Georgia - pressed on wine

The EU acts as an economic magnet, those outside the Union are drawn towards the wealth in trade it represents and are willing to adjust their own laws and standards across the board in order to join the club. Within the Russian sphere of influence it seems to be all stick and no carrot as states attempting to break away, like Georgia, are threatened with different kinds of trade embargo - first gas, now food and wine.

It's a very blatant strategy more from Reuters...and probably not realistic in the long run as there are always others trade partners to turn to. Although whether Georgia can really shift it's exports to China remains in doubt more from Kommmersant

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Montenegro - promises, promises

In Montenegro the upcoming referendum on independence from Serbia has to meet certain EU sponsored rules. One is that the 'Yes' vote must be over 55% to succeed and a second is that there must be at least a 50% turnout. With the polls suggesting a close vote the focus is turning to those minority communities that may swing the result either way - i.e. how will the ethinc Albanians vote ?.

There are only around 30,000 people in the 'Albanian vote' but that's 5% of the population in Montenegro so some are suggesting promises of greater autonomy are in the air more from Transitions Online... Representatives of this community point out that such pre-election promises are not new and are rarely honoured after the event.

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Italy - boiling baby talk

Silvio Berlusconi's election campaign has not gone all that well - latest exit polls show him in a tight race - but at least the Chinese will remember him if he fades from view. During an election rally in Naples he alluded to the supposed historical Chinese Communist practice of boiling dead babies to make fertilizer. "Groundless talk" say the Chinese.

The Italian media have noted that it's a shame that it's the Italian year of culture in China - an expensive promotion by the Foreign Ministry that didn't include such an interesting perspective more from the Corriere Della Sera...

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