag Khanna's The Second World is probably one of the most comprehensive and thoughtful works among them. It combines different trends in one analysis and describes in detail almost every region of the world. Unlike other authors, Khanna believes that there ...More

Let's Open the Bosnian X-Files

Ari Rusila: The trial of Radovan Karadzic will answer many open questions of the Balkan events during 1990’s. Some reports suggest quite a disgusting picture about “realpolitik” behind the noble statements of the international community.

A very interesting interview of former Hague Tribunal spokeswoman Florence Hartmann popped to my eyes from newspaper Blic. Referring the arrest of Radovan Karadzic she told, that "information about the fugitives' whereabouts was abundant, however, it would always turn out that one of the three countries – the U.S., Britain or France – would block arrests." She adds that former Bosnian secret police chief Momir Munibabić was sacked ...More

The Transatlantic Divide Over the Caucasus Conflict

Nikolas Kirrill Gvosdev: The Caucasus conflict challenges the Atlantic community, because there is no consensus about resolving it. With regard to Russia, the European countries will have to decide if they want to follow their path of constructive engagement, or keep good ties with the US.

Senator John McCain wants US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice to travel to Europe "to establish a common Euro-Atlantic position aimed at ending the war and supporting the independence of Georgia." He declares that Russia will face severe consequences for its actions in the Ossetian/Georgian war, but all of his recommended steps require close coordination and support from US's European allies. It raises the question, therefore, as ...More

Requesting Help with MA Thesis on Democracy Promotion

Florian Kuhne: Hej community members, I need help with my examination paper (Magisterarbeit) in New History at the University of Münster. I try to write about the National Endowment for Democracy and the USAID and their role in promoting democracy and human rights in Latin America. Because the paper will be in History science, I need a good, broad base of primary sources as documents from the US administration or congressional records prior ...More