Latest posts
Blog update and ouch for Bulgaria
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So I’ve been quite busy lately to the detriment of updating the blog. I apologize to the readers, but this may have to be the trend for the foreseeable future with deadlines upon deadlines rolling in. This is where the “much-needed ne...
A different take on the CoA report and EU accountability
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After the latest EU Court of Auditors report revealed graft and corruption across institutions of the European Union, the EU Observer published a commentary by Richard Corbett, which is in effect a reply to the eurosceptics. I wanted to mention it he...
Across Eastern Europe: Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland, Ukraine
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After the Fall is a Worldfocus signature series exploring four post-communist countries two decades after the fall of the Berlin Wall. If you have a comment about any of these videos, be sure to leave it on the Worldfocus site. The staff and corr...
Patria scandal in Slovenia
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When allegations of corruption surfaced weeks before Slovenia’s election, then Prime Minister Janez Jansa denied the charges and demanded that the Finnish TV broadcaster which broke the story apologize. Now that Patria executives are under ar...
They just might pull it off in 2012
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Speaking this Wednesday in Sofia, Bulgaria, Michel Platini, UEFA president, made a very simple but direct point to governments in Warsaw and Kyiv: Poland and Ukraine know that there is now a major condition (for their bid): that the stadiums in their...
NATO-Ukraine consultations in Estonia
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NATO and Ukraine are holding the Sixth Informal High Level consultations in Tallinn, Estonia. This comes roughly a month before the next meeting of foreign ministers where the question of a Membership Action Plan (MAP) for Ukraine will be discussed...
Kaj Larsen’s “Modern pirates” (25m)
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Got an email from Current TV after they read Yet another ship an update post about Somalian pirates (see also, Arrrgh, Crazy pirates and corn). From the email: We just debuted a new video about modern day pirates operating in the straits of Malacca.
The Economist vs. Drezner: blogging
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The evolution of blogging was recently brought up in the mainstream press. Thus, The Economist noted on November 6th that “Blogging is no longer what it was, because it has entered the mainstream:” “Blogging is simply too big, too impe...
Ukraine’s election to take place in early 2009…maybe
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From AFP: Ukraine’s President Viktor Yushchenko indicated Tuesday that Ukraine’s early legislative elections would now be delayed until next year, amid a power struggle with his prime minister in the crisis-hit country. “It would no...
1956 – Hungarian Revolution
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October 23rd marked the 52nd anniversary of the 1956 Hungarian Revolution. A video report and bloggers summaries are available via Worldfocus. Image credit: Hungary1956.com; used here under “fair use”...
Yet another ship
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Kommersant reports that another ship was hijacked near Somalia (for ship #1, see this). The pirates commandeered Cec Future of Denmark this past weekend. Neither the NATO naval forces nor Russia’s frigate Neustrashimy had prevented hijackers...
Corruption: who’s holding the EU accountable?
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[UPDATE 2008-11-10]: Julien Frisch critique of the ECA report. If we are to rely on Transparency International’s (TI) corruption score, the EU member states tend to have lower corruption scores than those seeking to join the Club. Based on...
Sending a message: the EU enlargement
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After the 2007 accession of Bulgaria and Romania, the European Union appears to be more demanding in what its prospective members need to do prior to joining the club. The reason for this change was noted by The Economist earlier in the year: Now t...
Polish political establishment
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Check out Leopolis’ analysis of the political scene in Poland in response to two op-eds from Central European Digest: These points miss fundamental changes in the Polish political establishment in the past decade and in the past year. 1) The Po...
Democracy post-2008
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A little bit more from the Sestanovich’s article (see part I), this part has to do with exploring the future of “democracy” after the administration of George W. Bush. The next U.S. president will inevitably review a second issue th...
Terrorism in Russia and the update on “Faina”
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Two things. First, Russia may be witnessing a return of increased terrorist incidents. The latest having occurred today in North Ossetia. An explosion hit a minibus unloading passengers in the capital of Russia’s North Ossetia province Thursd...
Sestanovich on U.S. - Russian relations
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I’ve examined the NATO enlargement debate quite a few times now. See for example the critique (and the comments it generated) of an anti-NATO enlargement position published in the World Politics Review; of interest may also be a broader post...
Our next president
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[UPDATE]: Washington Post editorial; see also voter turnout as well as Truth and Myths about the 2008 Election part I (deals with the reasons for Obama’s victory) & part II (deals with the Bradley Effect Non-Effect) via The Monkey Cage.
Making fun of Palin and Obama
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Unabashed political spin Serious political analysis is not going to be in short supply in the next few days. To balance all this punditry, I present you two lighter takes on politics. The first is a website which introduces you to an interactive vi...
US presidential elections (video)
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While this is unlikely to be anything new to many, here is a video explaining U.S. presidential elections in a creative way (h/t Kosmopolito). On how the Electoral College works, see also this. Posted in Democracy, United States Tag...
