EDITORIAL

Jason E. Strakes, PhD
(Associate Researcher, Ilia State University, Georgia)

Copyright: Research Institute for European and American Studies (www.rieas.gr) Publication date: 10 June 2015

In the years since the South Ossetia War of 8-13 August 2008, Western observers have produced much alarmist commentary regarding the imminent Russian threat to Georgia's continued existence as an independent state, and the imperative of greater Euro-Atlantic commitment to its deterrence.1 On one hand, this reflects the international public relations campaign launched by the former United National Movement (UNM) government to justify its unsuccessful strategy of reintegrating the disputed territories by force, which (in defiance of the 2009 EU Independent Fact Finding Mission Report) cast the conflict as a premeditated and expansionist gambit by Moscow.2 Yet, this narrative followed upon an existing unofficial domestic security doctrine during its incumbency from 2004-2012 that identified all major instances of organized political opposition or unrest as Kremlin-orchestrated actions, which both preceded and was reinforced by the five-day invasion.3 This essential credulity on the part of some U.S. and European representatives has encouraged the drawing of spurious associations between the August War and the Russian annexation of Crimea and involvement in the ensuing insurgency in the eastern oblasts of Ukraine since February 2014, in turn fueling the trope of entitlement to "shortcuts" to NATO membership among Georgian societal elites.4...Read more

Tassos Symeonides
(RIEAS Academic Advisor based in Seattle, USA)

Copyright: Research Institute for European and American Studies (www.rieas.gr) Publication date: 31 May 2015

The debt crisis has deeply affected Greece's sovereign abilities and has multiplied the difficulties in plotting for the future in ways that could offer an acceptable degree of confidence. As a result, dealing with the Balkan shifting sands becomes a thorny problem. Greece, however, can ill afford to let her guard down concerning developments in the region, which unfortunately constitutes her immediate strategic "depth." As Athens struggles under the rain of blows from the lenders and the hated troika (now euphemistically known as 'the institutions'), the international free-for-all surrounding her isn't taking a break. Only too recently, for example, neighboring FYROM (or 'Macedonia') came under renewed attack in the form of a Great Albania irredentist spasm with the reappearance of the Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA) thugs, who caused mayhem in the northern town of Kumanovo and other FYROM locations. By all counts, the risk of re-ignition in Greece's immediate periphery is again a major threat...Read more

Greece Absent... Again

Tassos Symeonides
(RIEAS Academic Advisor based in Seattle, USA)

Copyright: Research Institute for European and American Studies (www.rieas.gr) Publication date: 14 May 2015

It is a common secret that emergency responses by committee to a growing threat are rarely successful. Yet, in the absence of institutional willingness, organization, and action plans for a robust pushback, even committees may be of use.

This is exactly what the European Union is now attempting in the face of the illegal immigration deluge originating in North Africa...Read more

Ioannis Mantzikos
(PhD candidate at the Free State University of South Africa & RIEAS Research Associate)

Copyright: Research Institute for European and American Studies (www.rieas.gr) Publication date: 5 May 2015

Nigerians celebrated the electrifying victory returned one of its harshest former dictators to power, sobering challenges confront Muhammadu Buhari. Buhari warned the country's brutal Boko Haram insurgents that he would be coming after them. The victory of Muhammadu Buhari, in the March presidential poll, was viewed as a landmark - the first time a sitting president had been voted out of office. Equally important was incumbent Goodluck Jonathan's acceptance of defeat - not a given on a continent in which rulers have often gone to great lengths to retain power. He won 52.4 percent of ballots cast in a March 28-29 vote to unseat President Goodluck Jonathan and his People's Democratic Party, the first lawful transition of power since British colonial rule ended in 1960. Buhari's inauguration is scheduled for May 29 2015...Read more

Tassos Symeonides
(RIEAS Academic Advisor based in Seattle, USA)

Copyright: Research Institute for European and American Studies (www.rieas.gr)
Publication date: 28 April 2015

Luck is generally recognized as a crucial part of success.

Without it, most of us would admit, things can be a lot more complicated.

In politics, luck is not only important, it is critical. Right now, Greece needs luck more than any other ingredient in her struggle to survive the most barbaric "fiscal consolidation" in history which threatens to consume her very existence.

Cornered by her creditors, who demand she auctions her body and soul in the "free market" so that a practically unpayable mountain of debt is paid in full, Greece is being methodically drawn and quartered without hope of escape...Read more

Hussein Solomon
(Professor Hussein Solomon lectures in the Department of Political Studies and Governance at the University of the Free State, Republic of South Africa and is a Member of the Advisory Board of the Research Institute for European and American Studies (RIEAS).

Copyright: Research Institute for European and American Studies (www.rieas.gr)
Publication date: 28 April 2015

More than 15,000 people from 80 countries have already flocked to Iraq and Syria to fight under the banner of the Islamic State in Iraq and Greater Syria (ISIS) and their self-styled "Caliph" Abu Bakr Al-Baghdadi. The dangers that these pose are clearly evident in the recent terrorist atrocities in Australia, Canada, France and Libya. Indeed, the threat sleeper cells holds for national and global security cannot be under-estimated...Read more