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Ahto Lobjakas

Also by Ahto Lobjakas

May 30, 2010
EU-Russia Summit To Steer Forward Course, Without Rocking The Boat

At an EU-Russia summit today in Rostov-na-Donu, the Russians will be looking to secure guarantees of visa-free European travel. The EU, for its part, will be looking for opportunities to guide Russia's economic development. Both goals are a reflection of a pragmatic new stage in EU-Russian relations -- the desire to look to the future, while keeping controversy to a minimum.
May 24, 2010
EU, East Meet Before Summit

Ahead of a milestone EU-Russia summit next week, leading diplomats from the 27 EU governments met their counterparts from the six members of the bloc's Eastern Partnership -- Ukraine, Moldova, Belarus, Georgia, Armenia, and Azerbaijan -- in what was meant by its Polish hosts as a show of support.
May 20, 2010
Russia Seeks Equal Partnership With EU

Russian ambassador to the EU Vladimir Chizhov says visa-free travel and collaboration on economic modernization are Russia's top two priorities for the upcoming summit with the EU in Rostov-na-Donu later this month. Chizhov said both goals carry emotional importance for Russia, which is hoping to establish itself as an equal partner to the EU.
May 20, 2010
European Parliament Calls For Greater EU Role In South Caucasus

European lawmakers have called for greater EU involvement in the South Caucasus, a region they describe in a new report as being of great strategic importance to the 27-nation bloc.
May 17, 2010
NATO Experts Recommend Balance Between Global Challenges, Local Concerns

Experts led by former U.S. Secretary of State Madeleine Albright have unveiled a set of recommendations on NATO's future strategy. In a report, they say the alliance must balance its increasingly global concerns with reassurances to members with more traditional security concerns, such as Russia.
May 14, 2010
Russia Poised To Leapfrog Ukraine, Moldova In EU Visa Drive

Russia is putting pressure on the EU to turn the next top-level meeting between the two -- the Rostov-na-Donu gathering on May 31 -- into a "visa summit." Foreign ministers meeting this week indicated that most bloc members support the idea of giving Russia a virtual road map to visa-free travel.
May 12, 2010
Estonia First Ex-Soviet Country To Be Cleared For Euro

The European Commission today said Estonia is ready to join the EU's single currency, the euro on January 1, 2011.
May 12, 2010
EU Showcases Neighborhood Policy Successes

It's been less than a week since the one-year anniversary of the EU's Eastern Partnership passed with little celebration. But today, the EU's enlargement and neighborhood policy commissioner, Stefan Fuele, sought to praise the bloc's wider European Neighborhood Policy (ENP), which groups the same six countries, as well as 10 other countries on the EU's southern flank.
May 06, 2010
Biden Delivers Message Of Reassurance To Europe

U.S. Vice President Joe Biden's keynote address to European lawmakers in Brussels came amid suspicions in many EU capitals that Washington's attention is drifting away from the Old Continent.
April 30, 2010
The EU's Imperial Understretch

While there is no question its gospel of reform is well-meant, the European Union seems utterly oblivious to the fundamental paradox at the heart of its neighborhood policy -- that what it does presupposes a stability that can only be secured by radically different means.
April 28, 2010
EU Focusing On Kyrgyzstan's Future As It Meets With Central Asian Ministers

Developments in Kyrgyzstan will form the centerpiece of an informal EU-Central Asia meeting in Brussels today. Officials in Brussels say the EU is keen to drum up support in the region for its efforts to help Kyrgyzstan move away from a presidential system.
April 23, 2010
NATO Moves To Make Afghans 'Masters Of Own House'

NATO foreign ministers today wrapped up their two-day jaunt to Estonia by laying the groundwork for Afghan forces to start progressively taking control of security in the country, starting this year.
April 23, 2010
NATO Looks To Evolve Without Shedding DNA

The first day of the NATO foreign ministers meeting in Tallinn, Estonia, was dedicated to the future of the alliance. Day two will tackle Afghanistan in talks conducted together with non-NATO nations contributing ISAF forces and relations with Russia -- albeit with no Russian officials in attendance.
April 22, 2010
In Tallinn, NATO Ministers Search For Solidarity

A two-day informal NATO foreign ministers' meeting in Tallinn, Estonia is broadly focused on generating unity on some of the thornier issues facing the alliance. Chief among these are burden sharing between the United States and the rest of the allies, the alliance's future goals and focus, and threat perception.
April 21, 2010
Clear Skies For NATO Meeting, Though Trouble Brews Over Russia, Afghanistan

NATO foreign ministers are breathing a collective sigh of relief as skies in Europe clear from volcanic ash and their April 22-23 meeting in the Estonian capital, Tallinn, can now officially go ahead. Russia is expected to dominate the agenda of the meeting in the former Soviet republic.
April 16, 2010
Counternarcotics In Afghanistan As A Spectator Sport

Russia is rightly worried about the impact of the drug war in Afghanistan -- but its proposals have received little attention from the EU and NATO.
April 12, 2010
Eurozone Aid Package Shores Up Greece, For Now

Analysts are welcoming a decision by the sixteen eurozone governments to provide Greece with a 30 billion euro bailout. However, many observers believe the aid is too little and too late.
April 08, 2010
EU Frustrated By South Caucasus Divisions

A debate on April 7 in the European Parliament's Foreign Affairs Committee on the need for a comprehensive EU strategy for the South Caucasus served to highlight frustration within the bloc over divisions within the region itself.
April 08, 2010
EU Official: Ukraine Talks At Crucial Juncture

Brussels says Ukraine could finalize its talks on an Association Agreement with the EU within a year. But there are a few "ifs."
March 25, 2010
NATO Reassures Georgia On 'Open Door Policy'

NATO Secretary-General Anders Fogh Rasmussen today told Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili that Georgia will be able to realize its longtime goal of joining NATO once it meets benchmark criteria.

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