Europe Archive

Leaders of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) are currently gathered in Astana, Kazakhstan, for the group’s first summit in more than a decade. The OSCE has many responsibilities due to its comprehensive agenda, but its most urgent task is to help mobilize greater support for Afghanistan. Although Afghanistan does not belong to the OSCE, several member states border the war-torn country, while many more have sent military forces to help combat the Taliban insurgents threatening the internationally recognized Afghan government. The challenges facing the OSCE in Afghanistan derive mainly from the porous borders between northern Afghanistan […]

Poland and Russia recently concluded a deal to increase the flow of Russian gas to Poland. In an e-mail interview, Ernest Wyciszkiewicz, program coordinator for international economic relations and energy security at the Polish Institute of International Affairs, discussed Poland-Russia relations. WPR: What is the recent history of Russia-Poland relations? Ernest Wyciszkiewicz: In recent years, Polish-Russian relations have been characterized by numerous crises and controversies over political matters. These extend to conflicting interests in their common neighborhood of Belarus and Ukraine as well as disputes over energy, trade and last but not least history — or more precisely, contradictory versions […]

Among the foreign policy issues on the U.S. Congress’ agenda during its lame duck session is the ratification of the New START Treaty, signed by Presidents Barack Obama and Dmitry Medvedev last April. The treaty is important in and of itself, because it reduces the American and Russian strategic nuclear arsenals and extends nuclear weapons verification measures interrupted when the START I treaty lapsed last December. But New START also represents a critical step in redefining the U.S.-Russian relationship, making it more than just an arms control arrangement. Russia is the world’s largest country, endowed with highly skilled human capital […]

In the latest of a series of violent incidents involving Islamic militants in Tajikistan, police forces clashed with suspected extremists in the country’s northern Isfara district this fall. The government has taken measures to crack down on growing religious extremism, but some Tajiks fear those steps could backfire.

The world is undergoing a period of significant defense retrenchment. The U.K. has cut back dramatically on its defense budget and is making potentially transformative cuts to the storied Royal Navy. NATO’s members have gone back to the drawing board for a new Strategic Concept to guide the organization’s often-questioned mission. In Asia, the U.S. is assessing its relations with old allies and courting new ones, always with an eye to hedging China’s rise. And elsewhere, regional security organizations seek to define their role. This World Politics Review special report examines the global security picture through articles published from March […]