VITALY BALA

Ukraine's issue in the context of Russia-EU relations is not of current importance. As regards the foreign-policy issues, the recognition of Abkhazia and South Ossetia’s independence is of the greatest significance to Moscow now.

MARIA YULIKOVA

US president Barack Obama will travel to Moscow in July this year for his second negotiations round with Russian president Dmitry Medvedev. The first meeting between the two leaders in London in April went well.

VALERY KARBALEVICH

Europe concluded that its previous tactics (democratization demand, sanctions toward Belarus’ authorities, support for the opposition) were inefficient. Poland and Lithuania urged the EU to change its policy towards Minsk. Germany is also interested in development of economic relations with Belarus.

SERGEY NIKOLYUK

Minsk’s probable participation in the EU’s foreign-policy program “Eastern Partnership” is evidence of serious changes in Belarus. Rapprochement between Brussels and Minsk and, in general, of Belarus and the West is connected with the liberalization processes in Belarus, first and foremost, in the economic sphere.

VIKTOR KREMENIUK

The rivalry between Moscow and Washington regarding the post-Soviet space will be still urgent under President Obama, but it won’t be crucial as it was under the previous Administration. A certain compromise is possible to achieve.

ALEKSANDR RAHR

Russia-Ukraine gas conflict has led to reinforcement of the EU's activities in the post-Soviet area.

ZAAL ANJAPARIDZE

It is difficult to forecast how diligently the Administration of President Barack Obama will follow the above-mentioned articles of the Charter. But there is a high probability (taking into consideration the increased tension in the Russia-U.S. relations) that Russia would consider the Charter as a challenge to its interests in South Caucasus.

VASILE TARLEV

I believe that the initiative to sign the new European Security Treaty that is to unite all the states of the Euro-Atlantic world fully meets Moldova’s foreign-policy doctrine. Moreover, Moldova is interested in creating such a mechanism more than other European countries.

YEVHEN KOPATKO, GRIGORY PEREPELITSA, ANDREY BLINOV

"I believe that Russia has done everything in its power to block Ukraine’s admission to NATO. Moscow regards Ukraine's non-accession to the NATO membership Action Plan as its victory", Grigory Perepelitsa.

ALEXANDER RONDELI

The decision of the NATO Foreign Ministers meeting not to allow Georgia to join NATO Membership Action Plan did not surprise Tbilisi or anybody else. Georgia has received an annual plan for 2009, but its substance is not known. 

SVYATOSLAV POLKHOV

Russia’s attempt to make the parties sign the “Kozak memorandum” again was strongly opposed by the West. Asif Chaudhry, the U.S. ambassador to Moldova, stated on 24 November that it made no sense to return to that document.

ALEKSANDR RAHR

On 2-3 December 2008, Brussels will host the meeting of the Foreign Ministers of NATO member states. On the agenda of the meeting there will be the issue of granting  the NATO Membership Action Plan to Georgia and Ukraine.

SERGEI ROGOV

Barack Obama is an outstanding policy-maker. He was considered to be a classical marginal politician, who had nothing to do with the U.S. political establishment and who was not taken seriously. But he felt that the U.S. voters expected changes.

DMITRY TRENIN, ALEXEI ARBATOV

According to Russia’s President Dmitry Medvedev, the armed conflict between Georgia and Russia has changed the world. This may be an exaggeration, but in fact the war has changed the Russian foreign policy, it deeply influences Russia’s economy and Moscow's relations with the West and the New Independent States.

ROGER N MCDERMOTT

Current re-engagement between the U.S., NATO and Uzbekistan may be characterised as officially cautious and low key.

VLADIMIR CHIZHOV

The outcome of the extraordinary EU summit held on September 1 in Brussels was more or less predictable, both in terms of the views expressed by the EU member states and in terms of the EU Presidency conclusion.

GEORGETA POURCHOT

The current Russian military operation in Georgia marks the beginning of the end for Georgian sovereignty. The peace deal brokered by France contains the seeds of further chipping away at Georgian territory.

VITALY PORTNIKOV

The holding of “Sea Breeze” military exercises and Ukraine’s joining NATO should be regarded as two different processes. Some people want to unite them, but Kyiv has not applied for the NATO membership yet. Ukraine has not received the NATO Membership Action Plan and, apparently, will not recieve it in December.

VLADIMIR ZHARIKHIN

The main result to be drawn from the informal CIS summit is that under the new Russian President Dmitry Medvedev Russia's policy in the post-Soviet space will not change drastically.

ALEXANDER KRYLOV, ALEKSEY MALASHENKO, ANATOLY OTYRBA, SERGEI MARKEDONOV, SHALVA PICHKHADZE, ZURAB ABASHIDZE, IVLIAN KHAINDRAVA

"For the first time the President of Georgia has put forward such far-reaching proposals," Alexander Krylov.

KONSTANTIN ZATULIN, ALEXANDER KONOVALOV, TATYANA PARKHALINA, OLES DONIY, LEONID KOZHARA, IVAN ZAETS, ANDREW KUCHINS

"Why do the Central and Eastern European countries seek to join NATO? For many of them it is a way to join the EU. Many countries took this as institutionalization of independence from Moscow. For many countries it was a way to return to Europe," Tatyana Parkhalina.

STEPHEN BLANK

In advance of NATO’s Bucharest summit Russia has decided to employ the traditional Soviet tactics of intimidation and blackmail to block NATO’s enlargement.

GEORGETA POURCHOT

The Bucharest NATO summit offers a significant possibility that NATO’s and Russia’s positions on a variety of issues will further diverge, marking the beginning of the end of this uneven relationship.

DMITRY VYDRIN, YEVHEN KOPATKO

"The purpose of the visit is to enlist the Ukrainian diaspora’s support in the U.S. presidential election. The diaspora is quite numerous and has always backed the Republicans. But recently the Republicans have become less popular with the American Ukrainians," Dmitry Vydrin.

DAVID BERDZENISHVILI

The main purpose of the Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili's visit to the USA is to enlist the support for Georgia’s joining NATO Action Plan that will be on the agenda of the April NATO summit in Bucharest.

GEORGETA POURCHOT

Eurasian Home website with a kind permission of the Greenwood Publishing Group Inc., publishes the first chapter "Sovereignity from Within" of the book "Eurasia Rising: Democracy and Independence in the Post-Soviet Space" by the Eurasian Home website contributor Georgeta Pourchot.

VYACHESLAV IGRUNOV

One of the major issues directly concerning the relations between Russia and NATO is the Alliance’s enlargement and accession of new members, the former Soviet republics (Ukraine and Georgia) to the Alliance.

MERAB PACHULIA

Ambitions of the Georgian authorities to develop cooperation with NATO are largely supported by the population. There is a consensus on the benefits that the country could receive after acquiring membership of the Alliance, though contradictions remain.

ZAAL ANJAPARIDZE

Members of the “National Forum” and some other opposition parties fear that Georgia may join NATO without Abkhazia and South Ossetia, thus losing those territories for good.

Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko has always had a special relationship with the European Union, which over the years of his administration has developed into something like his country’s parental advisor. During the Thirteenth EU-Ukraine summit recently held in Kyiv, this parent-child relationship shone through like never before, with EU officials rebuking the embattled Ukrainian leader for failing to implement promises of reform.

There is an eerie feeling in Eastern Europe. The color revolutions have faded like a well worn tie-dyed t-shirt that once looked bright but always lacked a clear design. The revolutionary dream of former Soviet satellite states to join Western Europe was always vague if for no other reason than Western Europe’s own lack of identity and purpose. Now, the dreamers are awakening to a new, uncertain and ominously familiar day.

Ukrainians are a hospitable nation, and that cannot be denied. To be sure, the people here don’t smile as a matter of civility, and service-industry workers are sometimes blunt to the point of rudeness. But anyone who has been invited to a Ukrainian home can attest to the warmth and attention with which their hosts invariably received them.

For centuries, Ukraine's Cossacks were able to play off the superpowers of their time. Some would argue that the survival of the Ukrainian nation depended on a 'flexible' foreign policy. Unfortunately, the result of this policy was a culture of persistent internal division that eventually led to Russian domination.

A report recently released by U.S. intelligence agencies predicts that American influence on the global stage will diminish over the next 15 years, as the rise of powers such as China, India and other third-world giants creates a more multi-polar planet. So where does Ukraine fit into this scenario?

The buzz over the election of America's first black president, Barack Obama, continues unabated. Fresh faced, eloquent and from a modest background, his 'story' sells well just about everywhere. But being liked so much for doing so little is a little like being king for a day, secretly hoping that the reality of tomorrow never has to come.

The 2008 U.S. presidential-election campaign has been watched with much anticipation, both at home and abroad. There’s a woman vice president on the Republican ticket, and an African-American being fielded by the Democrats for the nation’s top job. Whichever party wins, history will be made.

In Transcarpathia, near the Ukrainian village of Delovoe, there are three geodetic signs indicating the geographic center of the European subcontinent. The first sign was put up in 1887 under Emperor Franz Joseph I of Austria. The second one was set up by the members of the Soviet Academy of Sciences. The third one was put up in the first years of Ukraine’s independence after the Soviet Union had collapsed.

Since 1991, Ukraine has sat on the fence like a country coquette with her back to her jealous ex-husband Russia, from which the country’s ‘elite’ have nevertheless continued to get rich on cheap gas, while batting her eyes at the glamorous West, which offers lots of nice gifts but never a firm proposal of marriage.

The typical criticism of the UK’s Foreign Office is the one eloquently expressed in John Le Carre’s The Constant Gardener - that they are pitiless practitioners of real-politik who care more about stability than idealism, and who only really work to protect the interests of British corporations, rather than British values. But on Russia, the Foreign Office seems to have erred on the other side.

If there is one thing that has been hard to change in independent Ukraine, it's the country's image. Maybe that's why Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko, who has seen his own near demigod image from the 2004 Orange Revolution reduced to that of a mere man desperate to be re-elected, is so keen on successfully hosting the European football championship in 2012.

If NATO can bring Ukrainians rule of law and a decent living standard, it would already have justified its expansion. But judging by the way other Western reforms have been perverted in Ukraine, one couldn’t be blamed for having serious doubts. Probably with more candidness, Mr. Yushchenko pointed out that Ukraine can join any international organization that it likes.

Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko and his one-time ally Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko have increasingly traded blows over the country’s budget, privatization, energy policy and, most recently, the Kyiv mayoral elections; however, when it comes to foreign policy, the two politicians who rose to power during Ukraine’s 2004 Orange Revolution show unusual and possibly even unintended solidarity.

NATO leaders arrived for their summit in Bucharest last week in an atmosphere of uncertainty bordering on mistrust. Outgoing US president George Bush continued to push for the inclusion of Ukraine and Georgia into the alliance, while European heavyweights Germany and France voiced the opposition of older member states to further eastern expansion.

The issue of whether Ukraine should join NATO has returned to the public agenda, sparking off heated debates between supporters and opponents of the country’s bid. In the past, such polemics have usually meant proponents of Euro-Atlantic unity coming under attack by pro-Russian factions in the run up to an important election or a NATO-sponsored military exercise on home soil.

When EU leaders visited Kyiv on September 14 for the annual Ukraine-EU Summit, they didn't say a lot that was new. Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko, their host, also stuck to his usual, pro-Western rhetoric. Nevertheless, taking place just two weeks before Ukraine's fateful, early parliamentary elections, the summit served as a nice sounding board.

The city of Kyiv is planning to expand its Metropolitan, or system of underground and surface trains, before the year 2012, when Ukraine will host the European football championship together with Poland. What a relief for pedestrians and motorists alike! The estimated cost has been set at 3 billion dollars.

To be or not to be a member of NATO – that is the question for Ukrainians, who still aren’t in a position to decide the issue. Public opinion polls conducted in the country continue to show that most Ukrainians are against joining the Western military alliance. But advocates of NATO membership  insist that Ukrainians have not been given an accurate picture of what the alliance is about.

If the EU is having trouble finding a common language with the Kremlin, what does this mean for Ukraine, which continues to awkwardly straddle the east-west divide in search of stability? Friday’s Russia-EU summit in Samara was supposed to address touchy issues like human rights and energy supplies. But judging by the press conference held thereafter, both sides agreed not to agree.

I was at the first US-Ukrainian conference in Boston last week. The first speaker, a former US National Security Council wonk named John Tedstrom, was particularly excited about Ukraine’s move to join NATO, which at the moment looks more realizable than its other ambition to join the EU. NATO accession, said Tedstrom, would help anchor Ukraine in a trans-Atlantic-focused foreign policy.

Army-General Makhmut Gareev, the President of the Russian Academy of Military Sciences, recently addressed what he called the “eastern vector” of Russian national security in an interview with Krasnaya Zvezda.

The Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) hopes to sign an agreement within 18 months with the United Nations that will allow the CSTO to act beyond its borders in future joint peacekeeping and counterterrorist operations.

On September 13 experts from the Center for Military Analytical Research in Baku launched an unprecedented attack on the Azeri defense ministry, arguing that the country had stepped back from its cooperation with the United States and NATO.

Georgia's withdrawal from the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) last Tuesday highlights the uncertainty of the post-Soviet alliance's future.

The first face-to-face talks between Barack Obama and Dmitry Medvedev were expected to shed light on what the notion of the “reset button” for US-Russian relationships promulgated by US Vice-President Joe Biden was really about.

The US-Georgia Charter is not a Mutual Defence Pact. But It Draws Red Line for Russia.

Deepening Georgia’s integration into Euro-Atlantic institutions is a mutual priority, and we plan to undertake a program of enhanced security cooperation intended to increase Georgian capabilities and to strengthen Georgia’s candidacy for NATO membership.

I fear that in the U.S., too few understand the political and psychological problems of the Russians after the collapse of the USSR, the phantom pains of millions, and the problems of a massive country whose capital is nearly as close to Washington as to Vladivostok.

Barack Obama's election may have prompted celebrations from Chicago to Nairobi. But in Tbilisi, it was disappointment that carried the day, with many Georgians ruefully contemplating what John McCain's defeat would mean for them.

On August 12, Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili announced his country's withdrawal from the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS). However, recent Gallup Polls reveal widespread support for some type of formal relationship among almost all CIS populations, even Georgians.

The Bucharest summit was anything but the failure portrayed by some of the media. There was concrete progress in a number of crucial areas, including Afghanistan, NATO enlargement, and missile defense.

Officials from Georgia, Ukraine, Azerbaijan, and Moldova are in the Georgian city of Batumi for the first day of the two-day GUAM summit.

Interview with Volodymyr Ohryzko, Minister of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine.

President Islam Karimov attended the NATO summit in Bucharest on April 2-4, and offered pact members the use of Uzbek territory as an overland route for supplying non-military material to Afghanistan.

"NATO has always taken Russia into account when considering the modalities of enlargement, the timing of it and the likely consequences of it. But it has never granted Russia a veto over this process or a role to play in it," James Sherr. 

Days before the NATO summit in Bucharest began, Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili rolled out a new peace initiative for breakaway Abkhazia.

Setting aside growing tension on a number of issues, Putin and Bush appeared eager to end their presidential relationship on a high note.

Speaking today at NATO's summit in Bucharest, Secretary-General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer said the alliance wants to welcome Ukraine and Georgia as members someday.

At the upcoming NATO summit in Bucharest from April 2 - 4, 2008 the quest for a new comprehensive NATO "Grand Strategty" will be one of the most sensitive issues.

There is an interesting and very plausible version: it is Viktor Baloha who put parliament out of operation. Allegedly, it was his idea to send the notorious letter to the NATO Secretary General.

Georgian voters will have to answer a question if Georgia should become a member of NATO at the January 5th plebiscite, which will be held alongside the presidential poll.

Interview with Jaroslaw Walesa, the member of parliament of Poland.

Kyiv actually dreamed of being invited to join the NATO Membership Action Plan (MAP) at the NATO foreign ministers’ meeting in Sofia, the Bulgarian capital. Yet it was not the alliance’s fault that it did not happen once again, despite numerous favorable conditions.

Ukrainian ministers continue to publicly remain optimistic about their country’s chances of NATO membership. Different dates are given for the country’s entry, from 2008-2010.

Eurasian Home with a kind permission of the Pontis Foundation publishes the Belarus Brief "The End of ENP" on the post-election situation in Belarus against the background of Brussels’ departing from its previous “soft” policy approach towards Belarus, encapsulated in the European Neighborhood Policy (ENP).

Eurasian Home with a kind permission of the International Institute for Middle-East and Balkan Studies (IFIMES) publishes the article "Europe of Borders or Europe of Opportunities?" by Dr. Romana Jordan Cizelj on the EU energy policy in relation to the states of South-Eastern Europe.

Eurasian Home with a kind permission of the Belarusian Institute for Strategic Studies (BISS) publishes synopsis of the international conference "Towards a New Vision of Belarus" which was held on September 10-12 in Kyiv, Ukraine.

Eurasian Home with a kind permission of the Pontis Foundation publishes the Belarus Brief "How the West continues to lose Belarus" on the current situation in Belarus and outlining possible scenarios for the 2007 year.

Eurasian Home with a kind permission of the Pontis Foundation publishes the survey on Belarus, entitled “Current Trends in Belarus Politics”. This survey deals with the leadership crisis within the United Democratic Forces (UDF), covers the preparation for the forthcoming local government elections in January 2007, gives insight on post-election developments of the regime and the democratic opposition after March 2006.

Eurasian Home with a kind permission of the Pontis Foundation publishes analysis entitled “State of the Union and the Union State”. In the light of the EU-Russia summit, the analysis offers a new look to the most important post-election development of Belarus.