Latest Articles about Europe

NEW YUSHCHENKO-TYMOSHENKO COALITION PASSES FIRST TESTS

The Our Ukraine – People’s Self-Defense bloc of Viktor Yushchenko (NUNS) and the Yulia Tymoshenko Bloc (BYuT) have managed to set aside their differences and create a majority coalition in parliament. NUNS accepted Yushchenko’s choice for parliamentary speaker, and dissenters in Our Ukraine (NU), the... MORE

WASHINGTON EXPANDS SANCTIONS ON BELARUS

On November 14, the United States Treasury announced financial sanctions on the Belnaftakhim gas and chemical conglomerate and its subsidiaries outside the country. With this maneuver, Washington expressed its dissatisfaction with the Belarusian government’s failure to improve the human rights’ situation within the country. It... MORE

DIFFERENCES IN OUR UKRAINE HINDER COALITION FORMATION

Ukraine’s new parliament opened on November 23 only to adjourn until November 29, as the absence of a more or less stable majority left it incapacitated, making it impossible to elect parliamentary leaders and form standing committees. This deadlock is due to serious differences within... MORE

PKK Leadership Under Pressure in the Post-Öcalan Era

Every year the number of attacks by and on the guerrillas of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) mounts, seemingly by the day. Relatively infrequently, though, the world is permitted a glimpse of the PKK’s shadowy mid- and upper-level leadership figures, those who have recruited, trained... MORE

Strategic Implications for Northern Iraq’s Kurdish Oil Industry

Article 3, paragraph 3 of the Oil and Gas Law of the Kurdistan Region seems straightforward enough: “The Regional Government shall, together with the Federal Government, jointly manage Petroleum Operations … according to the provisions of the Federal Constitution” [1]. The law seems clear until... MORE

UKRAINIAN COALITION MAY NOT MATERIALIZE

The Ukrainian parliament elected on September 30 will gather for its first sitting on Friday, November 23. It should elect a speaker and start forming a new cabinet. The constitution requires the sitting cabinet of Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovych to step down before the new... MORE

Turkey’s Generals Speak out on Counter-Terrorism Strategies

Turkish journalist Fikret Bila has just released an important work based on interviews with a number of retired Turkish military commanders. Komutanlar Cephesi (The Commanders’ Position) examines the generals’ views on Turkey’s past and present security efforts. Excerpts from interviews with five retired generals were... MORE