A “new world order” cannot be based on “an Anglo-Saxon pattern that some have tried to establish for the rest of the world,” Lavrov said. It would involve doing away with “the Cold war architecture for the security of Europe.”
He proposed a European Security Conference to bring together the United States, Russia, the European Union [...]

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The old continent could once offer itself as the model for a new world. No longer: the EU’s universalism is crashing against rising global states (China, India) and forces (religion, nationalism). The response to Ireland’s referendum is a foretaste of serious political crisis to come, says Ivan Krastev.
There is something unreal and profoundly disturbing about [...]

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A new international relations orthodoxy is coalescing, to the effect that America is slouching towards mediocrity. In newspaper columns articles and on TV talk shows you will hear journalists charting the “relentless relative decline” of the United States. The military is overstretched; the economy is exposed; the political system is broken; the punters are suffering [...]

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A mere two years ago, the British author and thinker Mark Leonard published a book titled “Why Europe Will Run the 21st Century.” Today, one wonders to what degree Europe will even participate in the 21st century. It’s not just the deadly blow struck by Ireland’s rejection Thursday of the Lisbon Treaty reorganizing the European [...]

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President Sarkozy seeks a rapprochement with NATO while strengthening the European Union’s defense dimension. France’s allies, including the United States and Germany, have welcomed this. But Sarkozy faces strong domestic resistance to changing France’s relationship to NATO. By Leo Michel more…

The Third World War: Why NATO Troops Can’t Deliver Peace in Afghanistan
Trans-Atlantic Identity Crisis: NATO [...]

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Western pressure has failed to stop Iran’s nuclear program from advancing, its president said on Wednesday, a day after the United States and the European Union warned of more sanctions against the Islamic Republic.
“With God’s help today (the Iranian nation) have gained victory and the enemies cannot do a damned thing,” Ahmadinejad said in a [...]

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With energy demand spiking, China looks for answers in Africa. But Western investment and influence still dominate the continent’s oil market.
As global demand for energy continues to rise, major players like the United States, European Union (EU), and Japan are facing a new competitor in the race to secure long-term energy supplies: China. As its [...]

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The European Union may find dealing with the Middle Kingdom trickier than it expects
IN THIS Olympic summer, expect to hear a lot about the century of China’s rise and America’s decline. That sounds like good news for the European Union, and all who dream of a “multipolar” order in which European wealth counts as much [...]

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The creation of a South American Security Council, which would include oil-rich Venezuela, Chile and Argentina, was proposed by Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva at a meeting of 11 Latin American countries held in Brazil’s capital, Brasilia, in May.
The security council would be part of an even larger effort led by Brazil to [...]

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AS WESTERN countries scramble to deal with Russia’s increasingly energetic espionage efforts, their security services are hurriedly rehiring some of the seasoned spycatchers they let go in the past years.
But at the European Union attitudes are still worryingly dozy. Russian spying in Brussels and Strasbourg, say those who try to keep an eye it, is [...]

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JUDGING from the news lately, Russia is well on its way to restoring that old Evil Empire image. Military parades have returned to Red Square. Key businesses are choked by corruption or are under state control. Journalists who probe too deeply turn up dead. And critics of the Kremlin are jailed, pushed out of elections [...]

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Dmitry Medvedev may be the new president, but his predecessor is still the one with power.
We can expect a few proclamations and perhaps even token policy changes. Unfortunately, the early signs show that Medvedev’s statement about developing civil freedoms and ending “legal nihilism” were only a show for the West. Such displays are needed to [...]

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The European Union cannot agree over how to deal with Russia. That suits the Kremlin just fine
SEEN from outside, one might imagine that the European Union (population 495m, GDP of $16.8 trillion) was a rather intimidating neighbour for Russia (population 142m, GDP of $1.3 trillion). Yet the reality is the other way round. In recent [...]

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NATO warned Russia Wednesday to stop undermining Georgia’s territorial integrity, after Moscow announced it would send more peacekeepers to two rebel Georgian regions.
Russia’s move, to counter what it said was the massing of Georgian troops near Abkhazia and South Ossetia, raised concern in the United States while the European Union has said that any [...]

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At current trends the average age of people in the European Union will be 49 years by 2050. Combining this with a low birth-rate could mean serious long term implications. It could lead to lower tax receipts as fewer people are of working age and increasing health costs for an aging population. Encouraging immigration and [...]

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