nicu popescu

iata cateva impresii sumare despre africa de sud. pozele sunt aici si aici.

Pretoria.

pretoria (si johannesburg/jo’burg) au nivel de criminalitate sporit. deaceea toate ghidurile si travel advice-urile dau o sumedenie de sfaturi de  genul (toti stim ca acest tip de avertismente sunt exagerate):  conduci cu masina inchisa si geamurile trase ca sa nu vii agresat/jefuit cand opresti la rosu; la rosu opresti masina cu vreo 2-3 metri in spatele masinii din fata – in cazul vreunei urgente sa stergi putina fara a mai da inapoi; daca vrea cineva sa te jefuisca, dai imediat tot ce ti se cere caci foarte multi localnici sunt inarmati si nu vrei sa risti metode de persuasiune suplimentare; poarta cateva portofele false – in cazul in care esti jefuit dai cu usurinta un portofel dummy in care ai putini bani (pe cand restul banilor, cardurilor etc le tii la hotel sau in alta parte), te deplasezi cu masina de acasa pana la  destinatie (de exemplu parcarea supermarketurlui),  inainte de a iesi din masina te uiti in jur, opresti doar la statii peco, notiunea de a te plimba prin oras nu exista etc. cu alte cuvinte am aflat multe lucruri utile pe care nu le-am aflat in moldova anilor 90 :) Deci nu e de mirare ca in pretoria o sumedenie de case au garduri cu sarma ghimpata electrificata. oricum, in pretoria eram in tranzit spre adevarata africa.

road trip

am inchiriat o masina – chevrolet spark, care de fapt e daewoo matiz. dupa o seara la Pretoria mergem sa vedem adevarata africa de sud: kruger national park si oceanul indian. (more…)

ieri am prezentat raportul pe politica european de vecinatate la paris. urmeaza lviv, sofia, madrid, berlin si din nou bruxelles. vedeti mai jos cateva reactii la raport:

“Europe has finally recognised the importance of stability in its eastern neighbourhood. This is one of the reasons why the European Union adopted its Eastern Partnership policy, which is the initial, necessary step towards understanding what each Eastern neighbour needs. Now, argues this report, the policy needs to be moved from a neighbourhood relationship to a real partnership.”
Miroslav Lajcak, Foreign Minister of Slovakia

“If the European Union does not come together and forge a new, broader strategy towards the Eastern neighbourhood, it will find itself embroiled in  the region’s severe economic and security crisis. Wilson and Popescu’s report  offers a thorough analysis and is a sobering account of the state of the EU’s relationship with its neighbours to the East.”
Vaira Vike-Freiberga, former President of Latvia (more…)

abia am revenit din africa de sud, careia ii voi dedica un post separat. intre timp – iata un event report de la o masa rotunda la bruxelles despre ucraina. DC21 e un club initiat de cercetatori polonezi din mai multe think-tankuri din bruxelles (ceps, epc, the centre etc) care vor sa creeze o platforma pentru noile state membre ale ue sa promoveze mai intens subiectele de discutie pe care le intereseaza.

Quo Vadis, Ukraine?
The country ahead of the elections

30 September 2009
Event Report

On 30 September Discussion Club 21 (DC21) held its first meeting. The subject of the debate was the political situation in Ukraine ahead of the presidential elections, which are scheduled for January 2010. The meeting began with a short overview of the situation in Ukraine and was followed by three presentations given by the distinguished speakers: Olena Prystayko of EURussia Centre, Nicu Popescu of European Council on Foreign Relations (ECFR) and Vsevolod Chentsov from the Ukrainian Mission to the EU. (more…)

sunt in aeroportul din dubai en route spre africa de sud… iata un blogpost de pe euobserver despre ue-armenia. am mai abordat subiect relatiilor armenia-ue in februarie curent.

EU-Armenia: high-level, but low-profile

An Armenian acquaintance recently noted that Armenia is apparently the only Eastern Partnership (EaP) country that is really satisfied with the policy – all the other partners want either more, or less from the EU. Of course this highlights Armenia’s limited (or realistic) ambitions vis-a-vis the EU. But also the fact that Armenia, instead of constantly complaining that the EU is not doing enough (like Moldova, Ukraine and Georgia often do), pragmatically tries to benefit from what is on offer from the EU. (more…)

practic in toate statele (mai mult sau mai putin) democratice opozitia tinde spre pozitii ceva mai radicale, iar partidele de la guvernare au tendinta de a migra spre centru. observam acelasi lucru si in cazul moldovei. atat cu pcrm in 2001 cat si cu aie in 2009.

la o zi dupa alegerile parlamentare din 25 februarie 2001 l-am vazut pe vladimir voronin la posturile tv ruse (ort si ntv) vadit agitate ca alegerile din moldova au fost castigate de un partid care promitea ca va face limba rusa limba de stat si va adera la uniunea rusia-belarus. in acele interviuri voronin parea speriat, emotionat si absolut nepregatit de fericirea electorala ce i se pravalise pe proprii umeri si … nu a spus nimic. (more…)

In light of the Tagliavini report, it is perhaps worth discussing in greater details EU’s performance in Georgia’s conflicts as well. We all know that both Georgia and Russia (with South Ossetia) are responsible for escalating the game around the conflicts zones and ruthlessly rushing into a downward spiral of militarisation of the conflicts zones, particularly after Kosovo’s declaration of independence and Georgia’s perceived moves towards NATO in the first half of 2008. But EU failures are also worth discussing. The report only refers to them en passant:”over the years there was a gradual increase in European involvement in Georgia, which may be called forthcoming in terms of economic aid, politically friendly on the bilateral side, cooperative but cautious on contentious political issues and … mostly distanced [from] sensitive security issues. A good case in point was the European reluctance to take over the Border Monitoring Mission on the Caucasus range facing Russia, after Russia had vetoed the hitherto OSCE engagement in 2004.”

Behind this carefully calibrated phrase lies the story of EU’s failure to engage in conflict-resolution. (more…)

Moldova’s transfer of power is in full swing, confirming an earlier claim I made that Moldova is the only post-Soviet state (the Baltics aside) where every single transfer of power since 1991 took place through a tortuous, but still uninterrupted, cycle of elections. (Though, to be fair, Ukraine is more pluralistic and is likely to have a transfer of power through elections in Januari 2010.

Voronin’s fin de regime

On 9/11 Vladimir Voronin announced his resignation. Except for Communist party members few ventured to say a good word about Voronin’s eight years in power and except for the pro-Communist TV channels few seemed to regret it. It was also striking just how short and muted the farewell was (see a piece I wrote on that in Romanian). (more…)