Eurasia

Georgia welcomes readiness of all countries, especially friendly Ukraine to act as mediator between Moscow and Tbilisi, Georgian foreign minister Grigol Vashadze said at a press-conference on October 5. “The necessity in the talks with Russia will occur sooner or later but with democratic and free Russia that feels responsibility …

Russia is ready to extend a credit to Serbia and considers giving a loan to Bulgaria, Russian Deputy PM and Finance Minister Alexei Kudrin told journalists after a meeting with the finance ministers of the two countries in Istanbul where the IMF and World Bank hold an annual session.

Greece’s new cabinet will be announced on Tuesday after PASOK won Sunday’s early elections. On Monday the socialist party PASOK leader Georgios Papandreou will receive a mandate from President Karolos Papoulias to form a new government. According to some sources the new government scheme could be made public as early …

Serbia’s attempts to block Kosovo’s participation in regional initiatives could paralyse regional policies, according to a leaked European Commission, EC, report. This according to a report on Balkan countries involved in the EU enlargement process, to be issued in Brussels on October 14.

The upcoming change in government in Greece may act to break the current impasse in the Athens-Skopje name talks, Macedonian observers predict. Outgoing Greek Prime Minister Costas Karamanlis has resigned as New Democracy leader after his party suffered an outright defeat in Sunday’s general election to the rival Pan-Hellenic Socialist …

Around 700,000 public servants launched a strike on Monday in protest at the government’s decision to cut salaries and jobs in the public sector. Policemen, local authority workers, clerks, doctors, nurses, teachers, social-insurance personnel, public-finance clerks and prison guards have joined what has been called the largest protest in the …

Blaze Ristovski, the chief editor of the controversial Macedonian encyclopaedia, which enraged the country’s ethnic Albanians, is resisting government pressure to resign. Upon its publication in September, the state-funded tome, prepared by the Macedonian Academy of Sciences and Arts, MANU, came under fire domestically and in neighbouring states for describing …

Macedonia has praised the Irish yes vote on the Lisbon treaty, saying its adoption will have a positive impact on EU enlargement prospects. The positive outcome would mean “a positive climate for the continuation of one of the most successful EU projects, the enlargement process, that spreads the zone of …

As authorities in Bosnia arrest another terrorism suspect believed to be trafficking weapons for radical Muslim groups, sources close to the investigation tell ISN Security Watch’s Anes Alic that they are hoping, finally, to catch up with ‘known’ terrorists before it’s too late. Bosnian border police last week arrested a …

„Nu va trebui să fac nimic pentru ca să o opresc; sovieticii o vor face pentru mine. Ei nu vor admite niciodată o Germanie mare, chiar în faţa lor” (Francois Mitterand, 28 noiembrie 1989) La 3 octombrie 1990, Germania s-a reunificat. La 27 septembrie 2009, au avut loc alegeri parlamentare …