... for foreign policy manoeuvring on the scale that was available to Europeans during the Cold War of 1949–1991.
Moreover, the Ukrainian crisis itself was, to a certain extent, the result of the fact that the continental Europe has lost all ability to be ... ... specific behaviour of the European Union institutions, which after February 2022 simply play the role of an economic branch of NATO. European leaders looked so helpless at the beginning of last year not because they were bad themselves. The real reason ...
There is no way Ukraine and NATO can “win” the military confrontation against Russia, and the best-case scenario they can project is tying down Russia in an endless conflict
In welcoming Finland to NATO during a visit to Helsinki on June 2, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken ...
... What used to be called the Nordic balance—having different security profiles, taking each other’s basic interests into account but not forming a Nordic alliance with uniform policies—has been incrementally demolished in consequence of the U.S./NATO provocative expansion since 1990 that broke all the well-documented promises made at the time by the West’s leaders to Mikhail Gorbachev about not expanding NATO one inch eastwards if he accepted a re-unified Germany in NATO.
The NATO-Russia
deadlock
...
... an escalation in the Taiwan Strait is highly questionable as well.
Sooner or later, divergences, including within the North Atlantic Alliance, will also emerge when it comes to the Russian dossier. Even today, France’s approaches to resolving the Ukrainian crisis markedly differ from those of the United Kingdom or the United States. Once the acute phase of the conflict is over, these discrepancies are likely to deepen, as European members of NATO are objectively more interested in restoring unity of the now divided continent than their overseas ally.
Any landmark event could be an agent of change. For instance, the victory of the new Trump in the U.S. elections in November 2024 or the coming ...
... itself. This does not mean that Ukraine will become a “failed state”: the West will continue to keep the Kiev authorities afloat, providing the necessary minimum of economic and technical cooperation. The questions of Ukraine joining the EU and NATO will, however, be regularly delayed to some ever more distant future, and major western investment will not come into Ukraine. Under such circumstances, confrontation with Russia will remain the crucial source of legitimacy for any potential Ukrainian ...
... in the Ukraine has become as hot as the scorching weather the country has been experiencing of late. Discussions about the latest trends at home and around the world and what it all means for the future of Ukraine have reached fever pitch. The recent NATO Summit in Warsaw, the attempted coup in Turkey, the complicated dynamics of the development of Ukraine’s relations with important regional partner (Poland) and the threat of the situation in Donbass escalating – all this has sent shockwaves ...
... security” in Donbass.
That is why the Obama Administration today is not interested in re-initiating the conflict, although it is not publicly expressing any readiness to take new steps or make serious compromises to settle the crisis either.
Will NATO help?
Clearly, the fact that Moscow, Washington and the Western European governments are seeking to limit any escalation of the Ukrainian crisis does not mean that Washington would be ready to use all levers to pressure Kiev to abide by the Minsk agreements. It is hard to imagine Washington starting to talk to the Ukrainian authorities in the language of ultimatums considering ...
... titled “Russia and Europe: What Unites Us, What Divides Us?” held by the Russian International Affairs Council and the Korber Foundation. RIAC website editor Maria Smekalova asked
Stefanie Babst
, Head of Strategic Analysis Capability to the NATO and Chairman of the Military Committee, about the latest NATO summit results, prospects of Russia-NATO copperation and the bloc’s reaction to Brexit.
Could you comment on NATO Summit outcome?
Well, overall I think the allies are very happy ...
... to reckless action.
In this context of cultural alienation, is it still possible to talk to Russia, and what would that take?
DMITRY ASTAKHOV / SPUTNIK /
Vostock Photos
Igor Ivanov:
A Diagnosis from Munich
This is the question that now plagues both NATO and the EU. While in the NATO context the dangers of miscommunication are sometimes recognised, EU discussions are all too often driven by bureaucratic political logic. A desire to have “a positive conversation” alongside (or instead ...
... been before the Ukraine crisis developed, as many respected European politicians warned that Russia would not accept EU neighborly initiatives such as the European Neighborhood Policy and Eastern Partnership, viewing them as precursors of EU and then NATO accession for Georgia, Moldova and Azerbaijan. These projects indeed sparked concerns in Moscow and unfortunately some of these concerns materialized.
The eruption of the Ukraine crisis shone a spotlight on the inefficiency of the very international ...
