It was hailed by many as an historic day in Strasbourg. The Polish MEP Jerzy Buzek was overwhelmingly chosen as the European Parliament’s president – the first time a leader from the former Soviet bloc is leading a major EU institution. In his inaugural speech, Buzek said: “Once upon…
Read MoreAt one point during my adolescence, an elder of my church took me aside to speak to me about walls. Walls, he said, are a protection against things on the other side, the same way religious rules and regulations are a protection against the world outside. Hence, you should feel…
Read MoreReceiving President Medvedev and the Russian Security Initiative When President of Russia, Dmitri Medvedev, visited Finland in April, he gathered a relatively mild interest compared with the attention that meetings of the presidents of the two neighbours usually got during the Cold War. Stiff appearances and official communiqués were not…
Read MoreSTART-1 treaty forms to this day the cornerstone of the prevailing nuclear arms control regime. The treaty will expire at the end of the current year. It needs to be reviewed and updated. Renegotiating START-1 was not a priority for the previous US administration; an attitude that bothered Moscow. The…
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