Europe Archive

Via FP Passport, it looks like the EU got a promise from Turkmanistan President Gurbanguly Berdymukhammedov to deliver some gas. At 10 billion cubic meters, the deal is a start, even if it’s just a drop in the 500 bcm bucket of European demand. But there’s still the little question of how to get the gas to Europe. Nabucco, if it ever happens, won’t be operational for another five years. So the EU is looking at either building links to existing pipelines, or liquifying the gas and shipping it. Needless to say, Russia has remained stoic about the deal.

This month marks the 14th anniversary of the Rwandan genocide, which is commonly considered to have begun on April 6, 1994. One aspect of the genocide that has received little attention in English-language media is the close relations that existed between the French military and the armed forces of the “Hutu Power” Rwandan government. In collaboration with the pro-government Interahamwe militias, Rwandan army officials are held to have been largely responsible for organizing the massacres perpetrated against the Tutsi civilian population and moderate Hutu from April to July 1994. The massacres are estimated to have claimed some 800,000 lives. They […]

The reviews from NATO’s Bucharest summit are all in, and they generally conclude that the United States — and more specifically, President George W. Bush — failed. For instance, Bloomberg News headlined the summit this way: “NATO Snubs Ukraine, Georgia, Macedonia; Blow to Bush.” The New York Times declared, “NATO Allies Oppose Bush on Georgia and Ukraine.” And the Boston Globe reported, “Allies Reject Bush’s Call for NATO Role for Ukraine, Georgia.” It is true that Bush pressed NATO to issue membership action plans (MAP) to these former Soviet republics, but it is just as true that he wanted other […]

Silvio Berlusconi is back, and by the looks of his solid majority, he might even have the makings of a stable government, although in Italy that’s never a safe bet. I find that following Italian politics takes too steep a learning curve for the cost to benefits analysis to pay off, but outside of the community of Italian-based foreign correspondents (who’ve got some colorful coverage to look forward to) and an inner circle of industrial barons, it’s hard to see who in Italy this benefits. EU summits just got a bit more interesting, though, since the only person on Earth […]

In the midst of a post about the challenges facing Nicolas Sarkozy as he approaches the end of his first year as president, Art Goldhammer of French Politics maintains that: The reconciliation with the United States has yielded a major new obligation (in Afghanistan) without tangible improvement in French influence, stature, or diplomatic reach. I’m not sure I’d agree with that, though. It’s true that, following Sarkozy’s initial dynamism that helped push through the Lisbon Treaty, Germany has become the decisive power in intra-European affairs, as demonstrated by the folding of Sarkozy’s Mediterranean Union into the EU’s Barcelona Process (Union […]

After hesitating several years, the British government finally accepted American entreaties to join the Global Nuclear Energy Partnership (GNEP), becoming its 21st member on Feb. 26, 2008. Celebrating the British decision, Secretary of Energy Samuel Bodman said “This important addition provides great momentum for GNEP.” In the U.S.-Russia Strategic Framework Declaration, issued by Presidents George Bush and Vladimir Putin at their April 6 summit at the Russian Black Sea resort of Sochi, the two governments reaffirmed their commitment to promote nuclear nonproliferation by “working together and with other nations to develop mutually beneficial approaches for economical and reliable access to […]

Foeign Policy’s Blake Hounshell has some thoughts about the Bush administration’s approach to diplomacy, in particular with regard to Russia, that are worth a read. The Bush administration has rejected the traditional give-and-take method of balancing demands on some issues with concessions on others in favor of arguing each case independently on its merits. It’s a classic case of values vs. interests, but the problem is that interests have a way of influencing how values are perceived. That and the fact that Russia is no longer in a position where it can’t really defend its interests.

This CFR interview with Charles Kupchan is about as good a rundown of last week’s NATO summit and the subsequent meeting between Presidents Bush and Putin as any I’ve read. Both the summit and bi-lateral meeting were mixed bags: not enough failure to resemble disaster, but not enough enthusiasm to resemble success. Despite the alliance’s high-profile rebuke of Bush on MAP’s for Ukraine and Georgia, Kupchan observed that Bush has actually done a good job of repairing relations with France and Germany. But in that he’s been helped by a changing of the guard in both countries, as well as […]

TRAVELS WITH JOE — Sen. Joe Lieberman told Italian guests at a recent American Embassy dinner in Rome that Barack Obama would, in his view, be the Democratic presidential candidate, but that John McCain would win the November presidential election. Embassy staffers speculated to one guest that if McCain does get the White House, Lieberman would be his Secretary of Defense. Lieberman made a side trip to Rome while traveling with McCain in Europe and the Middle East. He said he had met Vatican officials and discussed Iraq. Pope Benedict XVI is deeply concerned over the plight of Iraq’s Christians […]

George W. Bush and Vladimir Putin made what looks to be their last personal attempt as incumbent presidents to resolve the protracted dispute over European missile defenses at their Sochi summit this weekend. Despite several rounds of detailed discussions in Moscow and Washington during the past month, Russian officials continue to object to U.S. plans to deploy ballistic missile defenses (BMD) in Poland and the Czech Republic. Russian representatives claim that the stated American justification for the BMD deployments — that the systems are needed to defend the United States and European countries against an emerging Iranian missile threat — […]

I’m of two minds after reading Timothy Garton Ash’s brutal takedown of the Bush administration’s Europe and Russia policies (via FPA’s Diplomacy blog). Ash compares President Bush’s divisive insistence on missile defense and opportunistic “Coalitions of the Willing” with George (H.W.) Bush’s skillful navigation of the post-Cold War challenges of integrating “New Europe” into “Old Europe” without alienating Russia. And on the one hand, the Bush administration’s policies seem to reflect an obvious hostility to both the Bush 41 approach and objectives. But on the other, if you take a look at the U.S.-Russia Strategic Framework Declaration signed by Presidents […]

“We have to underline NATO’s enduring commitment to finishing Europe’s unfinished business — but also its relevance to emerging challenges, such as proliferation threats and vulnerabilities in our energy supply.” Thus remarked NATO Secretary General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer at a conference sponsored by the Center for International Relations in Warsaw on March 13. Leaders of the 26 member countries are meeting in Bucharest this week to increase NATO’s collective defense capabilities and deepen transatlantic ties. While the alliance has adopted a basic approach to guarding energy infrastructure, plans to widen the scope of a NATO energy security policy will […]

According to EurasiaNet’s Joshua Kucera, President Bush really is committed to leaving Bucharest with Membership Action Plans (the last step before you get the NATO secret handshake) for Ukraine and Georgia. If you look at where the internal faultline lies, it’s pretty much England & New Europe for, and Old Europe (led by France and Germany) against. Remind you of anything? One official called it the “. . .success of the Gazprom foreign policy.” Turn it around, though, and it can be seen as the failure of the “With us or against us” policy. Either way, what’s surprising is how […]

George W. Bush completed his first (and probably last) trip to Ukraine as president this week. Although the two countries signed a Trade and Investment Cooperation Agreement and other bilateral accords during the visit, Bush’s public meetings in Kiev were dominated by questions concerning both governments’ desire for Ukraine to strengthen ties with NATO, despite strong opposition from other alliance members, Russian leaders, and many Ukrainians themselves. “Your nation has made a bold decision, and the United States strongly supports your request” for a NATO Membership Action Plan (MAP), Bush told a news conference following talks with Ukrainian President Viktor […]

BUCHAREST, Romania — While heads of state and defense ministers prepare to hash out important issues related to NATO operations, enlargement and emerging security threats from Afghanistan and the Balkans to Iraq, Bucharest is undergoing a frenzy of logistical preparation and aesthetic transformation that is both energizing and stressing Romanians. This week, an estimated 6,500 visitors — 3,000 delegates and 3,500 journalists — will descend on Bucharest to attend the April 2-4 NATO Summit, for which Romanian authorities have been vigorously planning since March 2007, and which promises to be NATO’s largest summit ever. Logistics “Romania lacks an institution designed […]