After the Revolution

The breakaway republics of Abkhazia and South Ossetia have already invited the whole gang to their international recognition party. (No RSVPs yet.)
But that doesn’t stop Russia from warning Georgia that what will really set the two provinces on an independence rampage is Georgia’s intention to join the North Atlantic Treaty Organization.
According to an article from the BBC, Russia’s NATO ambassador […]

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Have you ever seen a country being born?
The Prime Minister of Kosovo declared Kosovo “independent, sovereign and free“ in a session of Parliament today.
To watch the BBC’s video of Prime Minister Hashim Thaci reading the declaration of independence from Serbia to the Parliament, click here.
But to watch the party outside, click here.
Mark Mardell described it in his blog:
“The streets of […]

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I give Russia a break, and Putin has to go and threaten to aim nuclear missiles at Ukraine.
Ukraine and Russia may have just reached an agreement about Ukraine’s unpaid gas debt, but that doesn’t make Russian President Vladimir Putin any happier about Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko’s desire to join NATO.
Putin told Yushchenko at their recent meeting that if Ukraine allowed NATO […]

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The U.S. media tends to break down State of the Union addresses as if they were sporting events.
They count the number of breaks for applause, show replays of important people falling asleep and list most-used words.
Imagine how much fun they’d have if Congress were more like Ukraine’s parliament, the Verkhovna Rada, where a fistfight that broke out among lawmakers prompted […]

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Russia is not alone in its aversion to the idea of Kosovan independence.
According to an article published today on the BBC’s Web site, Romania, Slovakia, Cyprus, Greece and Spain have their complaints as well.
Many in those countries fear that recognition of a unilateral declaration of independence by Kosovo will encourage separatist movements elsewhere.
Turks who control northern Cyprus, ethnic Hungarians looking for greater autonomy in Romania and Slovakia, and […]

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Condoleeza Rice told Ukrainian president Viktor Yushchenko today that the United States supports a recent request that NATO accept Ukraine into its Membership Action Plan (MAP).
Rice and Yushchenko spoke at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland.
Yushchenko, Parliamentary Speaker Arseniy Yatsenyuk and Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko all signed a letter Jan. 2 requesting Ukraine be considered for eventual NATO membership.
NATO will […]

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