⚓️ The Council of the Baltic Sea States (CBSS) is an international regional organisation which was created on a wave of romantic fascination with the end of the Cold War. It has gone through several stages of searching for a programmatic and organisational identity.

A wonderful chance to decisively address truly common problems on the scale of the entire region at the intergovernmental level was not realized: the collective search for areas of collective efforts was unsuccessful - it was not clear whether the CBSS would evolve into a regional OSCE (human rights, democratic institutions and procedures, security), or a regional UNESCO (cultural heritage and education), or some other hybrid version of the existing forums, councils and initiatives, writes Igor Zhukovsky.

https://valdaiclub.com/a/highlights/council-of-the-baltic-sea-states/

#Multipolarity_and_Connectivity #BalticSea

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⏰ TODAY at 16:00 Moscow Time (GMT+3), the Valdai Club will host an expert discussion, titled “Elections in the USA: What Awaits Ukraine?”

❓Republicans and Democrats disagree on many issues, but how different are their positions really?
❓How can US foreign policy change? Will it change at all?
❓What scenario awaits Ukraine after the American elections?

The participants in the discussion will try to answer these and other questions.

Links to the live broadcast of the discussion will be posted on all online platforms of the Valdai Club: on the website, X (formerly Twitter), VK, Telegram and Dzen. 

#Return_of_Diplomacy #UnitedStates #Ukraine

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🎥 LIVE: at 16:00 Moscow Time (GMT+3), we are starting an expert discussion, titled “Elections in the USA: What Awaits Ukraine?”

https://vk.com/video-214192832_456239206

#Return_of_Diplomacy #UnitedStates #Ukraine

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🗣 On September 19, 2024, the Valdai Club hosted an expert discussion, titled “Elections in the USA: What Awaits Ukraine?”

📷 Photo gallery

🎥 Video

#Return_of_Diplomacy #UnitedStates #Ukraine

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🇺🇸 High-Stakes Elections: Foreign and Domestic Policy Dimensions of the US Presidential Campaign

On September 19, 2024, the Valdai Club hosted an expert discussion, titled “Elections in the USA: What Awaits Ukraine?”

💬 Moderator Andrey Sushentsov noted that the American presidential elections scheduled for November 5 are of concern to most countries throughout the world, and will affect many areas of international life. For Vladimir Zelensky and his entourage, it is especially important who will lead the United States. The Ukrainian government is trying to adapt to any scenario.

💬 Sergey Kislitsyn, Acting Director of the Institute of the USA and Canada at the Russian Academy of Sciences, analysed the economic dimension of the upcoming elections. He emphasised that the recent reduction in the key rate by the Federal Reserve, which occurred for the first time since 2020, shows that the Biden administration is generally coping with economic policy, including the inflation problem and job creation. At the same time, the Biden administration has acted taking into account the fact that the Republicans could take the White House and embrace more aggressive forms of protectionism that destroy relations with European partners, and therefore created not trade agreements, but rather platforms for cooperation that Trump will probably not destroy. 

💬 Vladimir Pechatnov, professor of the Department of History and Politics of European and American Countries at MGIMO, believes that the current elections stand out from preceding ones in terms of volatility, but in themselves do not contain anything revolutionary. Nevertheless, the election campaign can serve as an indicator of deeper changes in American society. However, the outcome of the vote is not yet clear: the gap between the candidates is still small and Kamala Harris has too many weaknesses that Donald Trump can exploit.

💬 Ivan Safranchuk, Director of the Centre for Eurasian Studies at the MGIMO Institute, opined that hopes that the US position on Ukraine will change in the event of a Republican victory are largely misleading. Donald Trump apparently has no feasible plan for the Ukrainian crisis and his approach is rather dictated by a rejection of the current administration’s policies. The basis of the Trump team’s idea apparently assumes a “draw” and fixation of the situation along the line of contact between combatants. However, according to Safranchuk, a conflict of such intensity, scale and dynamics cannot end like that – there must be a loser.

💬 Dimitri Simes, Channel One host, founder and former president of The Center for the National Interest (USA), contended that  the seriousness of what is happening around the elections is not to be underestimated, despite the exaggerated accusations and fears on both sides. "Undoubtedly, the stakes are very, very high," he emphasised. Simes pointed to the colossal level of mutual distrust between Republicans and Democrats, which will inevitably continue after the elections.

https://valdaiclub.com/events/posts/articles/high-stakes-elections-foreign-and-domestic-policy-dimensions-of-the-us-presidential-campaign/

#Return_of_Diplomacy #UnitedStates #Ukraine

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📆 TOMORROW, September 24, the Valdai Discussion Club, together with the National Archives of Indonesia and the Federal Archival Agency of the Russian Federation, will hold a Russian-Indonesian seminar titled “Indonesia – Russia: From the Past to the Future, History and Prospects”.

📍The event will be held in Jakarta (Indonesia). 

The agenda of the Russian-Indonesian Seminar is designed for one day and is completely open to the media. In addition, a press scrum will be organized after each session. 

During the seminar, experts will discuss the following topics:

🔹 Historical prospects for bilateral relations between Indonesia and Russia; 
🔹 Geopolitical prospects for bilateral relations between Indonesia and Russia; 
🔹 Digital transformation in an era of global turbulence; 
🔹 Relations between Indonesia and Russia in the naval sphere. 

Not only representatives of Indonesia, but also guests from India and China will be invited to speak at the Russian-Indonesian Seminar.

https://valdaiclub.com/events/announcements/indonesia-russia-from-the-past-to-the-future-history-and-prospects/

ℹ️ Information for the media: Dear journalists, to be accredited for the event, please fill out the form on our website. Accreditation is open until 12:00 Moscow Time on September 23. If you have any questions, please write to [email protected].

#Indonesia2024

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1️⃣ Session 1 of the Russian-Indonesian seminar, titled “Historical Perspectives on the Bilateral Relations between Indonesia and Russia”

📷 Photo gallery

#Indonesia2024

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2️⃣ Session 2 of the Russian-Indonesian seminar, titled “Geopolitical Perspectives on the Bilateral Relations between Indonesia and Russia”

📷 Photo gallery

#Indonesia2024

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3️⃣ Session 3 of the Russian-Indonesian seminar, titled “Digital Transformation in the Midst of Complex and Dynamic of Global Situation”

📷 Photo gallery

#Indonesia2024

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4️⃣ Session 4 of the Russian-Indonesian seminar, titled “Indonesia and Russia Relationship as Maritime Countries”

📷 Photo gallery

#Indonesia2024

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