| 25 July 2009
1. Introduction
There is a well-known adage frequently attributed to Einstein to the effect that insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results. This, I suggest, is the kind of insanity which characterizes successive attempts by the Greek and Turkish sides to the Cyprus problem to reach through negotiations – some ten rounds of negotiations since 1975 – an agreed settlement by which each side hopes to secure for itself certain objectives that it knows to be incompatible with the objectives of the other side, and for the achievement of which it employs negotiating tactics and diplomatic moves that it knows from past experience to be ineffective.| 10 July 2009
1. Reshaping the Pillars of Global Economic Governance
The Bretton Woods institutions are the organizations set up as the result of the United Nations Monetary and Financial Conference held in July 1944. Representatives of forty-four Allied nations met in Bretton Woods, New Hampshire, which led to the signing of the Bretton Woods Agreements. The World Bank and the International Monetary Fund were established and became known as the Bretton Woods institutions. The General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT), signed in 1947, was not formed at the Bretton Woods Conference. However, the participants at the conference contemplated the necessity of an international trade organization. The GATT, which set out a plan for economic recovery after World War II, by encouraging reduction in tariffs and other international trade barriers, is therefore one of the three mechanisms for global economic governance that comprise the Bretton Woods System. The Uruguay Round, completed in 1994, replaced the GATT with the World Trade Organization (WTO).
| 05 July 2009
The Balkans have always been the backyard of European political planning, the ‘periphery of Europe’ (Chebeleu, Trian: ‘Attitudes of the USA and the USSR towards the South-East European Region’, European Security in the 1990’s: Problems of South-East Europe, Rhodes, Greece, 6-7 September 1991). Throughout history, their importance has increased, depending on external factors, such as the Ottoman invasion of Europe in the early 1400s, imperial Russia’s obsession with controlling its Slavic dominions in the Ottoman Empire during the 1800s, and the interest of the Austro-Hungarian Empire in the control of the land route towards the Greek port of Thessaloniki that sparked the beginning of World War I.
| 25 June 2009
There is no doubt whatsoever that Russia today has returned to the international scene as a leading world power, after labouring hard for two decades. Its immense geographical area, its special role in ensuring international peace and security and its global interests made it imperative for Russia to pursue a multifaceted foreign policy, having as its main goal the establishment of favourable external conditions for ongoing internal development. To achieve this goal, Russia is using multilateral diplomacy as a means to safeguard its interests in the new international environment.