The elections are a test of Georgia’s progress towards democracy and Euro-Atlantic integration.
![Supporters attend a pre-election rally of the largest opposition party United National Movement in Tbilisi, Georgia [REUTERS]](/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/13651682e5ba4a2a93598eeec79f871c_18.jpeg?resize=270%2C180&quality=80)
The elections are a test of Georgia’s progress towards democracy and Euro-Atlantic integration.
![Supporters attend a pre-election rally of the largest opposition party United National Movement in Tbilisi, Georgia [REUTERS]](/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/13651682e5ba4a2a93598eeec79f871c_18.jpeg?resize=270%2C180&quality=80)
Putin is able to think strategically, using all hard and soft power tools to promote Russian foreign policy interests.

How quickly many European countries have forgotten what Russia has done to Ukraine – and they could be next.
![Anti-Putin demonstrators manifest their anger during President Vladimir Putin''s visit to Paris [Getty]](/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/4597583da41a452dbec273112c713aee_18.jpeg?resize=270%2C180&quality=80)
Iran is stronger and more forthright in the region today than it was before the deal was agreed.
![Stop The Iran Nuclear Deal protest in front of the US Capitol in Washington, DC in September 2015 [Getty]](/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/5570c791926a4849815e04921e14d961_18.jpeg?resize=270%2C180&quality=80)
Since the end of the Cold War, NATO has been trying to find its new role.
![Workers place banners in preparation for the NATO Warsaw Summit in Warsaw, Poland [EPA]](/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/5173b53dedc64148a80ae1d964924c7b_18.jpeg?resize=270%2C180&quality=80)
A new secretary general from Eastern Europe would bring a global view much-needed in the UN.
![United Nations General Assembly [AFP]](/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/693759dd675c4b1c9a9eb068936e83dd_18.jpeg?resize=270%2C180&quality=80)
By blaming “populism” for Brexit, the EU shows it is in denial about the undemocratic path it has taken.

There are a million good reasons for Britain to leave the EU but the prospect of Turkey’s accession isn’t one of them.
![Former Mayor of London Boris Johnson poses as he launches the Vote Leave Bus Tour in St Austell, Cornwall, Britain [EPA]](/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/ed9bda32f0ce4a6dae0d48c462ff57a5_18.jpeg?resize=270%2C180&quality=80)
Russians know that access to the Mediterranean means access to the world.
![A Russian Navy member stands guard on the deck of a Russian nuclear-powered missile cruiser docked in the Cypriot port of Limassol [AFP]](/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/0fab0164af014a4dbf0803882bd88884_18.jpeg?resize=270%2C180&quality=80)
If Mosul were to fall tomorrow it would be a blow – but not a fatal blow – for ISIL.
![An Iraqi soldier holds up his rifle in front of a building destroyed by an airstrike in a village south of Mosul, Iraq [REUTERS]](/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/05e71c7f710f49278639716247a2b894_18.jpeg?resize=270%2C180&quality=80)