Europe’s security is in our hands

How much can Ireland really be expected to achieve as the newly appointed OSCE chair, asks Caroline O’Doherty

THE troubles of Transdniester or the concerns over Nagorno-Karabakh have rarely made it on to the political agenda here but that could change if jitters in either region escalate over the coming year.

The new chair of the Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE), Ireland will be expected to take charge of the organisation’s response if problems flare up in either of these places. Not to mention any in South Ossetia and Abkhazia, which also belong on a list of potential hotspots where conflict has simmered since the Cold War thawed.