Section: Research Organizations & Think Tanks about Ukraine
The West, multipolarity, and the liberal order
The liberal order—the system designed to ensure international security that has as its pillars the United Nations, multilateral security treaties, NATO, and European integration—is strongly dependent on Western and in particular U.S. power. With new, non-Western powers rising or resurgent, and the West (especially Europe) in apparent decline, it...
Security Service Suspects Moscow Behind Explosions Shaking Ukrainian Cities
Although, for now, the ceasefire agreements reached in February 2015 appear to be mostly holding in eastern Ukraine, nationwide feelings of anxiety and stress persist. This is not only due to the fear that Vladimir Putin may restart the war in May, but also due to the growing challenge of petty terrorism. In various cities across the country,...
Are Russian Military Exercises in the North Caucasus a Signal to Azerbaijan and Georgia?
Russian defense and interior ministry troops have each staged large-scale military exercises, one after another. Military drills take place across Russia practically year-round, but what was interesting about a recent series of exercises is that they were conducted in the mountainous regions of the North Caucasus. Russia’s borders with...
Europe’s Nightmare: Ukraine’s Massive Meltdown
If Ukraine enters a new round of massive instability, it could become a vortex into which Russia and the West will be sucked-with unpredictable and likely dire results. What Ukraine needs today is for the West to lean hard on Kiev in support of economic and political reform. …read more Source: Carnegie Endowment for International...
Why the U.S. should ignore Belarus’ unlikely appeal
Desperate times call for desperate measures. This is likely what Belarusian leader Alexander Lukashenko was thinking last week when calling on the United States, which dubbed him “Europe’s last dictator.” In a rare interview with Western media, Minsk’s strongman urged Washington to engage in talks to resolve the Ukraine crisis and...
Kyiv Sets Goal of NATO Membership, Latvia Set to Host Gay Pride Festival
Plus, the UN tells Kazakhstan to clean up its filthy environment; support for Russia’s takeover of Crimea sees Yugoslav star Goran Bregovic dumped by Polish music festival. …read more Source: Transitions Online...
Playing the Wild Card in Belgrade
What does Serbia’s increasingly close link with Russia mean for its EU accession, or for the EU itself? …read more Source: Transitions Online...
Ukraine conflict exposes Western weakness on Russia
The EU has colossal achievements to its credit in stabilising and integrating post-communist countries after 1990 by a mixture of carrots, civilisational attraction, and economic incentives and penalties. But the Yugoslav crises of the 1990s and now the Ukraine crisis have highlighted the limitations of the EU’s security capabilities. After...
Russia’s info-war: theory and practice
The fabrications and distortions propagated by the Kremlin during the Ukraine crisis have made the concept of ‘information warfare’ common currency. Less widely appreciated is the Russian leadership’s understanding of the term and the vision of the world upon which it rests. Russian military theorists often argue that the...
Finnish Finance Ministry steps up contingency plans for a Grexit
Finnish Finance Ministry steps up contingency plans for a GrexitFinnish daily Helsingin Sanomat reports that, according to a secret memo from the Finnish Finance Ministry, Greece may leave the Eurozone and the Finnish government has been preparing for such an event. The memo notes that if Greece decided to stop meeting its obligations, “tacit...
