Europe & Russia | The Santa Fe World Affairs Forum

Finland and Russia’s Changing Policies

March 9, 2015

Jyrki Iivonen, Director for Public Policy at the Finnish Ministry of Defense until he retired in September 2013

For more than a year, the Russian Federation has been flying combat and surveillance aircraft – with transponders off – over the Baltic Sea approaching and occasionally entering Finnish and Swedish airspace. Such dangerous and provocative actions have come with no prior warning. In response, these two Nordic countries signed an agreement with NATO to increase cooperation and interoperability – meant to send a warning to the Russians. Finland has an 833 mile border with Russia, the Finns have fought innumerable wars with its much larger neighbor but have also managed to convince the Russians that a Russian military invasion of Finland is simply too costly. The post-World War II policy of Finlandization ended quietly with the demise of the Soviet Union as Finland joined the Council of Europe, the European Union and NATO’s Partners for Peace thereafter.

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Finland and Russia’s Changing PoliciesPatK2019-05-01T14:20:27-07:00

Scientific and Technological Cooperation and the Trans-Atlantic Economy – the “Fifth Freedom”

November 25, 2014

James Gavigan, Minister Counselor, EU Mission to the United States

This program was held in collaboration with the Delegation of the European Union to the United States.

Even though the pursuit of new knowledge has never been delimited to national borders, the fact that public funds for science are largely in the hands of national authorities acts as a constraint on its international character. Moreover, the private financing of science mostly puts private interests ahead of the common good.

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Scientific and Technological Cooperation and the Trans-Atlantic Economy – the “Fifth Freedom”PatK2019-05-01T14:20:27-07:00

Slovakia in the European Union 10 Years On: Promises Fulfilled?

August 12, 2014

Rick Zednik, EURActiv CEO

The spring of 2004 was momentous in the history of independent Slovakia. On May 1 of that year, the country joined the European Union. Coming as it did less than five weeks after Slovakia joined NATO, this marked the culmination of a long process that was highly uncertain in the 1990′s. A decade later, we can now reflect on what enabled Slovakia to join these European and trans-Atlantic structures, and how the subsequent integration has fared.

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Slovakia in the European Union 10 Years On: Promises Fulfilled?PatK2019-05-01T14:20:27-07:00

The European Union: America’s Friend or Foe?

June 11, 2013

Brian E. Carlson, Ambassador, experienced public diplomacy specialist and a former Career Minister in the U.S. Foreign Service

Does America have anything to fear from the new EU? Are our closest allies moving away from trans-Atlantic organizations like NATO and becoming a large, powerful and competing coalition? Can the EU be a partner for American business, diplomacy and socio-economic goals? Is the EU likely to “eat America’s lunch” in the world economy, or drag us down in Europe’s own morass of dubious debt and rampant regulation?

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The European Union: America’s Friend or Foe?PatK2019-05-01T14:20:27-07:00

Hungary Today: Examining Solutions to Intractable Problems

December 8, 2011

Deborah Cornelius, historian of East Central Europe

Why has the popularly elected government of this small nation surrounded by Austria, Slovakia, Ukraine, Romania, Serbia and Croatia received so much criticism? Why has Slovakia challenged a recently enacted law allowing ethnic Hungarians living in regions formerly part of Hungary to apply for Hungarian citizenship, despite the existence of similar laws in other countries? Why is Hungary’s new Constitution, its first permanent written constitution since 1949, being questioned? And just how stable and prosperous is this fascinating country in the heart of Central Europe? (more…)

Hungary Today: Examining Solutions to Intractable ProblemsPatK2019-05-01T14:20:28-07:00

Crisis in the Eurozone: Germany and the PIGS

September 30, 2011

Christine Sauer, Professor of Economics and Director of the International Studies Institute at the University of New Mexico. A native of Germany, she received her undergraduate training at the University of Kiel

Fear of contagion from the 18-month old Greek debt crisis grips other Eurozone countries with high fiscal deficits, large public debts and/or weak banks. Financial markets are on edge. Public discontent is at an all-time high. How did we get here? Is the Eurozone doomed? What should Germany’s role be? And who are the PIGS? (more…)

Crisis in the Eurozone: Germany and the PIGSPatK2019-05-01T14:20:28-07:00