Eastern Partnership in Demise
The fifth summit of Eastern Partnership, taking place in Brussels, was a classic case of unmemorable event that other than being a photo-op delivered nothing and satisfied no one. This is perhaps unsurprising for the two fundamental reasons: mismatch of expectations and poor leadership of the initiative. When Eastern Partnership was initiated in...
A quarter-century of independent Ukraine. Dimensions of transformation
On 24 August 1991, the Supreme Council of the Ukrainian SSR proclaimed independence, and on 1 December the same year, the Ukrainian people ratified that proclamation in a referendum. The new Ukrainian state had some very important assets, such as the peaceful path that led to its independence, the fact that its territory was uncontested and its...
Ukraine’s Challenges Are Very Real, but Now Is Not the Time for the West to Let Up
Four years since its Euromaidan revolution, Ukraine is fighting for its survival as an independent and viable state. The country is struggling to hold together and resist Russia’s interference and pressure—in the military, diplomatic, economic, and media spheres. But simultaneously, an internal contest is occurring that will...
What is the Future for German-Polish Relations
Relations between Warsaw and Berlin are amongst the most crucial, and historically-burdened, bilateral entanglements in the world. The German-Polish historical rapprochement that was put in motion in 1989 has been one of the pillars of European order that has proved indispensable to the stability of Central and Eastern Europe. Yet, this pillar...
Securing Democracy Dispatch
News and Commentary Continuing social media response to Russian disinformation: Facebook announced that it is developing a tool in its Help Center that will show users a list of their followed or liked Facebook and Instagram accounts that were developed by the Russian IRA troll farm. The new transparency portal will be live by 2018. However, the...
November 27th, 2017
CAMBODIA Hun Sen Launches Attack On Cambodian Centre For Human Rights Liam Cochrane, ABC News Australia Cambodia’s Prime Minister Hun Sen—who was installed into power by Vietnam and survives largely due to Chinese funding—has continued his anti-foreigner attacks, this time targeting a major human rights organisation. Sen says the CCHR...
Russian-speaking Germans: Who are they?
Russia / Europe For many years, residents of West Germany born in the USSR were unofficially labeled “invisible migrants”. After the collapse of the Berlin Wall, stories on the “Russian mafia” intially circulated through the German news media, but soon faded from the forefront. The topic of Russians in Germany in the years after unification has...
Several space events in Kyiv confirmed Ukraine’s status as a hi-tech nation
This fall we celebrated two prominent space anniversaries: the 60th anniversary of the launch of the first satellite (October 4) and the 20th anniversary of the flight of the first astronaut of independent Ukraine (November 19). Several events were conducted around these dates, including the International Space and Future Forum, the world’s...
Watch List Findings: Nov. 25, 2017
What follows are the preliminary findings for issues identified in the daily Watch Lists this week. We are only sending findings that we regard as significant or potentially significant to keep this list manageable. We have findings for all the Watch List items. Should you be interested in findings not listed here, please contact us and we will...
Thanksgiving 2017 – Why There Is No Peace On Earth
After the Berlin Wall fell in November 1989 and the death of the Soviet Union was confirmed two years later when Boris Yeltsin courageously stood down the red army tanks in front of Moscow’s White House, a dark era in human history came to an end. The world had descended into what had been a 77-year global war, incepting with the...
