Yesterday on Foreign Policy Christian Caryl published one of those "Russia-more-isolated-now-than-ever-thanks-to-their-own-policies-of-confrontation" type of articles.  We are beginning to see this topic come around and around ever since the Ukraine smackdown, but the trend has been building over the past number of years - I would say well before the war with Georgia.  What I like about Caryl's piece is that he points out that it certainly doesn't have to be this way, and that Russia's missteps with its neighbors could be easily corrected should the leadership ever get it right.

Russia's ability to get in its own way remains a cause for much head-scratching in the region. "When they tried to stop NATO enlargement, whom did they discuss it with? The United States and Germany," notes Kadri Liik, Director of the International Center for Defense Studies in Tallinn, Estonia. "But in fact

...

by Edward Hugh: Barcelonabr /br /This post accompanies my recent piece on Sweden. I have been scratching my head and trying to see what could be learnt from making a comparison between Finland and Sweden. Some of the differences are obvious - one is in the euro, and the other isn't, once can adjust monetary policy and currency values, and the other can't. Others are less so. Finland's goods trade surplus has been declining steadily since joining EMU while Sweden's has remained relatively constant. And Swedish males live on average three years longer than their Finnish counterparts. So what is important here, and why? And if convergence theory has anything positive to be said for it, shouldn't we be able to observe so sort of convergence going on here.br /br /br /First, and just to remind ourselves, here is the chart from Claus Vistesen which shows what the relation ...

On the eve of the recent visit of Vladimir Putin to Helsinki, a presentation of my film about the Nord Stream gas pipeline took place there in the parliament of Finland. The crowd wasn't very large - maybe 30 people.  However among the small audience was one of Nord Stream's top representative in Finland, Sebastian Sass. Young, energetic, and self-assured to the point of cockiness, Sebastian had previously been an assistant to the former Prime Minister of Finland Paavo Lipponen.  Lipponen, as our readers are aware, is the second head of state to leave politics and end up employed (indirectly) by the Russian government.  His duties include serving as the main interlocutor between the pipeline project and the Finnish government, "in order

...

TODAY: NATO ministerial level meeting to take place in Corfu; deputies suggests nationalization of troubled Pikalyovo factory; gay rights activist to sue Moscow mayor; blacklisting practice; bribery affecting the poor'We have always had quite good relations with the Korean leadership but what has happened arouses very big concern': says President Medvedev on North Korea.  The Kremlin has stated that it may support economic sanctions against the rogue state to convince it to put a halt to its nuclear program.  US and Russian officials have concluded their talks on strategic arms reduction without comment from Russia, but the US negotiator, Rose Gottemoeller, has called them 'productive'.  NATO and Russia Foreign Ministers are set to meet in Corfu on June 27 in the ...

Wait, I thought this stuff only happened every New Year's?  Though the heating of homes won't be an issue in June/July, you know how the Europeans are about gas-fired kitchens...  From Reuters:

"Gazprom will only supply the gas which has been prepaid. Without the gas pumped into storage Ukraine will simply not survive and will be forced to take gas destined for transit," Putin told a news conference in Helsinki.

"This may lead to a stoppage of gas transit to Europe in the end of June or start of July," Putin said.

It's been an interesting week here in Helsinki, where I have been attending the Finnish-Russian Civic Forum. In addition to showing my short documentary film on the Nord Stream project (which produced a spirited debate), I had the opportunity to speak with the leader of the United Civic Front, the grandmaster Garry Kasparov, who had come to Finland to support his friend for a Europarliament election. I took the opportunity to ask Garry for his thoughts on Russia's ambitious pipeline projects.

- Garry, the future of the gas pipeline along the bottom of the Baltic now depends to a large extent on the Finns and the Swedes. Here in Finland, as in other countries bordering the Baltic Sea, this project is being broadly

...

Igor Torbakov from the Finnish Institute of International Affairs in Helsinki has an opinion piece on the Russian tandemocracy of Vladimir Putin and Dmitry Medvedev posted over at EurasiaNet, examining how this political structure may be insufficiently flexible and adaptive to handle the economic crisis.  Torbakov argues that a "brittle and arcane management structure" hampers innovation through a less than meritorious system of promoting on the basis of loyalty, and that Russia's current power set-up makes it difficult to imagine reform coming any time soon.

But the real question is whether Russia's paramount leader - Putin - is ready to admit that the system he built has turned out to be dysfunctional. Until an answer manifests itself, Russia will find itself stuck. Putin's dependence on managed democracy has left

...

Igor Torbakov from the Finnish Institute of International Affairs in Helsinki has an opinion piece on the Russian tandemocracy of Vladimir Putin and Dmitry Medvedev posted over at EurasiaNet, examining how this political structure may be insufficiently flexible and adaptive to handle the economic crisis.  Torbakov argues that a "brittle and arcane management structure" hampers innovation through a less than meritorious system of promoting on the basis of loyalty, and that Russia's current power set-up makes it difficult to imagine reform coming any time soon.

But the real question is whether Russia's paramount leader - Putin - is ready to admit that the system he built has turned out to be dysfunctional. Until an answer manifests itself, Russia will find itself stuck. Putin's dependence on managed democracy has left

...

Karinna Moskalenko believes that foreign leaders have a moral duty ask the Russian president difficult questions, regardless of the inconvenience. We agree. From the Helsingin Sanomat:

A day after the visit to Finland of Russian President Dmitri Medvedev, a Russian visitor of a different kind arrived in Helsinki.Right at the beginning of the interview, human rights lawyer Karina Moskalenko, 55, takes up a matter that has caused her some consternation during her visit to Helsinki."Why didn't your president speak about Russia's human rights situation during Medvedev's visit? Relations between countries cannot be built without speaking about human rights. If there is a problem, it should not be kept in silence", says Moskalenko. ...

In the past we've blogged about the composer Arvo Pärt dedicating a symphony to Mikhail Khodorkovsky, and given the second show trial, he has spoken out again in his defense.  Below is a follow up from Helsingin Sanomat:

"He is a genius, amazing, a great talent, who has a warm heart and a pure vision."This is how Estonian composer Arvo Pärt describes jailed Russian businessman Mikhail Khodorkovsky, to whom he has dedicated his fourth symphony (Los Angeles).The European première was in Helsinki on Thursday, April 16th, just a few months after the world's first performance, which was conducted by Esa-Pekka Salonen in Los Angeles. "All of the bad things that you have read about Khodorkovsky is propaganda put out by the Russian state", Pärt declares. "I have not met ...