Russian economic sanctions on Turkey, according to a report just published by the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, will affect the rate of Turkish economic growth but only to a limited degree. The eduction in Turkey’s GDP growth in … Continue reading →
Even before Turkey’s shoot-down of a Russian bomber for violating its airspace, there was Russia Turkey energy conflict over “renovated” prospects for the Turkish Stream natural gas pipeline project between the two countries. One had the right to be skeptical, … Continue reading →
Helicopter-carriers for Russia embargoed by France match Canada’s coastal fleet modernization needs French president François Hollande’s several weeks ago to Canada opens the way to resolving at least one thorny problem created by the Russian invasion and annexation of Crimea. … Continue reading →
It is rare that a great power in world politics, after decades of hostility with another country, turns around and suddenly seeks to embrace that country as a friend, if not an ally, yet this is what the recent American … Continue reading →
The visit by Turkey’s foreign minister Ahmet Davutoglu to Beijing a week ago, follows by a scant three weeks the visit by China’s prime minister Wen Jiabao’s to Ankara on October 7-8 as part of the latter’s European diplomatic tour … Continue reading →
Moscow’s equity markets, whose benchmark measure has declined with increasing rapidity since the start of the year, reflect the fact that the invasion of Georgia has made the Russian downturn worse. The dollar-denominated RTS index is down 33 per cent … Continue reading →
It’s not going to happen in Riga next month, but in five to ten years Europe (by which I mean “Europe” and not only the European Union, i.e., including the European countries as members of NATO) may have digested its … Continue reading →
With the dismantlement of the inherited Soviet nuclear arsenal now under way, it is the apparent lack of well defined long-term goals (apart from “stability”) that largely account for Washington’s inability to clarify the nature of its engagement in Central Asia, leading it to deal with immediate issues (such as the Tajikistan situation) on a piecemeal basis. There are, however, at least two key areas of central Asian concern (not counting the burgeoning drug trade or the Tajikistan civil war) that directly engage “vital” U.S. interests. These areas are nuclear nonproliferation and energy security.
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