When Barack Obama enters the White House as president in January 2009, what will change for the Balkans?

All being well with Europe, the Treaty of Lisbon would now have been ready to come into force on 1 January. But all is not well.

With a new US president, what are the prospects for a more united trans-Atlantic position on how to deal with a resurgent Russia and the ?neighbourhood? states in between?

As the dust of the August war in Georgia begins to settle, the EU is emerging as the nearest thing around to a winner. An article published in E-Sharp!.

The EU has eased its visa ban on Belarusian officials. Was this the right move? How far can Belarus, once notorious as the ?last dictatorship in Europe?, really change?

Like Greece and Macedonia itself, the EU is too willing to accept Macedonia?s state of limbo.

The EU's Georgia mission is looking like a much-needed, if small ESDP success. But there is still much the EU can learn from its deployment.

Russia?s NATO and EU ambassadors push Moscow?s ?spheres of influence? into the EU starting with ?age-old ally? Bulgaria.

Ukraine has lost another government. Tymoshenko has lasted only 8 months as Prime Minister, only a few weeks longer than her first attempt in 2005.

Russia may be tempted to believe that it has succeeded in Georgia, but it has in fact further isolated itself and helped Europe unite.

When dealing with Moscow, EU leaders should not accept the parallelism between Kosovo and Ossetia.

The European Union has less to fear from Russia's gas and oil weapons than its leaders think.

The EU faces a tough dilemma: sanctions would further isolate Russia but a ?business as usual' approach would send the wrong signal.

The war in Georgia has an impact on Moldova. There is a danger of unsustainable peace and transformation of Moldova into a second Belarus.

The EU will have to justify its own claims that bipolar ?spheres of influence? in Europe are consigned to history by taking affirmative action in the Black Sea and Caucasus region.