Cooler relations with Turkey are costing Europe influence in the Arab world, where Turkey, a NATO member bordered by Iran, Iraq and Syria, is fast becoming an important interlocutor for the West.
Nato ambassadors met in Brussels, with Lithuania and Poland arguing that Russia's actions threatened them as Nato members bordering Russia and Ukraine, and pushing for appropriate action.
In European Member Border States, such as Spain, where I live, human rights defenders have witnessed as countless unaccompanied minors, migrant women and trafficking victims are either treated as criminals, or left unprotected without access to justice.
Meanwhile, Nato is increasing activity in member states bordering Russia.
The North Atlantic Treaty Organization last week ordered stepped-up air patrols of its member states bordering Russia, to reassure allies once under Moscow's domination that the alliance will defend them in the event of Russian aggression.
Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu said the actions in eastern Ukraine and the deployment of NATO forces in member states bordering Russia to the west had "forced" the Kremlin to order more military drills of its troops amassed on Ukraine's border.
Other member states bordering the North Sea and other European seas are currently involved in similar processes (for a comparison on processes of marine spatial planning related to ecosystem-based sea use management, see Douvere and Ehler 2009).
During a series of questions by a media member that bordered on confrontational, Newton finally said to the reporter: "It's not an issue.
It lets lorries cross its members' borders with minimal paperwork.
