• Opinion piece by Tomas Valasek
    07 September 2008

    In a spectacular case of bad timing, Ukraine’s government all but collapsed last week. President Viktor Yushchenko withdrew most of his deputies from the ruling coalition with Yulia Tymoshenko, the prime minister.

  • Briefing note by Tomas Valasek, 15 August 2008

    The war in Georgia divided the European Union instead of uniting it. Some member-states condemned Russia and gave (non-military) aid to the Georgian government; others accused Tbilisi of provoking the war.

  • Opinion piece by Charles Grant
    The Guardian, 15 August 2008

    For many American commentators, plucky little Georgia has been the victim of Russian imperialism. The Guardian's Seumas Milne takes an simplistic view: Russia is blameless for a war caused by US "expansion".

  • Opinion piece by Tomas Valasek
    The Guardian, 08 August 2008

    This week, Georgia made a bold gamble: it moved forces into South Ossetia; a province of Georgia that broke free in the early 1990s, in an attempt to re-assert its authority over parts or all of it.

  • Insight by Bobo Lo, 04 July 2008

    I attended a curious conference the other week in Moscow. It was a posh event with a stellar cast and the grand, even pompous, title of ‘Forging common futures in a multipolar world’.

  • Insight by Tomas Valasek, 30 June 2008

    The Czech government floated proposals in May that would see the EU take a more active role in solving frozen conflicts in eastern Europe. The Czechs hold the EU’s rotating presidency next year, so their wish may become reality.

  • Opinion piece by Hugo Brady
    The Guardian, 16 June 2008

    Ireland has sent Europe into tumult by garrotting the Lisbon treaty at the ballot box. The possibility of resuscitating the treaty is slight. Given the large turnout, a second referendum on the text is likely to be ruled out by Irish politicians as unfeasible.

  • Opinion piece by Bobo Lo
    Open democracy, 20 May 2008

    The China threat looms large in the Russian imagination, but is not justified by the facts suggests Bobo Lo, writing for openDemocracy's new collaboration on Russia and the world.