New articles on the TOL website

Middle Europa: When the Richest Czech Goes Shopping
Buying the CME media company was a good deal all round – for Petr Kellner. By Martin Ehl

Around the Bloc – 31 October
TOL’s regional news roundup: Russia and FIFA; a nuclear display of power;
NATO and Hungarians in Ukraine; Bulgarian diplomatic scandals; and a coup plot witness.

Conflict & Diplomacy: A Continent for the Taking
Russia steps up efforts to fill gaps left by America’s waning interest in Africa. From The Conversation. By Theo Neethling, 30 October 2019

Around the Bloc – 30 October Regional news highlights: the Armenian genocide; the cost of Russian sanctions; successful green activism in Kazakhstan; Bosnian military; and the Prague Castle skeleton.

Around the Bloc – 29 October
News from around the region: massive cyberattack hits Georgia; Russian money in Crimea; ethnic Kazakhs flee China; VW in Central Europe; and a Black Sealandmark.

Society: 30 Years After: Who Rules the Law?
Can a new generation of activist lawyers improve the law’s battered reputation in Central Europe? From Hospodarske noviny. By Martin Ehl, 29 October 2019

FROM THE TOL ARCHIVE – EDITORS’ PICK

China’s Checkbook Diplomacy
Central Europe continues to actively court Chinese investment. But
increased coziness with Beijing comes with tradeoffs, including a loss
in influence for the region’s traditional ally, the United States.  
by Prem Mahadevan, 4 August 2016

RUSSIA: ‘Will the Union Be Reborn?’
Nezavisimaya gazeta on 23 May published a proposal by the Council
on foreign and Defense Policy to ‘reintegrate’ most former Soviet states
over the long term by bolstering Russia’s natural economic dominance in
the region. While some Western commentators called the document,
excerpted here, a ‘call to arms,’ another interpretation suggests that it
represents serious thinking about creating an ‘enlightened’ Russian
sphere of influence. Ny Anna Paretskaya, Scott Parrish, 26 July 1996