Moscow uses energy as a geopolitical weapon and is thus in a strong position vis a vis the EU, 40% of whose gas supplies come from Russia. But new developments, including shale gas discoveries, are enabling Europe to retaliate and the outcome is not a foregone conclusion, says Agnia Grigas
It was the French colonisers, after all, who were bound to international conventions that govern the practice of harm in a way that a small groups of individuals like the Algerians, were not.
The death of Venezuela's president raises the question of his place in the labyrinth of Latin American populism, say Fabián Bosoer & Federico Finchelstein
Jorge Bergoglio has established as a fact that he successfully intervened to save the lives of the two priests by working behind the scenes. He is not a hero, but no accomplice.
The memory of the anti-Bergoglio Trinity returned with a vengeance this week, the moment that the Argentine’s elevation to the papacy became known.
From a potentially subjective point of view, a Kurd could argue that the long hardship and series of disasters inflicted upon the people of Iraq are direct consequences of the complacency and indifference embedded in the foreign policy of the superpowers.
His success lay in the fact that he became a voice for that which did not conform to the status quo in international politics, and he gained his legitimacy from his success.
The west's contribution to building more democratic and open societies in the post-Soviet region leaves much scope for improvement. Orysia Lutsevych draws lessons and offers recommendations to both public and private donors.
The story of how an Afghan dam was planned, prepared, fought over and now abandoned symbolises the epic failure of the "war on terror".
An escalating crisis in Bulgaria marked by street-protests across the country forced the government's resignation. But the instant wisdom that financial austerity caused it is misleading, says Dimitar Bechev.
It is worth asking whether the last ten years would have been such a disaster under the consensual, independent, and Iraqi-led transition that the British and Americans were so keen to avoid.
