Today I will provide several links to three or so stories which have been developing for days and sometimes weeks now in the region. Some aspects have to do with items and themes we have covered, 'soft power’ in Afghanistan, another is an issue or event that I have barely mentioned. Though I want discuss […]
So with one billion dollars in aid combined with a diplomatic visit by Vice President Dick Cheney, featuring many strong rebukes to Russia and a statement arguing for the nation's inclusion in NATO, the US appears to have anted up or at least called Moscow's hand in the Georgia-Russia conflict. Here are couple Cheney quotes […]
For the past year and half the US media has been dominated by the 2008 presidential election. This is in many ways a good thing as we need to know who these candidates are and what they stand for and against, but the coverage has become so saturated that we are starting to miss coverage […]
In his hysterical editorial in today's Guardian, Edward Lucas calls Russia “deeply corrupt and lawless”. Unfortunately, exactly the opposite is true: Russia is so saturated with laws and its legal system so harsh that “more than one in 10 of the country's citizens have been convicted of crimes over the past 15 years“, reports […]
In the past few weeks we have discussed Russian relations and influence in Central Asia in the prism of the recent Georgia-Russian conflict, and for good reason, as the war sent vibrations across the geopolitical landscape, and was especially relevant to former Soviet Republics such as our CA states. However, before the early August invasions […]
Whatever one thinks of his foppish red socks or penchant for Prime Ministerial underwear, famous Iraq whistleblower Sir Christopher Meyer is a sound chap when it comes to foreign policy. So when the UK's former ambassador to the US writes that “a return to 1815 is the way forward for Europe: the Congress of […]
In the midst of the SCO's annual summit and the US Republican Party Presidential Convention both the New York Times and the International Herald Tribune found space on their front pages to discuss Tajikistan's water woes. Now we have discussed Tajikistan much recently, mainly because of its hosting of the SCO summit, and we have […]
In a refreshing turn of events, Vladimir Putin has reportedly saved the lives of several journalists during a trip to a Siberian conservation area for the endangered Amur tiger (in accordance with the Lomonosov–Lavoisier Law of Conservation of Media, an opposition website owner in secessionist Ingushetia was ordered killed shortly afterwards). When a tiger […]
Continuing yesterday's discussion of the SCO's joint declaration being very neutral when it came to defending Russia's future and past actions in Georgia; What does this mean for Russia? What does this say about China? And What does it show about the four Central Asian states in the group and their position in the world? […]
So the 8th annual Shanghai Cooperation Organization Summit has begun. The meeting started this morning in Dushanbe, Tajikistan (though China and Tajikistan started bilateral talks days before) and features the head of states of all six members (I wonder if President Hu Jintao will be wearing all of China's 51 gold medals?), top officials from […]
After his heady nights of rough and tumble in the Caucusus, Putin has left Medvedev holding the baby. That is the argument of at least one Russian commentator, writing in the popular mainstream web newspaper Gazeta ru. Vladimir Milov believes that Putin has avoided any public spotlight since his high profile control over the war […]
Russia's recognition of Ossetia and Abkhazia baffled me. On this blog, I have frequently tried to show alternative, Russian perspectives on matters that seem otherwise to be common sense, above debate, to Western audiences. But I just cannot see any benefits this move will bring. On the contrary, by uniting the traditionally friendly OSCE, pragmatic […]
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