Section: Research Organizations & Think Tanks about Ukraine
Economic crisis: Why did Greece do so poorly in comparison with all other European Union countries?
Language English Among the EU countries, Latvia and Greece stand out because, in the midst of the crisis, they had the largest potential budget deficits and they experienced equally large cumulative real output contractions of nearly a quarter of GDP in comparison with their 2008 peak GDP. But their governments pursued the opposite fiscal...
What Transition? The Strange Case of Hungary and Romania
Hungary and Romania officially completed their transition process when they joined the EU, but they appear to be going in very different directions. Both countries, which until recently belonged to the “post-Socialist” European space, are still considered “flawed democracies” according to the EIU, where Hungary ranks...
Judy Asks: Is the U.S. Wobbly Over Ukraine?
Every week, a selection of leading experts answer a new question from Judy Dempsey on the foreign and security policy challenges shaping Europe’s role in the world. …read more Source: Carnegie Endowment for International...
Kevin Andrews’ Defence White Paper preview
Given that the forthcoming Defence White Paper will be the third in six years, one could be forgiven for being slightly cynical about the overarching political exercise. Labor clearly felt the messaging, both domestic and international, of the 2009 White Paper was sufficiently problematic as to warrant a rewrite in 2013. Then, upon coming to...
ONLINE ONLY – Brookings hosts Vice President Joe Biden for remarks on the Russia-Ukraine conflict
Event Information May 27, 2015 12:15 PM – 1:00 PM EDTOnline Only Live Webcast Sparked by Russian President Vladimir Putin’s annexation of Crimea in 2014, the conflict in eastern Ukraine and the current toxic state of Russia-Ukraine relations has been at the forefront of foreign policy discussions. On May 27, Brookings will host Vice...
Avoiding past mistakes
After putting the intelligence budget through three years of sequestration-level funding—and the likely return to sequestration levels this year, the United States is in serious jeopardy of repeating the fatal mistakes of the early 1990s when it drastically slashed its intelligence budget and exposed the nation to serious risks. In a post 9/11...
Putin and Latvia’s Latgale: Ethnicity as Explanation Vs. Ethnicity as Excuse
Vladimir Putin’s use of ethnicity to justify his actions in Ukraine has been widely accepted in the West but not commonly understood. That is to say, his claims that he can intervene on behalf of ethnic Russians or others that he feels are close to his “Russian world” are accepted as somehow plausible or even legitimate if the Kremlin can...
Donetsk, Luhansk ‘People’s Republics’ Seek International Legitimization Through Local Elections (Part Two)
*To read Part One, please click here. The armistice signed in Minsk on February 12, 2015, (Minsk Two agreement) opens the way for staging local elections in the Donetsk and Luhansk “people’s republics” (“DPR, LPR”) and the possible validation of those elections’ outcome by the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe...
Sergei Shoigu: Putin’s Point Man in the Ukraine Conflict
Since the Russian military became a policy tool in the Kremlin’s conflict in Ukraine, Defense Minister Army-General Sergei Shoigu received surprisingly little attention from observers of Russia’s defense policies. Shoigu offered broad support for the operation to “restore” Crimea to Russia, while emphatically denying the presence of...
How to Counter Russia’s Anti-Democratic Strategy
BERLIN—At a summit last week in Latvia, the European Union and the countries of the Eastern Partnership reiterated that democracy is essential for a closer political and economic association. The joint declaration issued by the EU members and Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Moldova, Georgia, and Ukraine avoided any specific mention of Russia. But...
