Section: Brookings (USA)
Why Europe’s energy policy has been a strategic success story
For Europe, it has been a rough year, or perhaps more accurately a rough decade. The terrorist attacks in London, Madrid, and elsewhere have taken a toll, as did the Iraq and Afghanistan wars. But things really got tough beginning with the Great Recession—and its prolonged duration for Europe, including grave economic crises in much of the...
Will Ukraine dash its hopes for Western support?
Ukraine has gone through a lot the past 30 months. Despite formidable challenges, it has made important progress, both in containing Russian-backed separatism in the Donbas and in beginning needed reforms. Ukrainians deserve credit for this. The United States and Europe should support Ukraine, whose success or failure will have major implications...
U.S.-Russian relations beyond Obama
Vladimir Putin certainly has a remarkable ability to woo American presidents and presidential aspirants. The budding bromance between the Russian strongman and Donald Trump is only the latest example. George W. Bush famously looked into his eyes and took stock, favorably, of Putin’s soul back in the early days of their respective...
What Ukraine’s new prime minister is (and isn’t) likely to achieve
A months-long political crisis in Kiev came to an end on April 14, when Ukraine’s Rada (parliament) approved a new prime minister. Expectations that the government will move on needed reforms and anti-corruption measures, however, are low. Kamikaze prime minister? The previous prime minister, Arseniy Yatsenyuk, had served since the Maidan...
The Dutch rejection of an EU-Ukraine deal isn’t about Ukraine
On Wednesday, Dutch voters rejected—via a consultative referendum—the association agreement of the EU with Ukraine. It is a treaty between the EU, its member states, Euratom, and Ukraine that establishes a political and economic association between the parties. Only about 32 percent of eligible voters showed up, just clearing the 30 percent...
Are the Russians actually behind the Panama Papers?
The “Panama Papers”—does this strike anyone else as a very fishy story? It’s like something out of a cheap spy movie. In early 2015, “John Doe” sends (out of the blue) an email to the German newspaper Süddeutsche Zeitung (SZ), offering 11.5 million documents from a Panamanian law firm relating to offshore shell companies. SZ accepts. Under...
LIVE WEBCAST – The emerging China-Russia axis: The return of geopolitics?
Event Information March 24, 2016 9:00 AM – 11:00 AM EDTFalk Auditorium Brookings Institution 1775 Massachusetts Avenue, N.W. Washington, DC 20036 Register for the Event #ChinaRussia Tweets Over the past decade, Russia and China have come into closer alignment and their bilateral collaboration has grown. At the same time, Beijing and Moscow...
The emerging China-Russia axis: The return of geopolitics?
Event Information March 24, 2016 9:00 AM – 11:00 AM EDTFalk Auditorium Brookings Institution 1775 Massachusetts Avenue, N.W. Washington, DC 20036 Register for the Event Over the past decade, Russia and China have come into closer alignment and their bilateral collaboration has grown. At the same time, Beijing and Moscow have each taken...
Did Putin win in Syria? Or is he cutting his losses?
By Putin’s own definition, Russia won in Syria By Sergey Aleksashenko Pavel and I agree that while the withdrawal of Russian military power from Syria came as a surprise in the immediate sense, Russian President Vladimir Putin’s decision to pull out was logical given the circumstances he faced in Syria. Where we differ is in our...
Did Putin win in Syria? Or is he cutting his loses?
By Putin’s own definition, Russia won in Syria By Sergey Aleksashenko Pavel and I agree that while the withdrawal of Russian military power from Syria came as a surprise in the immediate sense, Russian President Vladimir Putin’s decision to pull out was logical given the circumstances he faced in Syria. Where we differ is in our...
