foreign policy

President Of European Commission Ends Visit To Kazakhstan

The EU is a key trade partner of Kazakhstan, accounting for USD 53 billion of its foreign trade turnover and 47% of accumulated foreign investment. And on June 3rd, the President of the European Commission, José Manuel Barroso, completed his first official visit to the post-Soviet nation. During his two-day visit, he met with President Nursultan Nazarbayev, [...]

The Georgian ‘Dream’ of Opportunity and Competition

It is said in Tbilisi that if many share the same dream, it has the potential to become a reality. Today, Georgia stands at the doorway of that achievable ‘dream’ in that it seems clear tangible change is on the way. Such change is brought to us by Bidzina Ivanishvili and his newfound ‘Georgian Dream [...]

The Limits of the Beijing Consensus

Which country offers the most attractive model for development for a rising country – the United States or China? The answer used to be easy, but not any longer.

China’s Cautious Friendship with Russia

There’s no shortage of mutual historic distrust between the Russian and Chinese governments. Is that changing?

Toppling Dictators with a Lethal Dose of Technology and Nonviolent Action

Stephanie Rudat issues a stern mandate to Dictators everywhere: Beware –Strategic use of nonviolent action combined with technology is a lethal formula empowering global citizens seeking your demise. 18 days of tumultuous freedom fighting and a dictator is shamefully evicted. Seems straightforward, doesn’t it? It’s not. In the Huffington Post, she writes that Egyptians have been [...]

Greek Domestic and Foreign Policy Challenges and Opportunities

Balkanalysis.com Director Chris Deliso recently featured an intriguingly insightful interview on the domestic and foreign policy issues facing Greece in the 21st century from John Sitilides, a government relations and global public policy specialist with Trilogy Advisors LLC, a Washington, D.C. government affairs company. Mr. Sitilides also chairs the State Department’s professional development program for [...]

Congo and the Fight For Stability

Democratic Republic of Congo is seeking political stability, battling economic woes and stubborn rebel insurgencies as it gears up for elections due next year. The polls for the presidency and parliament, due to start in November 2011, will be the second since the official end to the 1998-2003 war, which drew in six foreign armies [...]

Indigenization Plays into China’s hands

The long-standing and ongoing boom in commodity prices has given natural resources investors much to cheer about. It’s also revived a leviathan once thought tamed: resource nationalism or “indigenization”. Following a benign period of global deregulation, liberalization and privatization – the “Washington Consensus” of the post-Cold War era – Tim Woods reports that natural resources [...]

The Line Between Indigenization and Expropriation in a ‘New’ Zimbabwe

Zimbabwean Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai stated last week that a law to increase local black ownership of foreign firms would be implemented gradually and without forced sales. Ultimately, his staff have reiterated sentiments that investment is returning and that ‘Zimbabwe is back‘. Zimbabwe’s government published regulations earlier this year forcing foreign-owned firms, including mines and [...]

Just What They Needed

It has been a difficult month for the Tories across the pond in Britain – talk of internal divisions and doubts over their economic policy make question time fun to watch again.  Now is the time for a positive PR campaign, some votes for the blue boys. The Guardian gets proper credit for reporting this one [...]