Obama is building a new missile shield in Eastern Europe: this time in Romania and Bulgaria | Big Bureaucracy

Posted by Matt in February 24th, 2010 | no comment

Published in Missiles, Balkans, Bulgaria, bureaucracy, Czech Republic President, Defense Missiles, Eastern Europe, Missile Defense Shield, Missile Shield, Poland, Time In Romania

After scraping the plans of building a missile defense shield in Poland and Czech Republic President Obama is working now on deploying defense missiles to another part of Eastern Europe: the Balkans.
Obama is building a new missile shield in Eastern Europe: this time in Romania and Bulgaria | Big Bureaucracy

China circled by chain of US anti-missile systems

Posted by Matt in February 21st, 2010 | no comment

Published in China, Afghanistan, Air Force Colonel, Crescent, Deployment, Eastern Europe, Japan, Military Affairs, Military Strategist, Missile System, Missile Systems, Neighborhood, Periphery, Political Science, Russia, Shanghai Institute, South China Sea, South India, Stretches

Air force colonel Dai Xu, a renowned military strategist, wrote in an article released this month that “China is in a crescent-shaped ring of encirclement. The ring begins in Japan, stretches through nations in the South China Sea to India, and ends in Afghanistan. Washington’s deployment of anti-missile systems around China’s periphery forms a crescent-shaped [...]

US Defense Machine Bites into Russia’s Back – Pravda.Ru

Posted by Matt in February 15th, 2010 | no comment

Published in Russia, Borders, Bulgaria, Eastern Europe, Missile Defense Plans, missiledefense, Norway, Poland, Pravda Ru, Romania, Russia, Turkey

Bulgaria, Romania and Poland make a whole complex of US bases near Russia’s borders. There are bases in Turkey and Norway – these countries are very close to Russia too. How will the USA explain all that?
US Defense Machine Bites into Russia’s Back – Pravda.Ru
My Comment:
Russia is starting to feel extremely threatened by our [...]

Europe’s Troublesome Neighbors | The Moscow Times

Posted by Matt in January 12th, 2010 | no comment

Published in Europe, Eastern Border, Eastern Europe, Faces, Moscow Times, Prime Minister, Public Health Problems, Russia, Sphere Of Influence, Troublesome Neighbors, Vladimir Putin

But the shifts that have taken place left Russia much diminished in terms of its sphere of influence and military might. To be sure, Prime Minister Vladimir Putin’s Russia is nationalistic, awkward and disposed to dangerous troublemaking. The country faces acute social and public health problems and has 1.3 billion Chinese on its eastern border. [...]

Eurasia Group: Emerging Risks 2010

Posted by Matt in January 7th, 2010 | no comment

Published in Geopolitical, beijing, China Relations, Chinese Relations, climate change, demonstrations, Deterioration, Divergence, Eastern Europe, Eurasia Group, G2, Harassment, Hu Jintao, India Pakistan, Instigation, Iranian Regime, Obama, Provocation, Red Herrings, sanctions, Turkey Red

1 – US-China relations
The G2 was a stillborn idea, because Beijing doesn’t want the responsibilities, even though the United States pushed hard for this framework at the Obama-Hu Jintao summit in November. That won’t last in 2010. In the future, we’ll look back at that summit as the peak of the relationship, and we’ll see [...]

Russia Warns EU of Winter Oil Cut-Off – BusinessWeek

Posted by Matt in December 28th, 2009 | no comment

Published in general, Businessweek, Eastern Europe, Energy Transit, New Year, Oil Supplies, Russia, Ukraine

In what has become an annual New Year’s ritual, a dispute with Ukraine over energy transit fees could prompt Russia to cut oil supplies to Eastern Europe
Russia Warns EU of Winter Oil Cut-Off – BusinessWeek

NATO’s Eastward Expansion: Did the West Break Its Promise to Moscow? – SPIEGEL ONLINE

Posted by Matt in November 27th, 2009 | no comment

Published in Russia, Break, Commitments, Dmitry Medvedev, Eastern Europe, Fall Of The Iron Curtain, German Reunification, Moscow News, NATO, Nato Expansion, Negotiations, News International, Online News, Promise, Russian Position, Russian President, Spiegel, Spiegel Online

Russian President Dmitry Medvedev has accused the West of breaking promises made after the fall of the Iron Curtain, saying that NATO’s expansion into Eastern Europe violated commitments made during the negotiations over German reunification. Newly discovered documents from Western archives support the Russian position.
NATO’s Eastward Expansion: Did the West Break Its Promise to Moscow? [...]

As Russia pressures Eastern Europe, the U.S. looks away – Macleans.ca

Posted by Matt in November 5th, 2009 | no comment

Published in Russia, Adversary, Authors, Cold-War, Democratic Transition, Eastern Europe, Macleans, NATO, Nervousness, New Generation, New Leaders, Political Leaders, Quotation Marks, Realistic Policy, Russia

The source of much of this nervousness is a familiar Cold War adversary: Russia, which, the letter’s authors claim, “is back as a revisionist power” and is throwing its weight around. Coupled with a more belligerent Russia, the former political leaders warn that a new generation of political leaders is emerging whose members didn’t experience [...]

When the [Berlin] wall came down

Posted by Matt in November 2nd, 2009 | no comment

Published in Europe, 10 Years, Berlin Wall, BerlinWall, BerlinWallCameDown, Border, Communism, Concrete Wall, Czechoslovakia, East Germans, Eastern Europe, Essay, European Cities, Hearts And Minds, Human Structure, Mexico, Pete Hamill, Rubble, Soviet Domination, Those Heady Days

Pete Hamill remembers those heady days 20 years ago when the symbol of Soviet domination was bludgeoned to rubble.
Editor’s note: This essay launches the Global Post special project “After the Fall: 20 Years Since the Berlin Wall Came Down.”
I first saw the Berlin Wall in 1971. It was then about 10 years old and was the ugliest [...]

Continental Divide – Russia Gas Pipeline Heightens East Europe’s Fears – Series – NYTimes.com

Posted by Matt in October 13th, 2009 | no comment

Published in Energy, Europe, Russia, Baltic Sea, Continental Divide, East Europe, Eastern Europe, Energy Benefits, European Leaders, European Union, Eyebrow, Former Soviet Bloc, Gas Giant Gazprom, Gas Pipeline, gazprom, Members Of The European Union, New Era, Nytimes, Personal Ties, Russia, Russian Domination, Russian Natural Gas, Western Europe

With an ambitious new pipeline planned to run along the bed of the Baltic Sea, the Russian natural gas giant Gazprom is driving a political wedge between Eastern and Western Europe.
While the Russian-German pipeline offers clear energy benefits to Western Europe, Central and Eastern European leaders fear it could lead to a new era of [...]