Europe and Asia

Have you ever thought about how much your life costs in the eyes of an addict who urgently needs a dose? Just imagine that you are passing by a porch where such a man sits, a 100$-note is sticking out of your pocket. Glumly that sounds but right now your life costs the same money. An addict is a sick man who practically cannot realize the consequences of his actions; he is dangerous but not like t ...

[CENTER]R]
European Council President Herman Van Rompuy rings the opening bell at the NYSE Euronext Stock Exchange in Brussels yesterday.
BRUSSELS (AFP) – A new-look leadership structure designed to streamline the European Union began in earnest on Friday when Spain assumed the rotating presidency alongside the bloc’s first president, Herman Van Rompuy.
But as Spain’s Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero, Van Rompuy and EU Commission chief Jose Manuel Barroso jostle for position at the bloc’s top table, critics say the situation risks becoming more hydra than hybrid.
...

Do you remember the slogan: "We are not like them!"? Tolerant speeches at a time when Europe was in danger because of Islam? Our condescending attitude to criminals and murderers? That way we will get under the thumb of foreigners. Russia needs to develop "offensive strike systems" to preserve strategic balance with the United States and to counter U.S. missile defense system. This statement was made by Russia's Prime Minister Vladimir Putin. ...

Rapid changes in the global economy and international politics are raising once again an eternal issue in Russia: the country’s relations with Europe and with the Euro-Atlantic region as a whole. Of course, Russia partly belongs to this region, yet it cannot and does not want to join the West wholeheartedly — at least not yet. Meanwhile, this choice looks very different now compared with just a few years ago.
...

The administration of U.S. President Barack Obama has a new headache to deal with today — Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili. Washington’s tolerance for his violence and provocations is running very thin. The recent demolition of the World War II monument in Georgia may be the last straw. “I wish we all could forget our past and look forward only,” Saakashvili said in a recent interview with state-run Rustavi 2 television. About 700,000 Georgian heroes fought in World War II. Nearly half of them never returned home. They sacrificed their lives to free Auschwitz and Dachau and save the world from national socialism.
...

Alexander Lukashenko has often been referred to as Europe's last dictator. All of a sudden, though, he seems to be on a push to rapidly liberalize Belarus' economy and turn it into a high-tech paradise. But is this socialist island really ready to attract Western investors? Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko suddenly seems like a different man from the one his country has always known. The ...