Carnegie Moscow Center
The current economic crisis presents Europe with serious challenges, but also with the opportunity for reflection and change.
2012 is an election year for both Russia and the United States. Presidential elections have already taken place in Russia, and they will be held in the United States in November. It remains to be seen how these political changes might affect Russian-American relations.
Ukraine’s European integration has slowed and relations with Russia show no signs of progress.
Despite common views on international affairs and economic interests, the Russian-Chinese relationship is weak—even in the sphere of energy trade—and needs to be strengthened.
Russia has been in a post-empire state for the last 20 years. There is no way back to an empire now—Russia has passed the point of no return in this respect.
Two issues—military reform and interethnic relations in the Russian Federation—seem to have grabbed the most public attention since the Soviet collapse. They have had a big impact on Russia’s public and political life over the last twenty years, and affect the foundations for the country’s future development.
Twenty years after the end of the Soviet Union, Moscow should drop the notion of creating an exclusive power center in the post-Soviet space.
There is an overall lack of structure in the movements that made up the Arab Spring, or the “Islamic Spring,” but Islamist groups are generally better organized than the other opposition groups that made the “Islamic Spring” possible.
Too often, debate on the relationship between Europe and Russia is driven by events—including elections, changes in leadership, and summits—which may provide important policy openings but do not always allow for thoughtful consideration of the long-term factors that shape the relationship.
Ten years after the beginning of the coalition-led war in Afghanistan, the United States may have to reconsider whether its current strategy is able to achieve its goal of a stable and secure Afghanistan.