External discipline is needed to reform Ukrainian economy
Ukraine signed a sweeping economic and trade agreement with the European Union on last Friday, finally completing a trade deal that plunged it into a revolution and ongoing conflict with its closest neighbour, Russia. The deal would remove tariffs on around 98 per cent of the goods traded between Ukraine and the EU, and could begin the process of...
If Akhmetov had started to resist sooner, Donbass could have avoided huge losses
Each day at noon, hundreds of thousands of factory workers in Ukraine’s rebel hotbed pause as sirens blare for three minutes, a behavioral tool Rinat Akhmetov is using to help guard the country’s largest fortune, the Bloomberg writes. Still, the new government remains suspicious of the tycoon because he was closely tied to Yanukovych,...
Meeting with representatives of the Sobieski Institute
On 14 April 2014, the Razumkov Centre held a working meeting with representatives of the Sobieski Institute (http://www.sobieski.org.pl), one of the leading think tanks in Poland – Mr. Pawel Soloch, member of the management board and Mr. Pawel Szalamacha, deputy to the parliament (Sejm) from the Law and Justice party. The Razumkov Centre...
Neutrality won’t help Ukraine avoid the aggression of Russia
The ideal security assurance for Ukraine is NATO. Neutrality won’t save it from the aggressive Russia. This opinion was expressed by Director of Military Programmes of the Razumkov Centre Mykola Sungurovskyi, informs the news agency Ukrinform. “Ukraine has to either rely on its resources or resort to external assurance in the form of...
New publication “Ukraine-2014: Socio-Political Conflict and the Church. Positions of Religious Figures, Experts and Citizens”
This publication contains the materials of a regular Roundtable on “Religion and Authorities in Ukraine: Problems of Relations” held on May 15, 2014. The meeting discussed issues concerning the status of the Church as a civil institution. The publication contains documents of the All-Ukrainian Council of Churches and Religious...
Should Finland Join NATO?
The Ukrainian crisis has focused the attention of the international community and global mass media on the region. The annexation of Crimea and the possibility of several regions in eastern Ukraine seceding have been rightly seen as major changes to the post-Cold War geopolitical situation in Eastern Europe. At the same time, these events may...
Event Report: The Cost of Peace and Freedom
The Atlantic Initiative held a public event in Berlin in cooperation with the Heinrich Böll Foundation on The Cost of Peace and Freedom: What is security worth to us today? The panel included a security expert and a member of the Bundestag’s budgetary and defense committees. Panelists discussed Germany’s role in global defense...
Highlights of the Summer so far!
We wrap up June with a look back at some of the highlights of summer 2014 so far. With the recent collapse of the Iraqi government’s authority in northern Iraq, the Ukraine crisis and the end of the fifth round of TTIP negotiations, it continues to be an eventful year for the foreign policy community at large. Our members have been...
Ten Myths Used to Justify Russian Policy in the Ukraine Crisis
The political upheaval in Ukraine has placed territorial and social cohesion, as well as the country’s financial and economic viability, at stake. The events in Crimea have recently made clear that this critical destabilising effect primarily emanates from pro-Russian forces or actions by Russia itself. The arguments used by the Kremlin to...
Azerbaijan, the Council of Europe, and Nagorno-Karabakh: A Reckoning
The failure of the world to follow through on its resolutions is endangering the authority of the bodies charged with keeping the peace. If the world will not stand by its words in the face of aggression and occupation, then combatant nations will rightly conclude that the only way to resolve their conflicts is through war — economic,...
