During the recent visit of an IIP delegation to the South Caucasus, I asked a civil society representative to describe Georgia in a few words. She answered: “Georgia is a small country in the South Caucasus, which wants to leave the Russian orbit and become part of the civilized world.” This description provides a concise summary of my impressions after two days of intensive discussions in Georgia’s capital, Tbilisi. According to our interlocutors, today’s Georgia must decide between a backward-looking orientation based on the old Russian model and a forward-looking orientation toward a more Western modernity.

At their most recent meeting in South Africa, the countries of the BRICS bloc – Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa – committed themselves to an expansion. They announced that a diverse group of countries composed of Argentina, Egypt, Iran, Ethiopia, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) have been invited to join as new members. Notably, three of these countries are energy-rich Middle Eastern states (Iran, Saudi Arabia, and the UAE). They are energy-rich in the traditional, hydrocarbon sense, but at least Saudi Arabia and the UAE are also trying to build out their sustainable energy capacities and modernize their energy infrastructure. In the meantime, they aim to sell as much gas and oil as possible. In that sense, this enlargement is certainly a strengthening of the BRICS – at least as long as oil and gas play an important role in the world’s energy supply. Nonetheless, the BRICS states have underlined their commitment to the Sustainable Development Goals and active climate policies. In order to achieve these goals, they will require the sustained support and cooperation of the West.

Eine kritische Betrachtung der Migrationspolitik europäischer Regierungen und die Herausforderungen einer aktiv gesteuerten Zuwanderung. Im Gastblog erklärt Europapolitiker Hannes Swoboda, warum eine Europa eine viel aktivere und gezieltere Migrationspolitik entwickeln und umsetzen muss.

Very few people desire a prolonged war between Ukraine and Russia – a war that risks ending in a nuclear disaster. But there are widely different opinions about how this war could be ended – not only between politicians and military experts but also between political scientists. The same is true of debates over why the war began and who started it. To talk of a possible and peaceful end to the war, we must first return to the beginning of the conflict. Although it may seem clear who started the war, there is an ongoing debate even in Western countries about where the “true” responsibility for the war lies.