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Ahto Lobjakas

Also by Ahto Lobjakas

January 26, 2009
EU Strives For Goodwill Move

EU members struggled in the run-up to a foreign ministers' meeting to reach a common position on the fate of Guantanamo and its 245 prisoners. It's an issue that, more than most, symbolizes hopes associated with the new U.S. president.
January 21, 2009
Citing Russian 'Aggression,' EU Looks East

A senior EU official says Russia's "aggressive" foreign policy is forcing the European Union to speed up plans to bring its ex-Soviet neighbors closer to Brussels. A European Commission official also broke new ground by drawing a link for the first time between the bloc's European Neighborhood Policy and eventual EU membership.
January 19, 2009
Who 'Owns' Afghanistan?

Western officials increasingly are defining long-term goals exclusively in terms of the central government's ability to exert control over territory rather the presence of a functioning democracy, the rule of law, or prosperity and stability.
January 18, 2009
Afghan Opium War Spawns Mistrust

Even as new UN figures show the opium trade shrinking in Afghanistan, the issue remains a source of mistrust and friction between NATO-led forces and the Kabul authorities. Afghan officials complain that they lack the resources to tackle the problem, while international officials says drug money is part of a deadly "nexus" between the insurgents and the narcotics trade.
January 17, 2009
Will Russia Lose Its Game Of Gas Roulette?

Having now denied many European countries gas for 10 days, Russia may have brutally exposed the vulnerability of the European Union. But it has also shot itself in the foot and forced the EU to get serious about cutting its exposure to Russian provisions. In the end, Moscow's only long-term reward may be the hope it has done irreparable damage to Ukraine's pro-Western ambitions.
January 16, 2009
Wardak: Where Nothing Is What It Seems

Somewhere along a 35-kilometer stretch of highway snaking southwest from Kabul, the relative safety of the Afghan capital gives way to utter peril. It's not quite clear who the "enemy" is, but the effect on local leaders and reconstruction efforts is pretty transparent.
January 15, 2009
New Installation Puts Czech EU Presidency In Bind

The Czech Republic, just 15 days into its EU presidency, is courting controversy with a massive art installation in the form of a provocative map of Europe. The creators of the map say it is an irreverent display of familiar stereotypes -- which must be recognized before they can be overcome. But some countries are having trouble seeing the joke.
January 13, 2009
Back To Square One In Russian Gas Dispute

The European Union experienced a disturbing sense of deja vu when it became clear that no gas was arriving from Russia, despite promises made by Moscow and Kyiv after days of arduous EU mediation. Officials in Brussels insisted all conditions were in place for gas shipments to resume, but that "little or no" gas was flowing into Europe.
January 09, 2009
EU Announces Breakthrough In Russia-Ukraine Gas Crisis

The European Commission says its President Jose Manuel Barroso and Russia's Prime Minister Vladimir Putin agreed terms to end the gas crisis in Europe in the course of a phone call.
January 07, 2009
EU Ready To Send Observers To Defuse Gas Dispute

In a bid to bypass attempts by Russia and Ukraine to blame each other for the worsening gas shortages in Europe, the EU has offered to send in its own observers to supervise the pipeline system responsible for European deliveries. Brussels has refused to take sides in the dispute, saying it is up to Moscow and Kyiv to resolve it bilaterally. At the same time, a protracted cold spell is aggravating the effects of gas-delivery shortages in many EU member states.
January 06, 2009
Alarmed, EU Threatens Gas Summit

Shocked by dramatic cuts in Russian gas supplies to Bulgaria and other Eastern European nations, the EU has gone overnight from low-key diplomacy to angry ultimatums. The bloc's Czech presidency has threatened to call the Russian and Ukrainian presidents to an emergency summit to resolve the pricing dispute behind the shortages.
January 05, 2009
EU Treads Softly Around Gas Dispute

The European Union is expressing concern over the continuing gas dispute between Russia and Ukraine, which has led to supply disruptions in a number of eastern EU states. But the bloc, for now, has stayed out of the fray, focusing instead on low-key mediation efforts.
December 29, 2008
Concern Over Russian 'Test' As Czechs Take Over EU Presidency

When the Czech Republic takes over the rotating EU Presidency on January 1, it will have a tough act to follow after France, which is widely regarded to have had an impressive stint at the bloc's helm in the face of numerous global crises. Diplomats in Brussels say that more than anything else, Prague is likely to find itself tested by a resurgent Russia.
December 12, 2008
EU Affirms Climate Goals, Agrees Recovery Measures

Overcoming significant differences, EU leaders have managed to flesh out the bloc's commitment to fight climate change and agreed on the basics of an economic recovery package. There is also fresh hope its the EU's constitutional treaty may come into force next year after Ireland -- which rejected it last year -- agreed to restage a referendum.
December 11, 2008
EU Summit To Apportion Climate-Change Pain

EU leaders gathering in Brussels for a two-day summit must decide how to divide up among themselves the economic burden of cutting down on greenhouse-gas emissions. They are also expected to agree on a 200 billion-euro spending package to cushion the blow from the global economic crisis.
December 09, 2008
EU Cements Partnership In South Caucasus

Top EU foreign-policy officials and foreign ministers of Armenia, Azerbaijan, and Georgia focused at a working lunch mainly on the details of the EU's new 'Eastern Partnership' initiative, which offers closer ties but falls short of membership. The EU also spurned a Georgian request to send peacekeepers into areas under Russian occupation since the war in August.
November 22, 2008
Sarkozy Rising

Even his detractors must that admit Nicolas Sarkozy is unique in the uncompromising manner in which he has directed France's EU presidency from the front. But the implications of Sarkozy's leadership go far beyond matters of personal style -- his has also been by far the most divisive EU presidency in recent history.
November 21, 2008
Russia OKs German Transit For Afghan Mission

Germany has became the first NATO nation to win Russian permission to use the country's railways to transit military goods bound for Afghanistan. The NATO-Russia relationship has been badly disrupted in the aftermath of the conflict in Georgia, but both sides say the stability of Afghanistan remains a shared concern. Nonetheless, NATO's difficulties in forging a single transit corridor for allies suggest Moscow prefers to deal with individual allies than with the alliance as a whole.
November 14, 2008
EU-Russia Summit Hints At Geopolitical Rapprochement

The leaders of the European Union and Russia have put on a show of unity after their summit in Nice. Their disagreement over Georgia, which poisoned mutual relations for months, became a mere backdrop to an emerging shared dedication to forging a new pan-European "security architecture."
November 14, 2008
Business, As Usual, To Be Focus Of EU-Russia Summit

The EU-Russia summit taking place in Nice, France, will mark a new chapter in a relationship strained by Russia's recent military action in Georgia. The EU last week effectively climbed down from the tough stance it initially took after the conflict, allowing full dialogue with Russia to resume without any significant concessions by Moscow. But EU officials in Brussels say trust in the bloc's biggest neighbor has been "undermined."

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