On June 27 the EU signed an Association Agreement with three post-Soviet states: Ukraine, Moldova, and Georgia. Traditionally, the EU uses Association Agreements to strengthen economic ties with countries outside the Union. The EU simplifies trade and harmonizes certain standards, including technical and legal ones, by creating a more favorable environment for economic cooperation. But in the cases of Ukraine, Moldova, and Georgia, the Agreement has obvious political significance.

The South Stream project is a very topical issue, as it determines Europe′s prospects for energy security. Not so long ago, the project was subjected to considerable criticism from the heads of some European countries, largely due to the political crisis in Ukraine and the role that Russia plays in it. WEJ tried to find out how the South Stream project impacts Europe and the reason why certain European leaders wish that it would fail.

According to a recent study by Standard & Poor′s, China ranked first in the world in terms of the size of its corporate debt, which by the end of 2013 amounted to $14.2 trillion. Together with excess production capacity, the increasing size of the shadow banking sector, the credit crisis, and noticeable signs of a real estate bubble, the growing debt clearly shows that everything is not that rosy in the Middle Kingdom. In order to save the Chinese economy from a possible financial crisis and find new incentives for economic growth, China′s leadership in November 2013 announced a program of large-scale transformation.

The United States and the EU started to work on creating a new free trade zone in July 2013, and to date already six rounds of talks have been held. While both sides seek to conclude negotiations within two years, some experts have questioned these dates due to a large number of complexities in the process, disputes between the parties, and domestic opposition in the participating countries.

The idea itself of creating a single transatlantic market is not new. Back in 1995, the EU commissioner for trade voiced this idea and called for the creation of a transatlantic free trade zone. But then, with the creation and expansion of the WTO, this idea was shelved.

The global economy is experiencing the most serious test of its strength since the end of World War II. It is obvious that the old system is now gone. The bets have been placed: Russia is trying to lead the bloc of developing economies, and the goal of the U.S. is to subjugate Europe economically and politically. It is over this issue that the main struggle has now unfolded.

Russia’s and China’s gas agreement has already been called “the top three-decade deal.” Its scale is quite impressive – in the next six years, the Chinese will be investing $55 billion in Russia’s mining and gas transportation system. But much more important than the numbers is the fact that the agreement formalizes that the two superpowers have common interests, at least for the foreseeable future. We are witnessing the emergence of new global political-economic blocs.