From the New York Times:
Alexander Bozhkov, a former Bulgarian deputy prime minister who is currently chairman of the Center for Economic Development here, said the crisis had laid bare for Bulgaria the enormous human and economic cost of relying on Russia. He predicted that it would result in the electoral defeat of the Socialist government and that it would reorient the country firmly toward the European Union and Washington. [Emphasis added -- EML]
Meanwhile, it doesn’t appear that the Gazprom-EU standoff is coming any closer to a close. Orientation with the West is broadly good, but is good insofar as the EU/NATO isn’t expanded beyond the point of recognition and usefulness, little more than a limited UN with a currency (once Turkey joins, why not Libya? Why not Canada?). It seems as though the former Soviet satellite states that have defied the Mother Bear — Ukraine, Georgia, the Baltic states, among others — would be well-served in forming an association (a mini-Entente, if you will), firmly allied with the EU but separate from it insofar as interests of these states’ independence rise above their necessity in joining the Eurozone, adhering to bureaucratic standards, etc.
Drawing maps, this Recovering Communist Vassals Anonymous association is made awkward by the fact that (a) Georgia is geographically a world away from the other, properly European states, and (b) Belarus, essentially a Soviet vestige, inconveniently separates the Baltic states from the rest. We do have airplanes, but borders help for relationships.
Image courtesy of Flickr reader Klearchos Kapoutsis
