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Ahto Lobjakas

Also by Ahto Lobjakas

February 07, 2008
Serbian-EU Relations Near Collapse Over Kosovo

BRUSSELS -- Serbia's relations with the EU are teetering on the brink of collapse after Belgrade spurned an EU offer to cement ties.
January 11, 2008
Slovenia Jittery As Balkans Head Agenda

You can take Slovenia out of the Balkans, but you can't take the Balkans out of Slovenia. With the EU's only Balkan member now holding the union's six-month presidency and with Kosovo independence looming, Ljubljana has its work cut out.
January 07, 2008
EU Foresees 'Less Than Total' Independence For Kosovo

LJUBLJANA -- The European Union is trying to steer Kosovo away from full independence.
January 02, 2008
Balkan Focus For Slovenia's EU Presidency

A tiny former Yugoslav republic, Slovenia, has become the first postcommunist European Union member state to assume the responsibility of the EU's rotating six-month presidency.
December 05, 2007
Georgian Prime Minister Blames Social Policy For Turmoil

BRUSSELS, December 5, 2007 (RFE/RL) -- Georgia's new caretaker prime minister, Lado Gurgenidze, has emphasized social tensions as a major factor in the mass antipresidential demonstrations that erupted across the country in the past three months and led to a state of emergency.
November 23, 2007
EU Officials Upbeat On Prospects For Caspian Gas Link

BRUSSELS, November 23, 2007 (RFE/RL) -- The EU has reaffirmed its resolve to seek independent access to gas reserves in the Caspian Sea region, bypassing Russia.
November 20, 2007
A Watershed In EU Human Rights Policy?

Central Asia has become a testing ground for a more hard-nosed EU foreign policy, which -- if successful -- could be here to stay for the long term, says our Brussels correpondent.
November 16, 2007
UN Says Afghanistan Under Threat From Drugs, Insurgency

Opium poppy cultivation has risen sharply (OSCE) BRUSSELS, November 16, 2007 (RFE/RL) -- The UN Office on Drugs and Crime says the dual menace of the drugs trade and the insurgency is the biggest threat to Afghanistan today.
November 12, 2007
UN Panel Seeks Answers On Torture Record

Uzbek authorities have systematically used torture against prisoners, according to Western governments and human rights organizations. But as the EU seeks to engage Tashkent, is it moving to improve its record on torture?
November 12, 2007
EU Panel Weighs Prospects Of Caucasus-Caspian Region

BRUSSELS, November 12, 2007 (RFE/RL) -- A panel of eminent political figures from the European Union, its neighboring countries, and the United States will today release a report outlining a "future vision" for the Caucasian-Caspian region and its links to the rest of the world.
November 09, 2007
U.S. Envoy Says Terrorism No Excuse For Repression

BRUSSELS, November 8, 2007 (RFE/RL) -- The U.S. State Department's ambassador-at-large for counterterrorism, Dell Dailey, maintains a precarious balance.
November 05, 2007
EU Welcomes New Turkmen Leader For Talks On Energy, Human Rights

BRUSSELS, November 5, 2007 (RFE/RL) – Turkmen President Gurbanguly Berdymukhammedov is a man with whom the European Union very much hopes to do business. His administration commands access to exceptionally large natural-gas reserves -- even if their true extent remains unclear.
October 24, 2007
U.S. Unhappy With NATO Allies' Troop Contributions In Afghanistan

BRUSSELS, October 24, 2007 (RFE/RL) -- As NATO's defense ministers begin a two-day meeting in the Netherlands today, the United States is criticizing member states' inability to dedicate more resources to the alliance-led mission in Afghanistan.
October 19, 2007
Tbilisi's Western Bid Gets Warm Words At Lisbon Summit

LISBON, October 19, 2007 (RFE/RL) -- It was the kind of message that Mikheil Saakashvili likes to hear most: leaders from European Union conservative parties, gathering in the Portuguese capital Lisbon for a two-day summit, offered the Georgian leader their backing for his country's aim to enter the 27-member bloc and NATO.
October 17, 2007
Russia Weighs In On EU's Tough New Energy Policy

October 17, 2007 (RFE/RL) -- Seeking to contain a growing dispute over energy investment, the European Union and Russia have agreed to set up a joint panel to study the impact of EU plans to forge a unified energy policy.
October 15, 2007
EU To Temporarily Lift Uzbek Visa Ban

LUXEMBOURG, October 15, 2007 (RFE/RL) -- European Union's foreign ministers, meeting in Luxembourg today, are set to lift a visa ban imposed on a number of top officials in the wake of the mass killings of protesters in Andijon in 2005.
October 15, 2007
Top NATO Official Defends Alliance's Record

One of NATO's highest-ranking officers in Afghanistan says the alliance's troops won't be able to secure the country before the Afghan National Army achieves full strength "in three to four" years' time.
October 12, 2007
EU Unable To Choose Between Carrot, Stick

A review of EU sanctions on Uzbekistan has embroiled the bloc in a bitter dispute over its aims in Central Asia and the role of sanctions more generally.
October 09, 2007
Armenian Foreign Minister Appeals For EU Pressure On Turkey

October 9, 2007 (RFE/RL) -- Armenian Foreign Minister Vartan Oskanian today called on the European Union to press Turkey to open its border with Armenia, saying Yerevan has no preconditions for normalizing relations with Ankara.
October 07, 2007
Remembering Anna Politkovskaya

One year after she was killed outside her home in Moscow, an RFE/RL slide show looks at the life of Anna Politkovskaya, the journalist known for her fierce criticism of President Vladimir Putin and her chronicling of the horrors of the Chechen war.

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