Intersecting Geo-economics and Geopolitics: Nord Stream 2 and Europe
Nord Stream 2, a Russian undersea gas pipeline project that intends to deliver natural gas from Siberia to Germany, currently sits at an intersection of several geopolitical and geo-economic cross-currents that determine the economic security as well as the geostrategic balance of Europe.
Russia and the European Union: Lessons Learned and Goals Ahead
The current crisis and pause in development of the EU–Russia relations provide a unique chance to shed the burden of past problems and start new relations from scratch. Both sides should sort out their values and get rid of the ballast generated by the bureaucratic inertia or false understandings of partnership. Russia and Europe are unlikely to evolve a common vision for the future. Their future is not in unity but in co-existing next to each other. It is time that Russia and the EU clearly formulate their real interests and try to make relations predictable.
Eurasian Economic Union: A Preliminary Assessment
Is the Eurasian Economic Union aimed at reincarnating the Soviet Union minus the Marxist ideology? While some in Russia assert that the term “union” symbolically harkens back to the Soviet Union, many outside Russia fear that it could be so.
Crimean crisis: A New Phase of Cold War?
Putin seems to have concluded that Russia must draw the line at Ukraine. The EU bid to sign trade agreement with Ukraine in December drew Russia’s ire and now Russia has moved to make Crimea its part thus changing the borders in Europe once again and deepening the distrust between Russia and the West at a time when serious issues like Syria, Iran and Afghanistan are yet to be resolved.
Deauville Summit
The Deauville summit gave the leaders of France, Germany and Russia an opportunity to co-ordinate their positions on many issues.
The EU on the Georgia-Russia Conflict
The outcome of the deliberations at the September 1 Extraordinary European Council meeting held to discuss the Russian-Georgian conflict was not very dramatic. Gordon Brown penned a scathing article in The Observer and attempted to set a high pitch for the meeting by presenting the conflict as ‘naked aggression’ by Russia and advocating that the EU review ‘root and branch’ its relationship with Russia.