Recently the NATO Summit took place in Wales and it was an exclusive summit because of the events in Ukraine and Iraq. The Baltic States expected to hear specific security guarantees from the Alliance. NATO had to demonstrate its viability and clear position under new global policy conditions and realities.

After evaluating the chances of Greece to leave the Euro zone, at the beginning of May experts of the rating agency Standard & Poorforesaw a Greece exit as to 33,3 percent likely. The U.S. Bank Citibank increased the probability of a Greek exit of the Eurozone (or Grexit) to 50-70 percent over the next one and a half years; and the most realistic date is 2^nd or 3^rdquarters of the next year.

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) came into official existence in December 1945 and began financial operations on 1 March 1947. One of the objectives of the Fund was to make its general resources available to its members experiencing actual or potential balance of payments problems, strengthen cooperation among the states and ensure stability.

In autumn of 2008 Lithuanian Government approved the Strategic Guidelines of Lithuania’s EU Policy for 2008–2013. Since not too much time is left before Lithuania takes over the rotating EU presidency in the first half of 2013, the question arises: is Lithuania ready for presidency of the European Council? Does the country have enough human and financial resources for such a political challenge?

European bureaucrats are clearly not keeping pace with the geopolitical dynamics of the modern world. While the U.S. and China are expanding their spheres of influence in the Pacific, and Russia is working to create a Eurasian bloc, the EU actually fell out of big geopolitical games, limiting the expansion of its own influence and being fully concentrated on the internal redistribution of political and economic powers.

The crisis usually means loss or decrease of stability and vitality of something, which leads to negative evaluation of a crisis-driven effect. But does political, economic or social crisis necessarily mean a loss? Couldn’t it bring something new and more valuable? The European Union context full of striking crisis examples could be a good example. The same is with the Euro zone crisis and doubts related to the EU future. The crises urges to search for a positive counteraction to this shocking situation.

European Neighborhood Policy is one of the most controversial EU foreign policies. Created as a response to the then major EU enlargement wave, it not only defined the EU’s neighborhood sphere but also its geopolitical and cultural development confines.

The role of the European Union in the field of international policy is still a topic for discussions. Some depict the EU as “an economic giant but political dwarf”, “with its own telephone number”, the others attribute other names: civilian power (F. Duchene), soft power (J. S. Nye), model power (D. Miliband), smart power (B. Ferrero-Waldner). The first consider the EU as a shy and inactive political actor which is not only unable to influence centres of global power but is also unable to control its local matters.

In 2004 Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia joined the European Union. Politically and economically they “returned to Europe”, however, today it is difficult to say on whether this was a full-rate return.

A new Alliance’s strategic concept was adopted at the end of November in Lisbon during the NATO summit. Let’s discuss some of its key moments.

First of all, the Alliance’s decision to act beyond NATO borders is very disputable (after the operation against Yugoslavia in 1999 NATO was criticized for not respecting position of the UN), however, this aspect was left in the new concept.

During the visit to Tbilisi on 30 September – 1 October, NATO Secretary General A.F.Rasmussen said that the door of the Alliance remains open to Georgia and that the decision made during the Bucharest NATO Summit in 2008 is still in force. However, this statement could hardly be considered as an introduction to fast Georgia‘s integration into Alliance. It could first of all be based on several examples reflecting the dialogue between Georgia and NATO (or, to be more exact, the state of relations close to stagnation) during the recent years.

Although according to F.Fukuyama, the victory of the West should have determined the „end of the history“ two decades ago, this didn‘t happen: a multi-polar world began to crystallize, new economic and political powers emerged, whereas the democratic principle of existence ceased to be the only optimal principle. In this context it is important to realize what is behind the European Union.

When during the meetings in Strasbourg and Kiel (in April 2009) the leaders of NATO decided to start discussions on a new strategic concept of NATO, nobody expected easy agreements.  Nevertheless all the countries of the Alliance agreed that the key goal of NATO should be the establishment of the secure political environment. To this end the Alliance shall elaborate effective measures for the elimination of threats.

The fact that the former Danish Prime Minister Anders Fogh Rasmussen became NATO’s head could be interpreted differently. On the one hand, A.F.Rasmussen is an economist and is not closely related to the military sphere. But he has a reputation of an experienced politician: in 1978 he was elected to the parliament and later took the position of a minister. From November 2001 until April of this year he was Prime Minister of Denmark. He was even “measured” for the post of the EU president.

For effective complex defence of Latvia, the establishment of a permanent division of the National Armed Forces has started in Latgale, reported the official website of the Ministry of Defence.

On 13 January a concert "Together to the victory" was held in Lithuania, where the audience decided to support Ukraine's defence and donated 110 thousand Euros.

Alexander Lukashenko on 9 January signed a decree № 8 "On the establishment of visa-free entry and exit of foreign nationals." The document establishes visa-free entry to Belarus for a period not exceeding 5 days at the entrance through the checkpoint "National Airport Minsk" for citizens of 80 countries, - reported the press service of the President of Belarus.