The Near Abroad is getting nearer
Monday, June 23, 2008 at 3:23AM ARTICLE: "The East Looks West: The Kremlin may act triumphant, but Russia is losing its hold on the youth of former Soviet states," by Owen Matthews, Newsweek, 9 June 2008, p. 33.
EDITORIAL: "Chicken or Kiev? The European Union must not abandon its most successful policy when it comes to Ukraine," The Economist, 31 May 2008, p. 16.
Throughout the former Soviet republics, despite generations of tradition, we see elites and their kids increasingly skip the Russian and pick up English instead. Not just the Ukraine, but the Caucasus and in Central Asia, where the American U of Central Asia is found in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan. Gonna have to look that up when we adopt next.
So when Parag Khanna (Second World) writes off Central Asia to the Chinese, I guess this says, Not so fast!
Still, where I thought Khanna's stuff was superb was his take on the EU branding phenomenon, something the U.S. must learn from.
From the editorial:
It is, quite simply, the European Union's greatest achievement. The offer of EU membership to its neighbors in the east and south has proved a masterly way of stabilizing troubled countries and inducing them to make democratic and liberal reforms. The contrast with the United States, which despite spending billions of dollars has failed to find an equivalent policy for the countries of the Caribbean rim, is striking.
Amen, brother.
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