Commentary

Most discussions on Baltic Sea regional security focus on NATO, Russia, or pipelines, while forgetting social factors within the countries that make them less secure. In fact, research suggests that gender equality is actually a better indicator of a...

In the early hours of Jan. 13, 2021, Estonia’s coalition government consisting of the Center Party, the Conservative People’s Party of Estonia (EKRE) and Isamaa unexpectedly collapsed when Prime Minister Jüri Ratas (Center) tendered his resignation to President Kersti...

Joe Biden, defeating the incumbent Donald Trump, won the US presidential election and will be inaugurated as the 46th US president on Jan. 20, 2021. Biden has from the campaign trail expressed his intention to return to less fractious...

Since the poisoning of Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny in late August and his subsequent rehabilitation in a Berlin hospital, the controversial and beleaguered gas pipeline project between Russia and Germany has received intensified press attention. Nord Stream 2,...

“We mean what we say. We have never reneged on any commitment we have made. Our sacred honor is at stake.” This is an excerpt from a speech by Joe Biden, made during a visit to Riga, Latvia, in...

Sowing discontent and disruption is a tactic that the West has accustomed itself to when dealing with the Kremlin. The Baltic states are in a unique position in the face of these threats. Estonia and Latvia, specifically, have significant...

For years, the international attention paid to the “tiny Baltic nation” of Estonia was overwhelmingly positive. After pulling itself out of the doldrums of their Soviet past, Estonia embarked on a new direction, emphasizing open markets, liberal democracy, technological...

The Russian state-affiliated private military company known as the Wagner Group has proven adept at leveraging instability or weak institutions to further Russian influence abroad. Throughout 2020, the Russian Federation and Wagner have worked to support and enable Khalifa...

On October 4, Kyrgyzstan held parliamentary elections. Four political parties received enough vote to garner seats in the parliament. Of those four, three were closely aligned with then-President Sooronbay Jeenbekov. The results of the election sparked outrage against the...

The Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) is Chinese General Secretary Xi Jinping’s signature foreign policy project to expand the People’s Republic of China’s investment and trade ties in order to create “a big family of harmonious coexistence.” Hailed as...