Introduction

The Transatlantic Institute (TI) promotes and facilitates a new understanding of international issues, free of political partisanship and institutional bias.

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"Russians use ceasefire agreement as a basis for occupation" Ziba Norman, 26 August 2008
President Medvedev has officially recognised Abkhazia and South Ossetia as independent states. This move, taken in clear violation of international law and one with very clear advantages for Russia, marks the end of the first chapter of a story that began with an engagement between rebel separatists in South Ossetia and the Georgian army on 7 August, and ended with an invasion by Russia, supposedly acting as peacekeepers in the region.

"Russia's Challenge to NATO" Ziba Norman, 18 August 2008
Russia can no longer hide behind the claim that she was operating as a peacekeeper in the volatile Caucasus. Russia's challenge to Poland is loud and clear, it is a challenge to all members of NATO and the EU.

"Georgia--a broken country in a state of chaos" Ziba Norman, 15 August 2008
Georgia's President Saakashvili has officially signed a ceasefire agreement, together with Abkhazia, South Ossetia and Russia. Georgia's request to replace Russian troops with EU or UN troops in the occupied areas was, predictably, dismissed. Whilst it appears as though the areas of Georgia that are not within the disputed separatist enclaves will remain entirely within the control of the Georgian government, it is not yet clear what will happen in the days that follow. Will Russia withdraw from areas such as Gori, outside of the disputed territory of South Ossetia? What will happen with the forces that are reported to have mobilised less than 40 miles from Tbilisi itself? In short the next phase in this may be as dangerous as the last week, leaving a broken country in a state of chaos...

"Russia: more to gain in War than Peace" Ziba Norman, 10 August 2008
The movement of Russian forces into Georgia in the past few days is the most significant event since the end of the Cold War. Russian forces continue to pursue aggressive military operations deep within areas of the sovereign state of Georgia: these include the bombing of the civilian international airport in Tbilisi, bombing raids outside the disputed separatist region which have resulted in large numbers of civilian casualties, attacks on critical infrastructure in the Black Sea ports of Poti and Batumi amongst others, on depots for energy supplies, and on military sites. Where it will end is unclear, but Russia's strategic aims are only too plain...

"US Missile Defense Shield and Russia: Second Cold War as a Farce" Rashad Shirinov, Caucasian Review of International Affairs, Spring 2008
Karl Marx used to say that history repeats itself, first as tragedy, second as farce. In line with this, the entire recent idea of a missile defense shield that the US has been willing to install in Eastern Europe is reminiscent of that of the Cold War era, when two major superpowers were targeting their strategic missiles towards each other...

Podcast (mp3 audio) of highlights from our panel event on the Nagorno Karabakh conflict, 29 March 2007. Chair: Ziba Norman. Speakers: Thomas Goltz, Mark Grigoryan, Famil Ismailov, Thomas de Waal.

Democratiya/ TI Symposium: "Foreign Policy After Blair" Ziba Norman (mp3 audio), 1 July 2006
Podcasts of highlights from the symposium, introduced by Ziba Norman. Each of the four topics discussed is presented in a separate podcast.

"Problems of the development of Civil Society in Oil-producing countries: a lecture given to an invited audience, Nabran, Azerbaijan" William Arthurs, 10 June 2006

"Газовое оружие России: Газпром на подъеме" Зиба Норман (Ziba Norman), ИноСМИ.Ru, 21 декабря 2005
Для тех, кто следит за событиями в России, не должно было стать сюрпризом недавнее заявление "Газпрома" о планах продвижения на рынок США...

"Russia's Gas Weapon: Gazprom Rising" Ziba Norman, International Herald Tribune op-ed, 21 December 2005
How wise is it of the U.S. and Europe to cultivate a dependence on Russian state-owned Gazprom?

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Photograph: Transatlantic Institute director Ziba Norman meets Andrei Illarionov, former economic adviser to Vladimir Putin. On 21 December 2005, the day Ziba Norman's piece "Russia's Gas Weapon" appeared in the International Herald Tribune, Illarionov stated at his annual press conference "This year Russia has become a different country. It is no longer a democratic country. It is no longer a free country." Six days later he resigned.