Wider Europe

What are the Ukrainians playing at?

Eggs, smoke bombs and the Black Sea Fleet. Ukraine is back to playing the game it knows best: the balancing act between East and West.

World War II finally ends

The tragedy of the Polish air crash has formed a new bond between Poland and Russia. But will they be able to do in the east what France and Germany have done in the west?

Eastern Europe after the tragedy in Smolensk

The tragedy of the Smolensk plane crash has led to a strengthening of the rapprochement between Moscow and Warsaw. But is the reconciliation built upon more than a hug between Vladimir Putin and Donald Tusk?

The EU?s ?slow food? enlargement

The EU enlargement debate used to be about expanding freedoms and preventing conflict. But a lot of Europeans now think that whatever lies outside the EU?s borders can stay there.

The soft power of hard states

It’s tempting to think that hard states like China and Russia cannot offer anything in terms of soft power. But Europe and the US need to understand that this viewpoint is no longer valid

Yanukovych and Nixon

President Yanukovych could be a ?Ukrainian Nixon’: Just as Nixon used his anti-communist credentials to pave his engagement with China, Yanukovych could use his pro-Russian credentials to reassure Ukraine’s Russian-speaking population while reaching out to Europe

Bosnia: The end of integration?

Debate over how to help a crisis-striken Bosnia ranges from involvement to encouragement. But a third, unpalatable option for a frustrated EU may lurk just behind the scenes: abandonment

Dobro do?li to the Balkans, Baroness Ashton

Catherine Ashton visits the Western Balkans in her first official foreign trip, and is again roundly criticised. But this troubled region could do with her attention