Eurasian Farmers "Invaded" Africa at Least 4,500 Years ago, 4 to 7% of African Genome is Eurasian

Geneticists have sequenced the first prehistoric genome from Africa: that of Mota, a hunter-gatherer man who lived 4500 years ago in the highlands of Ethiopia. Named for the cave that held the remains, the Mota genome gives scientists their first glimpse into what an African genome looked like prior to many recent migrations in Africa. This ancient Ethiopian highlander is most closely related to the Ari, an ethnic group that speaks Omotic languages in the Ethiopian highlands today. And when researchers compared Mota's genome to that of other Africans, Europeans, and Asians, they got a surprise: Africa is usually seen as a source of outward migrations, but the genomes suggest a major migration into Africa by farmers from the Middle East, possibly about 3500 years ago. These farmers' DNA reached deep into the continent, spreading even to groups considered isolated such as the Khoisan of South Africa and the pygmies of the Congo.

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2nd link.

3rd link.

The Link Between Tectonics & Climate in Miocene Neogene Asian Interior's Aridification

Late Miocene stepwise aridification in the Asian interior and the interplay between tectonics and climate

Authors:

Sun et al

Abstract:

The mid-latitudinal central Asian continent is characterized by large sand deserts and Gobi (stony desert). In this context, it is of interest to study the timing and forcing mechanisms of aridification in the region. Here we present multiple geochemical climatic proxies from late Cenozoic strata in the Tarim Basin of northwestern China, a region sensitive to climatic change. The results yield long-term climatic records covering a time interval of 13.3 to 2.5 Ma. We find that a general trend towards a dry climate was superimposed by two stepwise aridification events, the first lesser aridity phase occurred at ~ 7–5.3 Ma and the second extreme aridity episode was initiated at ~ 5.3 Ma. Based on the correlation between climatic change and regional tectonic events, we propose a mechanism to explain the climatic variations. The general long-term drying trend since the mid-Miocene was a response to global climatic cooling, while the stepwise aridification since the latest Miocene was controlled mainly by regional tectonic uplift.

What is the Eurasian Union for?

“IT IS like you’ve been dating a girl for a long time,” grins Pavel Andreev, an editor at a state-controlled broadcaster, Rossiya Segodnya, explaining why it has taken so long to press ahead with the Eurasian Union. “You’ve met the parents, you’ve spent a weekend with the families, and now you want to get engaged…Eurasian integration has been painfully slow, but it’s moving forward.”

Often seen as an artefact of Vladimir Putin’s nostalgia for the Soviet Union, the Eurasian Union has been largely ignored in the West. Yet it is in the margins of a Eurasian Union summit in Minsk next week that Mr Putin will meet the Ukrainian president, Petro Poroshenko. And it was the decision by Mr Poroshenko’s predecessor, Viktor Yanukovych, to embrace the project, rejecting a deal with the European Union, which touched off last winter’s protests in Kiev. That decision was not simply a capitulation to Russian empire-building, for this is not what Russia wants. Rather, says Dmitri Trenin of the Carnegie Moscow Centre, it chafes over the lack of a big group that gives it more standing with the EU.

The offices of the Eurasian Union, or the Eurasian Economic Commission as it is officially known, are in a swanky Moscow high-rise building festooned with gold letters. In the lobby, clocks showing the time in the union’s three capitals—Moscow, Minsk, and Astana—cluster together, leaving plenty of room for more. Besides Belarus and Kazakhstan, Russia is keen to add Kyrgyzstan, and Armenia’s president, Serzh Sargsyan, has said he will join. But Mr Poroshenko is just an observer.

Russian officials tout the union’s potential—trade could include everything from Belarus’s heavy machinery to Kazakhstani beef (see article). Trade within the union has grown by over 30% since 2011, they say. Yet Mr Trenin says the economic benefits of expansion are questionable. Discounting the initial burst after the removal of trade barriers in early 2011, annual trade growth has been more like 1.5%. Some officials say it will pick up, as it did with the EU. But the union’s own trade minister, Andrey Slepnev, does not think it will pull Russia’s economy out of stagnation.

With expectations so low, you might wonder what the Eurasian Union is for.

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Putin Pushes Harder on Eurasian Union Integration With Ukraine Crisis

After offering a coldly efficient example in Ukraine of the use of hard power, Russia’s paramount leader Vladimir Putin is turning his attention to shoring up Moscow’s soft power capabilities, namely keeping his vision for Eurasian unification on track. There are signs, however, that his Eurasian aspirations will be more difficult to fulfill than his Crimean land-grab.

Putin on March 5 convened a snap summit in Moscow, also attended by Kazakhstan’s Nursultan Nazarbayev and Belarus’ Alexandr Lukashenko. The meeting’s aim was perhaps more propagandistic than substantive, designed mainly as a show of diplomatic support amid Western efforts to isolate and punish Russia for what critics see as its de facto occupation of the Crimean peninsula. At the same time, it provided Putin an opportunity to test his cohorts’ resolve to press ahead with integration. Russia, Kazakhstan and Belarus are currently co-joined in a customs union.

Putin’s Eurasian integration vision is widely seen as an ideological alternative to the EU that some have dubbed “Soviet Union lite.” Ukraine had been considered a key cog in Putin’s planned system. And now, with the Euromaidan Revolution poised to redirect Ukraine toward the West, Moscow policy planners are scrambling to make sure Eurasian unification sticks to the Kremlin timetable. A key date from the Kremlin’s standpoint is May 1, by which time a pact formally creating the Eurasian Economic Union (EAU) is due to be signed. Current customs union members – Russia, Kazakhstan and Belarus – are expected to form the EAU’s cornerstone. Armenia and Kyrgyzstan also have pledged to join, with other formerly Soviet states potentially to follow.

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Hat tip to Randy.

Evidence of Eurasian Introgression in Southern and Eastern African Populations

Ancient west Eurasian ancestry in southern and eastern Africa

Authors:

Pickrell et al

Abstract:

The history of southern Africa involved interactions between indigenous hunter–gatherers and a range of populations that moved into the region. Here we use genome-wide genetic data to show that there are at least two admixture events in the history of Khoisan populations (southern African hunter–gatherers and pastoralists who speak non-Bantu languages with click consonants). One involved populations related to Niger–Congo-speaking African populations, and the other introduced ancestry most closely related to west Eurasian (European or Middle Eastern) populations. We date this latter admixture event to ∼900–1,800 y ago and show that it had the largest demographic impact in Khoisan populations that speak Khoe–Kwadi languages. A similar signal of west Eurasian ancestry is present throughout eastern Africa. In particular, we also find evidence for two admixture events in the history of Kenyan, Tanzanian, and Ethiopian populations, the earlier of which involved populations related to west Eurasians and which we date to ∼2,700–3,300 y ago. We reconstruct the allele frequencies of the putative west Eurasian population in eastern Africa and show that this population is a good proxy for the west Eurasian ancestry in southern Africa. The most parsimonious explanation for these findings is that west Eurasian ancestry entered southern Africa indirectly through eastern Africa.

hm.  I wonder how this intersects with the lack if Neandertal genetic components in African populations.

Ukraine Inches Closer to Eurasian Union Membership

The Ukrainian government approved Wednesday a programme of cooperation with former Soviet states that have joined the Customs Union, although rapprochement with the Russia-led bloc has fuelled continuing pro-Europe protests in Kiev.

The programme details cooperation with member states of the Customs Union up to 2020, though without "any mention of Ukraine's plans to join the Customs Union" until then, Viktor Suslov, Ukraine's representative in the integration process, told AFP.

Before the government approved it, Prime Minister Mykola Azarov said the programme offers a "detailed plan of developing trade and economic relations ... in the industrial, auto, aerospace, and ship-building, agriculture, transportation, and tourism sectors."

Kiev in November backed out of a long-discussed Association Agreement with the European Union, which would have sealed closer cooperation with Europe, and instead signed a slew of strategic partnership deals with Moscow.

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Russia-Belarus-Kazahkstan Customs Union Ready for 2015 Launch

Russian President Vladimir Putin said on [Christmas Eve] the final pieces were in place for the 2015 launch of an economic union with Belarus and Kazakhstan that Moscow hopes can also be joined by Ukraine.

Putin promised following talks with Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev and Belarussian leader Alexander Lukashenko that the so-called Eurasian Economic Union would turn into a new source of growth for all involved.

The alliance would replace a much looser Eurasian Customs Union that Russia formed with the two ex-Soviet nations in an effort to build up a free trade rival to the 28-nation EU bloc.

"Government representatives of the troika (Russia, Kazakhstan and Belarus) ... have developed the draft of the institutional part of the Eurasian Economic Union agreement," Putin said in televised remarks.

"This document determines the international legal status, organisational frameworks, the objectives and mechanisms of how the union will operate starting on January 1, 2015," Putin said.

Putin has made the creation of a post-Soviet economic union that could one day even be joined by nations such as Turkey and India the keystone project of his third Kremlin term.

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Putin Agrees to $15 Billion Bond Buy, Cut Natural Gas Buy by 30%

Russian President Vladimir Putin upped the stakes Tuesday in the battle over Ukraine's future, saying Moscow will buy $15 billion worth of Ukrainian government bonds and sharply cut the price of natural gas heading to its economically struggling neighbor.

The announcements came after Putin held talks in Moscow with Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych, who is facing massive protests at home for his decision to shelve a pact with the European Union in favor of closer ties with Moscow.

Economic experts say Ukraine desperately needs to get at least $10 billion in the coming months to avoid bankruptcy.

While Putin sought to calm the protesters in Kiev by saying that he and Yanukovych didn't discuss the prospect of Ukraine joining the Russian-dominated Customs Union, the sweeping Kremlin agreements are likely to fuel the anger of demonstrators who want Ukraine to break from Russia's orbit and integrate with the 28-nation EU.

Russian Finance Minister Anton Siluanov said after the Kremlin talks that Russia would purchase $15 billion in Ukraine's Eurobonds starting this month.

Putin emphasized that Russia's decision to buy the Ukrainian bonds wasn't contingent on that government freezing any social payments to its citizens — a clear jab at the International Monetary Fund, which has pushed Ukraine to reduce spending as a condition for providing a bailout loan.

Putin said the Russian state-controlled gas monopoly, Gazprom, will cut the price that Ukraine must pay for Russian gas deliveries to $268 per 1,000 cubic meters from the current level of about $400 per 1,000 cubic meters.

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Russia Ties More Strings to Yanukovich With Loan to be Announced

Russia signaled on Monday it was about to agree a loan deal with Ukraine to help its indebted neighbor stave off economic chaos and keep it in its former Soviet master's orbit.

In snowbound Kiev, the opposition went ahead with plans for another big rally for Tuesday against what they see as moves by President Viktor Yanukovich to sell out national interests to Russia after he backed away from a landmark deal with the European Union that would have shifted their country westwards.

An aide to Russian President Vladimir Putin suggested a credit would be agreed at talks with Yanukovich in Moscow on Tuesday, and Ukraine's energy minister said a deal was also very probable on lower prices for Russian gas.

Yanukovich has turned to Moscow for money after spurning the chance of joining a free trade pact with the EU, despite the risk of protests against him swelling. He also visited China this month as he sought the best deal for his country.

"The situation in Ukraine is now such that without loans, from one side or another, they will simply fail to maintain economic stability," Andrei Belousov, an economic adviser to Putin, told Interfax news agency. "I do not rule out that, if there is a request, a credit could be provided (to Ukraine)."

Russia's Finance Ministry confirmed talks on a loan were under way. Ukraine's dollar bond prices rallied and debt insurance costs fell on the growing expectations Moscow could reach agreements with Kiev.

"I consider it a positive. A Russia deal is better for Ukraine in the short term as it is more likely Ukraine will get more financial support more quickly," said Charles Robertson, emerging markets economist at Renaissance Capital.

Investors have fretted that without international support, Ukraine will struggle to repay debt that falls due next year.

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Russia Atempts to Woo Ukraine Again

Russian President Vladimir Putin made a new attempt to woo Ukraine on Thursday after the European Union and United States stepped up efforts to pull Kiev out of its former Soviet master's orbit.

A day after European and U.S. officials held talks with Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovich in Kiev, Putin used a state of the nation address to tout the economic benefits of joining a customs union that he wants Ukraine to be part of.

Yanukovich - who is seeking the best possible deal for his country of 46 million as it tries to stave off bankruptcy - provoked street protests in Kiev by spurning the chance to sign a free-trade pact with the EU last month and saying he wanted to revive ties with Russia instead.

But he has hedged his bets by making no commitment to join the Moscow-led customs union and holding out the possibility that Kiev could still sign an association agreement that would deepen cooperation with the EU.

"Our integration project is based on equal rights and real economic interests," Putin said of the customs union with Belarus and Kazakhstan, which he wants to turn into a political and trading bloc to match the United States and China.

"I'm sure achieving Eurasian integration will only increase interest (in it) from our other neighbors, including from our Ukrainian partners."

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Embattled Yanukovich Does Political Dances, Criticized by Kravchuk

Ukraine's embattled President Viktor Yanukovych on Tuesday promised that some demonstrators arrested in the massive protests sweeping the capital will be released, part of a bid to defuse a political stand-off that is threatening his leadership.

Yanukovych also vowed to renew talks with the European Union on concluding a much-awaited trade and political agreement, after his refusal to sign the deal last month prompted the biggest protests since 2004's pro-democracy Orange Revolution, some drawing hundreds of thousands of people to Kiev's streets.

Yanukovych indicated he was still up to sign the deal at a summit in spring, but only if the EU can offer better financial terms.

"We want to achieve conditions which satisfy Ukraine, Ukrainian producers, the Ukrainian people," Yanukvoych said in a televised meeting with his three predecessors meant to find a solution to the standoff. "If we find understanding and if such compromises are reached, the signature will be put" on paper.

Three weeks of protests against Yanukovych's decision to align with Russia have grown larger and more vehement after police twice violently dispersed demonstrators. Tensions escalated even further Monday when armed law enforcement troops stormed the office of the top opposition party, breaking glasses and smashing doors.

The opposition is demanding the release of the roughly dozen protesters who remain in jail and calling for the government to be replaced by one committed to European integration. It was unclear whether Yanukovych's hedging offers would bring the sides closer together.

Yanukovych said that he has asked the prosecutor-general to ensure the release of some of the protesters — those who haven't committed grave crimes and who have children or families.

"Certainly, such people will be released," he said. Investigations of those freed would continue.

But Yanukovych appeared unreceptive to the criticism voiced by Leonid Kravchuk, Ukraine's first president after the country's independence from the Soviet Union in 1991, who said that beating protesters is unacceptable.

"Law enforcement must know that it is forbidden to beat people. And there can be no justification for anyone" who does so, a stern Kravchuk said, sitting beside Yanukovych and two other former leaders at a table decorated with blue and yellow flowers — the colors of the Ukrainian national flag.

Yanukovych insisted that both sides were guilty, smiling and laughing as he spoke.

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Russia Air Force Moves Su-27 Flanker Fighters to Base in Belarus

A Russian fighter jet unit has arrived at a Belarusian airbase where it will be stationed on alert duty as part of an integrated regional air defense network, Belarusian news agency BelaPAN reported.

Four Russian Air Force Sukhoi Su-27 Flanker fighter jets and technical personnel have been based at the Baranovichi airbase, BelaPAN said on Sunday.

The Russian Defense Ministry recently announced plans to deploy a fighter jet regiment in Belarus by 2015. The majority of the planes will be stationed at a future Russian airbase in Lida, a town in northwestern Belarus, near the Polish and Lithuanian borders.

The airbase will be Russia’s first on Belarusian territory in modern times and will consolidate defense cooperation under the auspices of the Union State of Russia and Belarus, defense officials in Moscow have said.

European defense officials have bristled at evidence of Russia’s increased military deployments close to NATO’s border, claiming it fuels tension with former Communist bloc countries in Central Europe and the Baltic States.

But Moscow has repeatedly said Russian-Belarus defense ties are a legitimate effort to ensure a solid defense for the countries’ Union State.

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Ukraine's Euromaidan Revolution: Gaining Steam or Self Flagellation?

Thousands of protesters besieged government buildings in Ukraine's capital on Monday to demand the ouster of the prime minister and his Cabinet, as anger at the president's decision to ditch a deal for closer ties with the European Union gripped other parts of the country and threatened his rule.

Local officials in western Ukraine have openly sided with the protesters, while the major national television channels have scaled back their support for the government. In Parliament, President Viktor Yanukovych's party has suffered defections, potentially putting the government at risk of losing a no-confidence vote that could come as early as Tuesday.

With protesters blocking entrances to the Cabinet and central bank buildings, Yanukovych called European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso and asked if he could send a delegation to discuss some aspects of the association agreement, Barroso said in a statement. Barroso said he agreed. The commission refused to say when such a meeting might take place.

Polish President Bronislaw Komorowski said that the EU dialogue with Ukraine was being put back on track with the participation of Ukraine's first deputy prime minister, Serhiy Arbuzov, and that it included possible financial support.

The protests began more than a week ago, but were galvanized when riot police used force to disperse demonstrators early Saturday. A protest rally the next day drew hundreds of thousands, who filled a huge central square.

It was unclear whether the opposition would get the 226 votes it needs in the 450-seat parliament to oust Prime Minister Mykola Azarov and his Cabinet. The opposition controls about 170 seats, but independents hold 35 more and the governing Party of Regions was shedding support. At least three of its lawmakers quit in protest and one of them, Inna Bohoslovska, previously a vocal government supporter, called on other legislators to leave the party. A top Agriculture Ministry official also resigned Monday.

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Sean at Sean's Russia Blog worries Ukrainians are setting themselves up with unrealistic expectations as to what it means to be in Europe. With good reason I would say.  My personal experience is there are a lot of Ukrainians who build their expectations up unrealistically and then when reality fails to match up, a deep cynicism and unwillingness to attempt the problem again.  Or a rejection of the possibility.  I hope Ukrainians do not do this with regards to the European Union.  They will not be transformed overnight into Germany.  Or even Poland.  This is going to be a long, hard slog.  Signing the agreement is one step on a 100 km road.

Ukrainian Opposition Claims 350,000 Protesters at Rally, Gets Provocative

Ukrainian opposition leaders called on Sunday for President Viktor Yanukovich and his government to resign at a rally of about 350,000 people, the biggest protest in the capital Kiev since the "Orange Revolution" of nine years ago.

On a day of huge emotion, which also marked the anniversary of Ukraine's 1991 referendum on independence from the Soviet Union, opposition leaders denounced Yanukovich for walking away from a pact offered by the European Union and swinging trade policy back towards Russia.

"They stole the dream," heavyweight boxer-turned-opposition politician Vitaly Klitschko told the crowds on Independence Square.

"If this government does not want to fulfill the will of the people, then there will be no such government, there will be no such president. There will be a new government and a new president," declared Klitschko, himself a contender for the next presidential election due in 2015.

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A General Strike: New Chapter in 50 Shades of Orange? Or Pointless?

Ukraine's political opposition said on Saturday it would set up a headquarters of national resistance following clashes between police and pro-Europe protesters and had begun to organize a country-wide strike.

"We have taken a common decision to form a headquarters of national resistance and we have begun preparations for an all-Ukraine national strike," former economy minister Arseny Yatsenyuk, one of three opposition leaders, told journalists.

He said the opposition parties sought the resignation of the government and early parliamentary and presidential elections to force out President Viktor Yanukovich.

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Those of you who have followed this blog know I am not a fan of Yanukovich.  He's a crook and a monster on a personal level.  You also know I am not  a fan of Timoshenko (Tymoshenko) either: the woman is a Ukrainian flavoured Ann Coulter.  Frankly, in many ways, Ukraine has developed into the situation which it has earned: the pettiness of its politics are obscene.  You think the US has dysfunctional political parties?  The worst of the Republicans and the Democrats ought to go take positions as interns at the Rada.

However, ranting aside...

It ought to be damned apparent Ukraine is under tremendous pressure right now.  Russia, which has the economic strings still, has enormous influence.  Putin does NOT want Ukraine to become part of the European Union.  He wants Ukraine to be part of the Eurasian Union, what some are calling the Soviet Union v2.0.  Truthfully, if I were Putin, with Putin's biases, I'd want Ukraine to be part of it, too: I have food security, a ethnically related population which I can absorb easier than any other than perhaps Belarus and I have several other - if developed - points for economic growth as well.  Just think!  1/3 of Ukrainians would probably uproot for better jobs.  Russian and Ukrainian are pretty close...so, 15 million workers!  Huzzah!

With Russia's strings pulling on Ukraine, the EU ought to have been willing to make guarantees they would step up for Ukraine...if they felt Ukraine was as important as is often implied in the media.  One journalist once said, without Ukraine Russia is not an empire.  If the EU wanted to defang Russia in that regard, in that manner, they ought to have been willing to step up.  They did not.  What message does that send?

Then there are some of the requires which Ukraine was required to meet in the agreement.  To Europeans, to even most Americans and Canadians and many others, they seem reasonable.  However, despite what Ukrainians and Europeans often state ("We get along so well because we are European!") Western European - even European Union as a whole values - and Ukrainian are vastly different.  While these ought to be included eventually, to do so in the first round was less than brilliant.

To make matters worse, Merkel's rant at Yanukovich was ... stupid, frankly.  Pride is a huge thing for Ukrainians. 

Ranting at the EU done.

Now for Ukraine.  Good grief.  Yanukovich's pride and paranoia are ridiculous.  If he thinks he can postpone the pain or make the EU come round to his position, he's mistaken.  He must give ground.  Yet his pride...he cannot.  Sadly, he of all people ought to know by doing this he is emboldening Putin.  The next time will not be better.  It will not be easier.  The thumb screws will be worse.  He'll be frakked even more.  You bet he's going to get slammed...unless of course he really does want a part of the Eurasian Union.  Has Putin given him some sort of promise?  There were secret talks... I may be going too far there.

As for the Opposition.  You folks are dumber than a sack of sand (I had something else in mind, but I try to keep this blog relatively family friendly).  You were in power.  You had the opportunity to reshape and pull Ukraine into the EU.  YET.  YOU.  BLEW.  IT.  Don't just blame Yuschenko.  ALL OF YOU WERE TO BLAME.  Petty squabbles and grabs for power and alienating anyone who might disagree without rather than compromising with them (a classic Ukrainian pitfall: agree with me or I will beat you into doing so!!!) made governing impossible.  Now you want to trigger a second orange revolution.   I doubt you will succeed, the Ukrainian people are even less enamored with those which have tried and failed than the Republican Party, but even if you do, it's going to be torture for the country either way.

While titillating to read about, exciting for the moment, in the end, in reality, an attempt at a second Orange Revolution looks to be more like a whole lot of painful torture.  Pain, not fun or excitement.  

Mr Klitschko:don't be Mr Grey.

(and stay IN ukraine, for goodness sake)

Yanukovich: EU Aid Package as Part of Treaty 'Humiliating'

Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovich said on Tuesday that the terms of a financial aid offer from the EU had been humiliating and he would consider signing a landmark free trade pact with the bloc only when it suited Ukraine's interests.

He said the EU had offered aid worth 610 million euros and had linked this to Ukraine agreeing on a new program with the International Monetary Fund which itself had laid down unacceptable conditions.

"We don't have to be humiliated like this. We are a serious country. A European one," he said in a television declaration.

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And pride maketh you a Russian now, President Yanukovich.  

Pro-European Union Protests in Ukraine: a new Orange Revolution Brewing or Occupy Kiev Fizzle?

(both sides claim the other stinks. Or maybe something else)

Pro-Western Ukrainians on Sunday held the biggest protest rally in Kiev since the 2004 Orange Revolution, urging the government to sign a historic pact with the European Union and clashing with police.

Tens of thousands filled the Square of Europe in central Kiev to demonstrate against the decision of President Viktor Yanukovych's government to scrap a plan to sign an Association Agreement that would have deepened ties with the European Union.

Hundreds of protesters attempted to storm the government building, letting off smoke bombs. Some used the sticks from their protest signs against policemen and shouted "Revolution!".

But riot police forced them back with batons and tear gas, an AFP correspondent said. Police said that one member of the security forces was injured.

Police put attendance at the main rally at 23,000 people. The opposition gave a higher estimate, saying more than 100,000 turned out.

The centre of Kiev was covered in a sea of protesters waving EU and Ukrainian flags who marched on the Square of Europe from the statue of Ukraine's national poet Taras Shevchenko.

The rally was by far the biggest in Kiev since the Orange Revolution nine years ago, which resulted in the annulment of presidential election results initially claimed by Yanukovych.

Opposition leaders vowed to keep a continuous protest in the square to force the government to sign the EU deal at a summit in Vilnius next week. Several thousand were still in the square listening to live music late in the evening and some put up tents to stay on.

'We are not the USSR'

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Europe's Second Major Loss? Turkey's Hard Pivot to Eurasia

Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has again opened up the debate on Turkey’s membership in the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO), this time demanding a seat from Russian President Vladimir Putin to save Ankara from “the troubles” of the EU accession process.

Responding to a question over Ukraine’s recent decision to halt a trade pact with the European Union, Putin said the issue had no political dimension and that they would learn from Turkey’s EU experiences.

“We will ask Turkey what we can do. Turkey has great experience in EU talks,” Putin said at a joint conference with Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan in St. Petersburg. Erdoğan replied: “You are right. Fifty years of experience is not easy. Allow us into the Shanghai Cooperation Organization and save us from this trouble.”

Ukraine abruptly abandoned a historic new alliance with the EU on Nov. 21, halting plans for an imminent trade pact with the bloc and saying it would instead revive talks with Russia.

The prime minister said he had conveyed Turkey’s membership request to Putin before. “We care about this.”

Turkey became the first NATO member state to become a “dialogue partner” with the regional body – which is colloquially known as the Shanghai Five – in April. Turkey said the cooperation would strengthen Turkey’s ties with the organization, primarily in the domains of economy and transportation.

The SCO’s members include Russia, China, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan and Kazakhstan.

The issue of SCO membership had come to the political agenda of Turkey earlier this year after Erdoğan said Turkey might opt to join the SCO. Erdoğan raised the issue in January at a time when hopes regarding the EU process were diminishing due to the adamant opposition of a number of members states toward Turkey’s membership.

“I said to Russian President Vladimir Putin, ‘You tease us, saying, ‘What [is Turkey] doing in the EU?’ Now I tease you: Include us in the Shanghai Five, and we will forget about the EU,’” Erdoğan said at the time. The prime minister’s remarks fueled debates on whether Turkey was moving away from its policy target of EU membership. President Abdullah Gül also reiterated that the SCO and the EU were not alternatives to each other at the time.

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Balza-Putin: I Win Again, Lews Therin

he Ukrainian authorities have seemingly activated a “pause” in Kyiv’s European integration process. President Viktor Yanukovych’s Party of Regions, which controls the government and holds an overwhelming plurality in the parliament, blocked all of the opposition’s attempts to vote through European integration draft laws on November 20 and 21. Moreover, on November 21, the Cabinet of Ministers issued a sublegal act (a.k.a. delegated legislation or subordinate legislation) to suspend Ukraine’s preparations to sign the Association Agreement with European Union. The act referenced national security issues related to European integration and the need to examine the risks of the disruption of trade and economic cooperation with Russia should the signing of the Association Agreement with the EU go forward. The government act also called upon the resumption of dialogue with the Customs Union and the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) countries, and resolved to set up a trilateral dialogue with the EU and Russia on economic and regulatory issues.

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Yanukovich Chooses Russia, Soviet Union version 2.0

The Ukrainian government says it's suspending its preparations to sign a landmark association agreement with the European Union.

Instead, the government said in a statement posted on its website Thursday that it was setting up a joint commission to work on boosting ties between Ukraine, Russia and the European Union.

The move follows the parliament's refusal earlier today to pass a bill allowing the release of jailed former Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko, a key EU condition for signing the deal. It also dealt a harsh blow to Ukraine's hope to integrate with the 28-member bloc and move out of Russia's shadow.

link.