Demographics shifts ahead

Posted by Matt in July 30th, 2010 | no comment

Published in Demographics, Adult, Afghanistan, Africa, Ahead, babies, Demographics, Developing World, Eastern Europe, Elderly Person, Fertility Rate, Germany, Immigration, Italy, Japan, Low Birth Rates, Niger, Population Decline, Populations, Russia, South-Korea

Europe is likely to be the first region in history to suffer long-term population decline because of low birth rates, mostly due to smaller families in Eastern Europe and Russia, the report said. Japan and South Korea also are producing fewer babies. Japan has a fertility rate of 1.4 children per woman and a worker-to-elderly [...]

Russia’s Only Way to Stay Relevant: Play the Pest – Newsweek.com

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

Published in Europe, Missiles, Russia, Bearing, Boris Yeltsin, Eastern Europe, Fall Of The Soviet Union, Gambit, Good Faith, Intolerable Breach, Iran Plans, kremlin, Missile-Defense, moscow, Newsweek, Nuclear Arms Reductions, Nyet, Operatives, Relevance, Sanctions On Iran, Satellite Nations, Sovereignty, Vocabulary

Is there any word in the Kremlin’s vocabulary besides nyet? It seems to be the only phrase heard by U.S. officials negotiating with Russia on sanctions on Iran, plans for missile defense in Eastern Europe, and nuclear-arms reductions—even when the American plan has little or no bearing on Russian interests. Once upon a time, the [...]

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 Europe, 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, Europe, Missiles, 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 Europe, Missiles, 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 Asia, Brazil, Europe, Financial Crisis, 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 Europe, Oil, Russia, War, 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 Europe, 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 Europe, 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 [...]