Russia s Big Mistake Foreign Policy Think Russia is...

Russia's Big Mistake - Foreign Policy     Think Russia is the big winner in Georgia? Think again: Regional expert and CIA veteran Paul A. Goble explains how Moscow has shot itself in the foot by recognizing South Ossetia and Abkhazia and why Russia's nouveau riche might be the ones who pull the Kremlin back from the brink.     Foreign Policy: There's still a lot of debate about just who started the war in Georgia. Russia, of course, claims that Georgia started it, and Georgia says it was provoked... read more

Call for Papers: Russia-EU Conference "Partnership and Cooperation beyond 2007 - Perspectives for the Urals" Ekaterinburg, Russia, May 16-18, 2007 The relations between Russia and the European Union are changing. The Russian-EU Partnership and Cooperation Agreement will expire in December 2007. Trying to avoid the automatic renewal of the PCA on an annual basis at the standard of 1994, both parties launched negotiations about a comprehensive succession agreement. The International Russia-EU...

Gazprom talk lifts Centrica stock Shares in British Gas-owner Centrica have risen by as much as 4% on speculation it could be a target for Russian gas giant Gazprom. The suggestion came after Gazprom's deputy chief executive Alexander Medvedev said the firm was close to increasing its presence in the UK. The controversial state-owned company previously expressed an interest in buying Centrica back in February 2006. However, Gazprom denied it was planning...

In the U.S., we often suffer from a delusion that all democracies should pretty much resemble ours in the overall outcomes of things. When we see a democracy that starts to go down a very different path in terms of its economics or social structure -- especially when these changes run counter to our interests and defy our conventional wisdom -- we start to wonder. Particularly in countries without strong histories of democracy, it is natural when we see movement toward radical economic restructuring...

Date: Thu, 6 Dec 2007 22:36:48 -0500 From: Flynt Leverett Note: *Flynt* L.* Leverett* has served in senior posts at the National Security Council (under george W. Bush), the State Department (counter terrorism) and the Central Intelligence Agency. He holds a PhD from Princeton (1992). His wife, the former Hillary Mann, is also a highly respected analyst and authority on international security matters. ________________________________ *Bush's real lie about Iran* *Despite recent claims otherwise...

On May 20th I attended the Center on the United States and Europe 5th Annual Conference hosted by the Brookings Institute, the largest political think tank in Washington, DC. Topics being discussed all dealt with current world events. Among them was the question “What does Russia Want Special guests included Strobe Talbot, the 12th United States Deputy Secretary General of State, principal Time correspondent on Soviet-American Relations during the 1980s, and now the President of the Brookings Institute...