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Ahto Lobjakas

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August 17, 2010
Kosovo ‘Optimistic’ About EBRD

Kosovo's Finance Minister Ahmat Shala says that the International Court of Justice’s (ICJ) move last month to back Kosovo’s 2008 declaration of independence has paved the way for the country to join the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD).
August 11, 2010
Georgia's Lonely Unilateralisms

RFE/RL correspondent Ahto Lobjakas argues that Georgia appears resigned to a ritualistic contest of wills with Abkhazia and South Ossetia from which the latter may hope to gain respectability by association -- and taint Tbilisi's in the process.
August 01, 2010
The Kosovo Precedent

Kosovo, as observers were unanimous to observe in the wake of the International Court of Justice's ruling, forms the tip of the iceberg of global separatism, and the ruling may well have opened Pandora's box.
July 26, 2010
EU Offers Serbia-Kosovo Talks, Ratchets Up Iran Sanctions

EU foreign ministers, meeting in Brussels for the last time before the summer recess, offered to host direct talks between Serbia and Kosovo. The ministers also approved a new raft of sanctions against Iran and discussed a number of other key regional and global problems.
July 26, 2010
EU Foreign Ministers' Agenda Topped By Kosovo's Future

Kosovo tops the agenda at the European Union foreign ministers' meeting on July 26 following last week's ruling by the International Court of Justice (ICJ) that Pristina's 2008 declaration of independence did not violate international law.
July 24, 2010
Will New Diplomatic Service Help EU To Speak With One Voice?

Might the EU's newly formed diplomatic service answer Henry Kissinger's famous quip that he didn't know whom to call when he wanted to speak to Europe?
July 13, 2010
Possible New Lease On Life For EU Reps To Caucasus, Moldova

A broad consensus is emerging in the European Union to extend the mandates of the bloc's special envoys to various global trouble spots.
July 01, 2010
Petraeus Vows No Change In Afghan Rules Of Engagement

General David Petraeus, the new commander of U.S. and NATO troops in Afghanistan, has vowed to do "everything humanly possible" to avoid casualties among Afghan civilians.
June 29, 2010
Troubled Belgium To Focus On Economic Crisis, EU's Diplomatic Arm As It Assumes Presidency

On July 1, Belgium will take over the European Union's rotating presidency. The country is in the throes of a political crisis which could see its two predominant language communities split it in two, but caretaker Prime Minister Yves Leterme has tried to reassure his EU colleagues, saying much of the day-to-day running of the bloc will be left to the EU's central institutions.
June 23, 2010
EU: Kyrgyz Instability Could Spread

The EU Special Representative for Central Asia has warned that recent instability in southern Kyrgyzstan could spill over into other countries along the Ferghana Valley. Pierre Morel, who visited Kyrgyzstan last week, told the European Parliament's foreign affairs committee in Brussels that the EU wants the referendum on Kyrgyzstan's new constitution to go ahead as planned on June 27.
June 17, 2010
EU Summit Approves Iran Sanctions, Debates Debt Crisis

An EU summit in Brussels is seeking to further extend the bloc's existing sanctions against Iran to force the country to engage in talks over its nuclear program. EU leaders also tried to calm the international lending markets by committing their countries to more stringent fiscal supervision in the future.
June 15, 2010
EU Expresses 'Great Concerns' Over Kyrgyz Violence, Pledges Aid

At their monthly meeting in Luxembourg today, EU foreign ministers expressed "great concerns" over the violence in Kyrgyzstan, offering humanitarian aid. They discussed new sanctions against Iran, reiterating the bloc's willingness to enter talks on the country's nuclear program. And ministers reacted cautiously to an Israeli announcement of an inquiry into the Gaza blockade.
June 14, 2010
EU Envoys In South Caucasus, Moldova Facing End Of The Road

The EU special representatives for South Caucasus and Moldova are likely to lose their jobs on August 31 under a proposal tabled by the bloc's top foreign policy official, Catherine Ashton. Despite a late fightback by some mostly Eastern European member states keen to retain both envoys, EU foreign ministers meeting in Luxembourg are set to nod through Ashton's plans.
June 10, 2010
Funding Squeeze Casts Pall Over NATO's Future

No matter how serious the issues NATO is facing in Afghanistan, Kosovo, or elsewhere -- there's one that trumps them all. And that issue is money -- or, rather, the lack of it.
June 08, 2010
Envoy Predicts Independence Ruling On Kosovo Will Be 'Mixed' But Break New Ground

A senior international official in Kosovo, Pieter Feith, says he expects the International Court of Justice to issue a "mixed" ruling on the legality of Kosovo's unilateral secession from Serbia in 2008 -- a decision he suggests will give "comfort" to both sides.
June 08, 2010
EU-Russia Rapprochement Set To Continue

EU member-state ambassadors in Brussels today are debating a new proposal to intensify foreign-policy cooperation between the bloc and Moscow. The proposal was part of a joint memorandum signed by German Chancellor Angela Merkel and President Dmitry Medvedev during their weekend meeting in the German town of Meseberg.
June 04, 2010
EU Promises Pakistan Cooperation, But Free Trade To Wait

At a summit with the EU in Brussels, Pakistan's Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani failed to make noticeable headway on Pakistan's chief aim -- securing free trade with the bloc.
June 02, 2010
The EU's Declaration Of Impotence

What is worrying is the degree to which Brussels' bureaucratic horizons seem to shape (and limit) its conception of foreign-policy making. That the removal of special representatives could badly wrong-foot partner governments in unstable regions never seemed to enter the heads of Ashton or her team.
June 01, 2010
Bonhomie All Around At EU-Russia Summit

The 25th EU-Russia summit was easily the friendliest of the gatherings between the two sides so far. Both parties are now taking the lack of progress in stride, and focusing instead on keeping the relationship alive.
May 31, 2010
EU Plans To Scrap South Caucasus, Moldova Envoys

EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton has reportedly proposed abolishing the positions of EU special representatives for the South Caucasus and Moldova. If approved by the EU's member states, the move would signal a drastic downgrading of the EU's involvement in its eastern neighborhood.

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