Europe in the World - The New Federalist

Towards the Union of 27: the sooner, the better

Whether ready or not, the European Union should take Bulgaria and Romania onboard in January 2007 as planned - for its own benefit. Apart from talks on whether transitional measures restricting the access of workers to labour markets should be imposed on Romania and Bulgaria no other major (...)

Wednesday 18 October 2006

Romania - the Challenges for EU’s New (Eastern) Frontier

The report of the European Commission released on September 26th signals not only that the beginning of 2007 will find the EU family strengthened by two new states - Romania and Bulgaria - it also establishes a new Eastern frontier for the EU. In the light of the Dublin Convention, asylum (...)

Friday 6 October 2006

Holocaust cartoons: A weapon of retaliation?

The Statue of Liberty is holding a book on the Holocaust in one hand and gives a Nazi salute with the other. A man with Jewish side locks is depicted as a vampire drinking from a container marked “Palestinian blood.” An Arab figure is impaled to the ground by the absurdly long nose of a man in (...)

Wednesday 6 September 2006

Regime critique classified as extremism in Russia

Quite unnoticed President Vladimir Putin has once again strengthened his grip of power in Russia, exemplifying how democracy and the respect of human rights in Russia are losing ground. Introducing a law that classifies any action, which poses danger to the society as extremism, Putin has (...)

Sunday 13 August 2006

The language of dissuasion

Another crisis in the Middle East. As I am writing, it is still a crisis, but if we stick to the SIPRI definition of a war, in two weeks time the death toll will have upgraded the present events to this fairer term. At the present moment, nobody can believe the military offensive had not (...)

Monday 7 August 2006

Hezbollah? Yes, they are a danger

At 9:05 AM local time, two Israeli armoured cars on a routine patrol along the Israel-Lebanon border were attacked by Hezbollah militants. Two Israeli soldiers were abducted, three were killed. Israel answered with the Operation called “Just Reward” (later was the name changed into “Operation (...)

Monday 7 August 2006

Getting it right in the Middle East

Heads have once again shaken massively as images of the horrific events in the Middle East have been satellite transmitted to an audience worldwide. Yet another disgraceful notch is added to the battle stick as Hezbollah rockets are fired upon northern Israeli cities and in return the Israeli (...)

Sunday 30 July 2006

How can Europe Meet its Responsibilities in the World?

That transnational problems need transnational solutions, with a transnational legitimacy, remains a thesis for the calculating theorist - or even the idealist! After many hopes, the idea of global justice is becoming an empty notion. As a result of this, an increasing number of people are (...)

Saturday 29 July 2006

A hope for democracy in Belarus

Peace, democracy, liberty and equal rights are objectives we generally all aim for. The recent crisis in the world seems to imply that these values are being forgotten all to fast and have become almost unachievable; the war still continues in Iraq, nobody knows when the Middle East crisis (...)

Sunday 16 July 2006

Belarus and the Future

Last week, the leaders of the Belarusian opposition were in Stockholm to take part in a seminar and to meet Swedish politicians, including the Prime Minister Göran Persson. The seminar was for journalists and people interested in the situation in Belarus. I had the chance to speak to (...)

Sunday 16 July 2006

Analysis of the situation in Belarus

The situation in Belarus in light of the upcoming elections keeps changing rapidly, but even today we can still analyze a number of factors which make this campaign different from the previous ones. The economy is developing rather fast: in 2004 there was about 10% GDP growth, in 2005 about (...)

Saturday 15 July 2006

Kosovo’s path to Europe

Faced with the challenge of status uncertainty and confronted with a dual crisis of economic decline and political instability, Kosovo’s Provisional Institutions, although recognizing the values of the Criteria of Copenhagen, do not have the sufficient capacities for fostering the processes. (...)

Wednesday 28 June 2006