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Reflections of H.E. Mr. Armen Martirosyan,  Ambassador of Armenia to Germany on the 11th Annual Foreign Policy Conference “Europe’s East. Ideas for the EU”s policy vis-à-vis its eastern neighbors”

The G20 Seoul summit is discussing the most important issues of the global economy. This article presents the dynamic among G20 members on exchange rates, institutional reform, and global rebalancing.

In future years, we may look back on this conference as an historic moment when a diverse global corps of commoners began to reinvent a very old – but very new – worldview, the commons. 

Find here publications on the conference and papers sent in by conference participants.

In considering the essential problem of how to produce and distribute material wealth, virtually all of the great economists in Western history have ignored the significance of the commons - the shared resources of nature and society that people inherit, create and utilize. 

Acknowledging the multiple challenges that Pakistan is facing in this regard, the Ministry of Environment, in cooperation with partners, organized an “International Conference on Climate Change and Development” on 21st - 22nd October 2010 at the Serena Hotel in Islamabad. This interdisciplinary conference brought together a wide range of international organizations, academics, civil society and private sector to deliberate on climate change and development issues.

Find here the complete programme of the conference. See also the Wiki of the Conference to read papers, propaosals and documents sent in by participants.

The International Commons Conference will bring together about 150 leading figures in commons-based studies and activism for a multidisciplinary, international conference. The general objective is to emerge at the end of the conference with a set of principles and long-term goals that can foster the planning and development of commons based organisations and policy as well as their networking capacity. 

Much of the public is deaf to the claims of President Obama that poverty and unemployment levels would be worse without the injection of stimulus money by his administration which provided tax relief and income support for millions of Americans.

Many Americans have long seen campaign finance laws as the best hope for restoring democracy in the US and were glad to hear President Obama's pledge to work with the Congress to overturn the Supreme Court decision. But the political tides are not moving in favor of democracy.  Money can't buy love or democracy.

The strategy in its current form is problematic in some key areas. For example, it says very little about the governance, rights and environmental issues associated with mineral wealth in many developing countries. 

Samuel Nguiffo, Director of the Center for Environment and Development Cameroon and Goldman Environmental Award Winner 1999 and other members of the civil society in Cameroon comment and criticise the Raw Material Strategy of the German Federal Government 

On October 8, 2010, the Heinrich-Böll-Stiftung hosted a dinner discussion in cooperation with the Embassy of the United States and the Center for American Progress concerning the future of US policy towards Eastern Europe.  This discussion marked the end of a two day conference on the future of the EUs Eastern Neighbours.

In a concise analysis Kurt Bassuener shows why Secretary Clinton's three-day Balkan tour had an overall negative effect.

Being a journalist is a dangerous job in Afghanistan. In the past nine years we have lost about fifteen journalists in different incidents. Just two days ago one of our famous news anchors was stabbed in Kabul. So it is dangerous because we always have the problem of accessing the information in the war zone. And the Taliban are not helping the journalists, but are always trying to capture and kill them.

The outbreak of the financial crisis in 2008 has led to a remarkable rebirth of the Group of 20, turning the club into the self-declared premier forum for global economic coordination. At the same time, the world was shocked by a global food crisis which had tremendous consequences in developing countries, where millions were no longer able to buy their daily food.

Wild garbage dumps are one of the biggest nuisances in Kabul. It just takes one walk through the streets of the capital to experience all kinds of odors. With children and animals also digging in the garbage, the piles also pose a severe health risk for Kabul’s citizens. The newly established garbage bins are a first step to make the city cleaner. Still, getting the entire system up and running will take some time.

The Russo-Georgian war of 2008 drastically showed up the flaws of Western policy for the region. In fact, it demonstrated the extent of dissent within the Western political community. To this day, the challenge of crafting a coherent and effective policy for Eastern Europe remains unresolved, on both sides of the Atlantic. What such a policy ought to look like is the subject of this article

The impact of foreign policy change under Obama on the East of Europe and the EU's Neighbourhood Policy.

The problem of Europe’s basic security deficit remains, and can lead to complications if left untreated. In the author’s view, the appropriate treatment is creation of a security community that covers the entire Euro-Atlantic area. A security community is a demilitarized political space. It can be alternatively described as a zone of stable peace.

The European Union has had a number of opportunities to be in demand in the area, which, by inertia, is called a post-Soviet one. However, its chances in the past two years have definitely increased. There are many reasons for that.

The world has been rocked by the most major financial and economic crisis in recent history. This exposed several aspects of financial system dysfunction. These not only increased the instability of the financial markets but also impeded their normal functioning as tools to allocate economic resources efficiently throughout the real economy. A lecture held by

Environmental protection is a hot discussed topic in industrialized countries, especially in Europe, whereas in developing countries such as Afghanistan this issue is not very popular due to poverty, war and the daily struggle to survive.

In May 2010, the Heinrich-Böll-Foundation and the Democratization Policy Council organized a policy roundtable in Berlin: “How to stop Bosnia and Herzegovina from further deteriorating? Time for a new transatlantic initiative”. The expert meeting brought together policy makers and analysts from Europe and America, including representatives from international organizations in Bosnia, with their counterparts from Germany.

Ukraine is an eastern outpost for the West and a western threshold of Europe for the East. The country needs strategic thinking today, and the EU’s Eastern Partnership can help achieve this.

There are two alternatives - either gradual convergence of the EU’s and Russia’s policies toward the countries, or a new period of competition. Then we could get an answer to the question of whether the EP can be a uniting platform for new relations between Russia and the EU, or whether it will be a source of discord?

To open up with the conclusion of this piece: The short war between Russian and Georgian forces in 2008 has not altered the strategic landscape of Europe. Rather, the clash has cleared the air from the smog of illusionary rhetoric about a new order for the continent. After the fact, the realities of power and dependence, of cooperation and conflict, the dilemmas of order and principle have become more obvious and debatable.

Soon after 2000, the European Union (EU) began to aspire to an increasingly robust role in conflict prevention and resolution in the South Caucasus. It sought to expand its role in the Georgian-Abkhaz, Georgian-Ossetian and Nagorno-Karabakh conflict resolution efforts. A turning point for its engagement was the 2008 Georgian-Russian war. The EU’s speedy response to that crisis was impressive and the Union has been actively engaged in addressing that conflict since.

Before 1989 the world was much simpler. Belonging to the Western camp and projecting decent democratic credentials guaranteed that a country would sooner or later be welcomed into the fold of European and Euro-Atlantic organisations. Today, the relationship between the European Union (EU) and its Eastern neighbours is much more complicated, as the ultimate question of 'Europe's borders' continues to haunt the EU and its members.

Since women and children are both vulnerable groups in our country, I will mostly focus on and consider these two groups. They face problems by any new evolution and changes in the country, Taliban regime is a clear example of it. If I get the chance to be a parliamentarian I would like to establish an advocacy group to lobby for women and children rights.