Περιοδικό Στρατηγική, τεύχος Δεκεμβρίου 2012

Η Τουρκία και το Ισραήλ ασκώντας εξωτερική πολιτική βασιζόμενες, κατά το πλείστον της ιστορικής τους διαδρομής, στο ρεαλιστικό μοντέλο σκέψης των διεθνών σχέσεων, έχουν σαφή εικόνα των λειτουργιών του διεθνούς συστήματος και γνώμονά τους αποτελεί το εθνικό συμφέρον, όπως βέβαια αυτό ορίζεται από την εκάστοτε ηγεσία. Έχουν και οι δύο αντιληφθεί πως η μεν στρατηγική συνείδηση οφείλει να στηρίζεται στην ιστορία, ο δε στρατηγικός σχεδιασμός στην καθημερινή πραγματικότητα. Για αυτό και διέπονταν, διέπονται και θα διέπονται από «δυναμικές» σχέσεις συμφέροντος. Αυτές θα είναι ομαλές όταν το επιτάσσει το εθνικό τους συμφέρον, και θα παγώνουν όταν για οποιοδήποτε λόγο αντίκειται σε αυτό.

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Strategy International, May 07, 2011

1. Introduction

The issue of allegedly human rights violations committed by Kosovo Albanians during and after the Kosovo War is not really new. What is new however, are the evidence thrown on the table at the Council of Europe last January. Allegations have been aired for the past seven years but it was not until recently that some serious steps were made forward, deep into this case. The issue was the key topic on the agenda of the Parliamentary Assembly (PACE) winter plenary session (24-28 January 2011). Nearly three years ago, Carla Del Ponte, former Chief Prosecutor of the International Criminal Tribunal for Former Yugoslavia (ICTY), raised the issue when her highly controversial book The Hunt went public. Del Ponte accused Kosovo Albanians of organ trafficking after illicitly removed from kidnapped Serbs after the 1999 Kosovo War. But not well established accusations were brought before the ICTY. Until recently...

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Military Matters, February 28, 2011

Can a madman who seems to pose the question “I rule you or I kill you” be convinced to withdraw by the sanctions decided yesterday by the UN Council without military back up?

Rather belated, the US decided to pose unilateral sanctions on Libya and the EU, NATO, and the UN Security Council are following suit, with the latter adopting yesterday a unanimous decision to pose tough measures on the not-so-much Jamahiriya of Libya. Up to now, an overwhelming figure of 1,000 is estimated to be the death toll according to the Italian Minister of Foreign Affairs, Mr. Franco Frattini[1] and the UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon[2].

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Strategy International, February 8, 2011

Turkey’s path to an EU membership is a story that goes back to 1959 when it first requested its association to the Commons market, obtained only in 1963. Since then, many ups and downs followed that led to the last decade’s stalemate. Turkey decided to change the game and bargain harder. Everybody knows how good Turks are when it comes to bargaining. But it is time that Europe realizes that when a merchant shouts that he will soon be out of stock he only intends to sell more. EU member states should set their own rules instead of struggling to play Turkey’s game. A few years ago Greece vetoed Turkey’s accession to the EU. Turkish officials, including the former Minister of Foreign Affairs Yasar Yakis MP, continue to argue that all Europe wants Turkey in the Union and that the Greeks are the problem. To support this, Mr. Yakis has argued that Jacques Chirac has said in the past that “the EU, as a free trade union, could survive without Turkey, but if it wanted to perform a global responsibility it had to work together with Turkey”[1].

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The Scoop, The Henry Jackson Society, January 19, 2011

As if Haiti did not have enough problems to deal with already, here comes one more burden...

Former dictator Jean-Claude Duvalier, aka ‘Baby Doc’, has returned to Haiti amidst political instability, chronic economic problems, and spreading disease. In spite of a massive international support effort, the small Caribbean island is still struggling to recover from the devastating earthquake that hit last year, killing more than 316,000 people and flattening the capital, Port-au-Prince.

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