In 1985 Mikhail Gorbachev came to power with the goal of reforming the stagnating and, by that time, already crumbling Soviet Union. He was unlike anyone preceding him; young, energetic, charismatic. No wonder he soon gained respect in the West....
eContributions
Michael Taylor 19 April 2012
We take the EU for granted, but we might miss it if it were gone or if it became an irrelevance like the League of Nations, warns analyst Most of us are heartily sick of the euro crisis, which goes from 'fix' to 'fix' without any final resolution....
Rex Weyler 23 March 2012
During the last century, society squandered 500 million years of captured sunlight on drag races, traffic jams, private jets and overheated office buildings - warns campaign group Oil company cheerleaders proclaiming huge supplies of oil are dead...
Daniel Mason 08 March 2012
Defence spending in the Asia-Pacific region will outstrip that of Europe by the end of this year, but Europe will retain its capability advantage – according to the International Institute for Strategic Studies' annual report. It comes after the...
Brian Whitmore for RFE/RL via ISN 25 February 2012
When police in Tbilisi discovered and defused a bomb on the car of an employee of the Israeli Embassy on February 13, it marked the second time in less than a month that the Jewish state's diplomats had become the target of an attack in the South...
Abubakar Siddique 14 February 2012
The bombardment of the city of Homs by Syrian forces, an offensive that has killed hundreds, is a key part of President Bashar al-Assad's attempt to crush an 11-month-old insurgency against his rule and defeat army defectors who have joined the...
Daniel Mason 07 February 2012
Romanian prime minister Emil Boc has announced his resignation in the wake of three weeks of protests against the government's austerity measures. He said his aim was to "defuse political and social tension". Since mid-January Romanians have taken...
Léa Hannaoui Saulais 27 January 2012
Recent legislative elections have stirred Russian civil society to actively protest the Kremlin. Russian decision-makers cannot ignore the increased tremors and will have to adjust their policies to better reflect socio-political expectations and...
Daniel Mason 23 January 2012
Oil imports from Iran have been banned by the European Union as it steps up its sanctions in response to the country's nuclear programme. In addition the assets of Iran's central bank within the EU were frozen. The embargo forbids new contracts...
ISN staff 10 January 2012
International organizations like NATO, the UN and the WTO are being challenged from many quarters and for many reasons. But are these stresses and strains anomalies or not? Yesterday, we considered how some emerging and developing states perceive...
