Tipping the balance? Russia and its relations with the West

For many people, the Russian-Georgian war now confronts the West with a difficult choice: either opt for “partnership” with Russia at the expense of the sovereignty of some countries, or refuse to do so, and pay the price for what Moscow sees as “meddling” in its sphere of “influence”. This is the one choice that the West has tried to avoid making over the last two decades. But it is a fateful decision which can no longer be avoided.

Edward Lucas thus came to address the European Security Programme on 14 October on the subject of Russia and its relations with the West in a lecture timed to coincide with the publication of the new edition of his book “The New Cold War: how the Kremlin menaces both Russia and the West”.

First published in February 2008, "The New Cold War" has now been revised and updated to take account of Russia’s invasion of Georgia and its aftermath. It also includes a new preface by Britain’s best-known historian of Eastern Europe, Professor Norman Davies.

Edward Lucas is Deputy Editor, International Section and Central & Eastern Europe Correspondent for The Economist and author of ‘The New Cold War’. He has been covering the region for more than 20 years, witnessing the final years of the last Cold War, the fall of the Iron Curtain and the collapse of the Soviet empire. From 1992 to 1994, he was the managing editor of The Baltic Independent, a weekly English-language newspaper published in Tallinn.