RUSSIA, CLINTON AND AMERICA'S FOREIGN POLICY
BY STEPHANIE KIMBALL | January 4, 2009
 Distracted by pressing domestic issues and ongoing
wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, Russia anticipates
Obama to delegate the U.S-Russia relationship to
Clinton. “Obama will not play a big role for us. He will
be more focused on Afghanistan and Pakistan. There
is a big chance that she [Clinton] will determine
Russia policy,” commented Fyodor Lukyanov, editor of the journal Russia in Global Affairs. Read more
VENEZUELA 2009 BY GUSTAVO CORONEL | January 1, 2009
Confronted with a new electoral defeat and an
incoming financial crisis, Chavez will shed all
remaining pretenses of democratic rule and will
become openly autocratic. He could formally
suspend all constitutional rights and might send
to prison one or more members of the opposition, under charges of corruption or of conspiring against his life or his regime. He could decide to close down Globovision and, even, El Nacional daily newspaper. Read more
RECLAIMING THE RUSSIAN NORTH OF KAZAKHSTAN
BY DR. ALEC RASIZADE | December 27, 2008
 An official Russian territorial claim on the North
of Kazakhstan is just a matter of the time when
Russia feels strong enough to reclaim it, and
Nazarbaev knows that. There are several
possible scenarios, the most classical of which is predicated on the Kosovo/Ossetia pattern, when the local Russian population holds a plebiscite which affirms the creation of a Russian autonomy in the North of Kazakhstan. Read more
UNDERMINING SECULAR STATE IN BOSNIA
BY MO SACIRBEY | December 22, 2008
 There is no absolute secular state. In Germany, church
financing is intertwined with that of the state. In the
United States, the US Congress initiates sessions with a
prayer. Some American colonies that evolved into the
United States were in fact begun as a refugee for
particular religious groups centuries earlier. However, today, there is no truly secular state where also eligibility to be a candidate or serve in particular office is limited by religious identity. Read more
BOSNIA TO ENTER U.N. SECURITY COUNCIL?
BY MO SACIRBEY | December 18, 2008
Bosnia stands prepared to win election to a 2 year term as a non-permanent member of the UN Security Council. Poland, BiH's only announced competition for the election next year, has sent note to other UN member states that it is withdrawing its candidacy. Poland probably came to the conclusion that it could not beat BiH, and quietly indicated that it would withdraw in favor of and support BiH. Read more
VENEZUELA: RISE AND FALL OF AN AUTHORITARIAN PETROSTATE BY GUSTAVO CORONEL | Dec 16, 2008
 The new leader, a military man, came to power in
1998-1999 and found a country in political and
economic crisis. Increasing oil prices in 2000
started to make him look good. Based on this oil
windfall he developed a policy of increasing state
control of the industry and used energy as a political
tool. When independent, private television stations
criticized him, he closed them down. He is actively working to modify the laws of the country to allow him to rule for 15 or more years. This leader is… Vladimir Putin. Read more
FROM UNCLE SAM TO UNCLE TOM
BY DIEGO ARRIA | Dec 14, 2008 The truth is that the only obstacle in normalization of bilateral relations between Venezuela and the United States is Hugo Chavez himself. To preserve his power, Chavez necessarily needs to have some external enemy to fight against. He arbitrarily chose the United States to become his imaginary enemy. Without the United States he would be boxing his own shadow. Read more STRUGGLE FOR CRIMEA BY DR. ALEC RASIZADE | Dec 13, 2008 Sevastopol has been home to Russia’s Black Sea Fleet for 225 years. Since the annexation of Crimea in 1783, Sevastopol grew as the headquarters of the Russian Imperial Navy on the Black Sea vis-à-vis the Ottoman Empire. The presence of Russian Navy reinforces the local Russian population’s feeling that Crimea is part of Russia. Thousands of Russian sailors and soldiers stroll around the city, and huge Russian flags fly above the naval headquarters and other buildings. Read more KOSOVO AND THE INTERNATIONAL COURT OF JUSTICE BY BINOY KAMPMARK | December 10, 2008  Never say never is an assertion of international
law. One state’s legal claim is another’s
contention for illegality, and this has proven to
be little different in the context of Kosovo’s
unilateral declaration of independence which
took place on February 17 this year. Russia has made ample and conspicuous use of the precedent, backing
the autonomous regions of Abkhazia and South Ossetia, most notably after the security measures taken by Georgia. Read more RUSSIAN REVANCHISM AFTER THE GEORGIAN BLITZKRIEG BY DR. ALEC RASIZADE | December 5, 2008  Having withdrawn from the Armed Forces in Europe Treaty in 2007, Russia is litarizing the Caucasus and its European frontiers, disregarding Western efforts to bring it back to the treaty regime. Russia is building airbases along the border with Ukraine, modernizing its nuclear submarine fleet, and placing long-range missiles in the Caucasus, Belarus and Kaliningrad on the Baltic Sea. Ramifications of this Russian revanchism caught many in the West by surprise. Read more LITTLE SARKOZY THAT COULDN'T BY SEBASTIAN AULICH | Dec 3, 2008 Speaking on May 28th in Polish Sejm, Nicolas Sarkozy said that Poland has been the only country in Europe against which France never waged a war. Ironically, only a few months later, Sarkozy found himself in a fierce conflict not only with Poland’s top political establishment, but also became a target of humiliating criticism from many respected Central European intellectuals and leaders like Vaclav Havel. Read more |
Reporters Without Borders condemend "New Year's Day tear-gas grenade attack on the Caracas headquarters of privately-owned TV news station Globovisión. It has been claimed by La Piedrita, a radical group based in 
The EuropeanCourier.org speaks with Mr. Diego Arria, 
Here is an interview with Mr. Andrzej Maciejewski, a policy 