On June 6, Dmitry Medvedev presided over his first major multinational meetings since replacing Vladimir Putin as Russia’s president on May 7. The first gathering involved an “informal” summit of the heads of state of the Moscow-led Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS). The second was the annual meeting of the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum, which attracts many foreign diplomats and business executives. At the meetings, Medvedev eschewed the sarcastic and at times menacing rhetoric of his predecessor. He also seemed slightly more open to resolving Russia’s differences with Georgia. Yet, Medvedev reaffirmed Putin’s hard-line position regarding NATO expansion and [...]
FRANCE PLUGS THE GAP — Why are four French Mirage 2000 fighter planes currently deployed at the former U.S. air base at Keflavik, Iceland? Answer: The French are plugging a gap in NATO’s North Atlantic defenses left by the U.S. withdrawal from Iceland in 2006. The Keflavik base controlled the so-called Iceland Air Policing Area designed to turn back Soviet long-range strategic bombers headed for U.S. airspace. Two years ago, the Pentagon closed the huge facility after almost 50 years because, in Washington’s view, it had become a relic of the Cold War. Moscow was quick to spot the hole, [...]
Could the Lisbon Treaty somehow survive the Irish referendum that rejected it last week? That’s what the EU foreign ministers are trying to figure out in Brussels today and tomorrow. Opponents are calling the treaty dead, while supporters (like French President Nicolas Sarkozy) are trying to have it voted on by the eight countries yet to definitively pronounce on it. In the event it survives all eight, look for Ireland to be asked to hold a followup referendum on it towards the end of the year, with a major part of France’s EU presidency in the second half of 2008 [...]
