On Oct. 6, 2007, the leaders of the Eurasian Economic Community (Eurasec) convened their 15th anniversary summit at Dushanbe, Tajikistan. Although Russian President Vladimir Putin described this session of the Eurasec Intergovernmental Council as one of the organization’s most successful, the most notable development at the meeting was Moscow’s decision to pursue deeper economic integration with only some of the organization’s members. Eurasec’s main function is to promote trade ties among countries that formed an integrated economic system during the Soviet period. Since the U.S.S.R.’s disintegration in 1991, these states have frequently diverged in their national macroeconomic policies and have [...]
PRISTINA and MITROVICA, Kosovo — Kosovo will make a unilateral declaration of independence within days of the delivery of a report on its status to the U.N. on Dec. 10, according to the breakaway Serbian province’s prime minister, Agim Ceku. But what then? Kosovo has declared independence twice before, but only secured the recognition of neighboring Albania. “The circumstances are very different this time,” Ceku told World Politics Review in a recent interview. “Now we have got everything that has been developed in the last eight years under the U.N. administration: We have a parliament; we have a government; we [...]
If Myanmar’s military leaders appear immune to internal pressure for change, and if they care little about the protestations of the “international community” unless such pressure can directly effect their interests, the two rising world powers on Myanmar’s borders perhaps hold the last hope for influencing the junta. The conventional wisdom says that even if China is ultimately unwilling to play a positive role, India can be counted on. “I think India would be able to exercise influence on Myanmar. China needs natural resources so badly that it may not be willing to call for the use of force. As [...]
