{Education} InfoGraphic: IMF GDP forecast for BRIC & EURO

{Education} IRA: South Stream Gazprom pipeline

The 50 per cent Russian-owned Gazprom has launched its 2,380km gas pipeline, which starts its journey under the Black Sea and will bypass the Ukraine in order to deliver more reliable gas services to Western Europe.

International and Bilateral Issues:

Policy won't change, asserts North Korea

• North Korea warned the world on Friday to expect no policy changes under Kim Jong-Un
• The tough statement came a day after the Communist nation ended 13 days of mourning for Kim
  

Shanghai Cooperation Organisation

• The Shanghai Cooperation Organisation is an intergovernmental mutual-security organisation which was founded in 2001 in Shanghai by the leaders of China, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan.
• Except for Uzbekistan, the other countries had been members of the Shanghai Five, founded in 1996; after the inclusion of Uzbekistan in 2001, the members renamed the organisation.
• The official working languages of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation are Chinese and Russian.
  

EURO-RUSSIA: Russia (Dialogue) - Indo-Russia Relation

• During the Cold War, India and the Soviet Union (USSR) enjoyed a strong strategic, military, economic and diplomatic relationship.
• After the collapse of the USSR, Russia inherited the close relationship with India, even as India improved its relations with the West after the end of the Cold War.
• India is the second largest market for the Russian defense industry. In 2004, more than 70% of the Indian Military's hardware came from Russia, making Russia the chief supplier of defense equipment. More recently, the defense relationship has been strained due to repeated price escalations by Russia over the sale of the aircraft carrier, INS Vikramaditya, the delays in delivery of critical defense equipment and the elimination of the Mikoyan MiG-35 from the Indian MRCA competition.
  

EURO-RUSSIA (Dialogue):

The most critical week for the eurozone

• The eurozone summit in Brussels last week was considered to be an epoch-making event, having a bearing on the future of the euro and the monetary union.
• the euro is structurally flawed and unless its basic defects are rectified, the crisis in Europe will not abate.
  

EURO-RUSSIA (Dialogue):

Travails of technocrats

• In both Greece and Italy, the biggest threats to the European monetary union, technocrats rather than elected political leaders have been given the daunting task of salvaging the economies, a crucial step towards saving the euro.
• Mario Monti, a former European Union commissioner, was appointed Italy's new Prime Minister
  

EURO-RUSSIA (Dialogue): EUROPE

Europe's blow for health safety

• The European Commission's recent decision to ban the use of X-ray technology for full-body scanning at airports to avoid “jeopardising” the health and safety of passengers is a victory for millions of travellers.
• The legislation requires all the 27 member countries to follow “strict and mandatory safeguards” that comply with the “fundamental rights and protection of [passengers'] health.”
  

EURO-RUSSIA (Dialogue): EUROPE

The Spectre of the Eurozone Debt Crisis

• Does the chaos in the Eurozone signal the beginning of the end of the Euro?
• Four years and a couple of trillion dol
• The Great Recession may have ended in late 2009/ early 2010 but global growth has not really recovered and the world is now staring at the possibility of a “Eurozone Financial Meltdown”.