Author: vraevski

The Hidden Struggle of the Countries of the Asia-Pacific Region for Their Own Geopolitical Interests

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15 APR countries have supported a comprehensive free trade agreement   Serhiy Polyovyk Determining their further geopolitical steps today, the leading countries of the world are somehow forced to take into consideration the current situation in the Asian region. I mean the November 2019 high-level meetings of the member states of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) in the Bangkok, capital of Thailand. At the summit, 15 countries confirmed their intention to enter into a major free trade agreement next year, called the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP). The draft agreement between 10 ASEAN member countries (Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand, Philippines, Vietnam, Myanmar, Brunei, Laos, Cambodia and Singapore) and their…

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EU Trade Agreements as a Tool to Protect the Interests of Member Countries

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Economic pragmatism remains the dominant lever in shaping world politics   Serhiy Polyovyk The European Union has signed 42 treaties with 73 countries in different regions of the world to reduce tariffs and facilitate business. In Europe, however, attempts are being made to resist some of these signed or planned agreements. The criticism of free trade opponents in some aspects is good, but short-sighted activists do not notice that these agreements offer not only economic but also serious political benefits. As trade agreements are considered an instrument of geopolitics, they are meant to peacefully defend interests in relations between states. Brussels, however, has generally no other instruments to achieve geopolitical goals, so Europe cannot abandon the practice of trade agreements.…

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V. Zelenskyi’s Baltic Tour

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The results of the Ukrainian President’s visits to Estonia and Lithuania   Roman Kot The Baltic countries, namely Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia, cannot be considered the most influential in the European Union. But they have always been and remain those who can be called the most reliable advocates of Kyiv in the international arena, and who have positive experience in adapting their political and economic systems to EU regulations. It was on these two directions that the two-day visit of President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyi to Estonia and Lithuania was focused. However, the reasons and directions of Kyiv’s interaction with Tallinn and Vilnius…

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Asia as the Focus of Attention of Western Experts and Media

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As Seen from Switzerland   Serhiy Polyovyk Western European countries’ media and expert environments have begun to pay increased attention to the development of relations with Asian countries. The researches draw attention to the growing importance of the Asian region, with more than 4 billion people currently living in its 20 economically important countries. Swiss political experts say that this population already provides a third of the world’s economic output. With such rapid growth, Far Eastern markets are attracting attention of even the highly developed Swiss economy. Taking into consideration economic, cultural and political peculiarities of the region, its having different religions, Asia can be considered the most diverse region…

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Ukraine-China

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Declarations and Dialogue by Inertia   Roman Kot Following the presidential and parliamentary elections in Ukraine, the actions of the new Ukrainian leadership on the Chinese direction demonstrate that Kyiv is interested in intensifying contacts with Beijing. However, some factors, such as Ukraine’s having no co-chairman of an intergovernmental commission and a Ukrainian Ambassador to China, hinder this bilateral political dialogue. In view of this, full cooperation between Ukraine and China is out of the question at the moment. However, in a number of spheres, positive dynamics can still be observed. Given the post-election temporary organizational uncertainty, bilateral political relations are virtually frozen. At the same time, progress in…

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The Cost of Marshal Zhukov’s Victories

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“…Do not spare soldiers!”   Oleksiy Volovych Ph.D. in History   In my opinion, not only historians but also high-level specialists in military history should write about G. Zhukov, assessing his activities. To write something more or less adequate about such ambiguous, contradictory and large-scale figure as G. Zhukov, the author (or perhaps a group of authors) should work with original documents for at least 5 years. Moreover, I think, G. Zhukov’s biography and his activities will be subject to research for more than one generation of historians. But it is not very interesting for us, Ukrainians. To us everything is clear about G. Zhukov. Let Russians concern themselves with him — he is…

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Protests in Ecuador, Bolivia, Chile and a Revenge of Left-wing Forces in Argentina

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Reasons for These Events and Consequences for the Region     Kateryna Vakarchuk Mid-autumn of 2019 was marked by many events in Latin America. At first glance, protests in Bolivia, Ecuador and Chile have much in common, but they do differ. Historically, leftist ideology has been spreading in Latin America for quite some time. As you know, Cuba became the mainstay of it, later — Nicaragua, El Salvador and, eventually, Venezuela. In the early 2000s, Left-wing forces came to power in 14 Latin American countries. 2019 unrest in South America Each of the three countries — Ecuador, Bolivia and Chile — where there are protests, has its own nature and…

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Allies’ Pragmatism. American Style

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The United States is trying to increase the money for the deployment of its troops in Japan and South Korea   Serhiy Polyovyk The United States is demanding that Japan and South Korea substantially increase their financial payments to compensate for the efforts of US troops in the confrontation with North Korea. The potential for blackmail is considerable: both, South Korea and Japan see the presence of US soldiers as an element of assurance that the USA is actually ready to protect them in case of war. The reduction or even withdrawal of US troops will most likely have dramatic consequences: if Japan and South Korea can no longer rely on the US nuclear shield, they…

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Will NATO Be Able to Restrain Russia?

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Western Experts’ Conclusions and Suggestions     Victor Hvozd In the face of Russia’s aggressive foreign policy, the question of the USA and NATO’s ability to hold back its expansion is quite important. This refers, first of all, to the Russian military sphere, which is considered the source of the most critical threats to the world and European security, as well as directly to Ukraine’s one. The situation in this sphere was assessed (October, 2019), in particular, by the RAND Corporation in the report “Trends in Russia’s Armed Forces. An Overview of Budgets and Capabilities”. The document provides a comparative analysis of the military capabilities of Russia and the…

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Iran: Petrol Price Riot

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Will the Iranians Have Patience for Long?   Vadym Volokhov Protests in Iran sprang up on Friday, November 15, when the government cut fuel subsidies and doubled petrol prices. The officials said that “this is a care for poor people, because the savings will be used to pay them financial aid”. According to the Iranian Fars news agency, rallies and mass demonstrations took place for three days in more than a hundred settlements. Fars news agency reported that the protests involved about 90,000 citizens, the vast majority of whom were men (82,000). Small groups of protesters attacked police, set on fire bank offices and shops, and some destroyed Muslim symbols. All in all, about 150 local…

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