It is well-known that the Central Asian region is surrounded by Great and Medium Powers who desire influence in the area. Turkey may not be the largest, richest, or closest power to the region, but its historical and ethnic connections to CA and its people loom large. The Journal of Turkish Weekly has written an […]
Tajikistan, already one of the world's poorest nations, has suffered much this year with a harsh winter, continuing health concerns, and with rising food prices. But the worse could be yet to come as its President Rahmon's rule appears to be showing some cracks and news reports about the country have titles such as ‘Who's […]
How bout some early Monday morning polygamy talk? Radio Free Europe reports that the Kazak parliament has been debating a new draft law that would allow any man who is able to meet his second and third wife's financial needs and obtain their consent can have multiple marriages. The parliament has debated this issue before […]
I'm not the nationalistic sort. I count in my head in English, I think Ukrainians are alright, at heart. Even the Georgians, when they behave. I quietly enjoy the good news from back home and decry the bad, with the equal dose of ironic detachment and self-referential mockery demanded of my generation. Yet I'd just […]
After a couple weeks of poor news regarding Afghani security, there was finally some positive developments as a force of Afghan troops supported by NATO armored vehicles and helicopters appeared to rout Taliban forces who recently took over the Arghandab region surrounding Kandahar. A NATO official called it a ‘fast and effective’ response. However, the […]
Getting health care and health care policy right is a continual battle for developed countries, as one hears cases of doctor and medical mishaps all to frequently, but one thing we have come to count on, at least here in the US, is that the blood transfusions we receive are clean and safe. A new […]
There seems to be new trouble brewing in the Baltics. Fresh on the heels of outlawing Soviet symbolism in what the BBC Russian affairs analyst Steven Eke called “the toughest bans on symbols from the Soviet past adopted in any of the 15 countries that emerged from the USSR”, Lithuania is now apparently in talks […]
“Russia Silences Tabloid” By Carl Schreck The National (UAE) "The fall of The eXile, which launched the career of Matt Taibbi, a political correspondent for Rolling Stone magazine, marks the end of perhaps the world's most unique publishing project." "Irreverent mix of vicious humour, sharp political analysis and shameless hedonism" "11 years of scorched-earth Gonzo […]
Afghanistan has found itself all over the news so much lately that you’d think it was running for President of the United States. On that regard, when was the last time John McCain went to Afghanistan to assess the situation, we know he's been to Iraq on many occasions, and what about Barack Obama, has […]
It's a little unnerving to think that 17 years of Russian history can be distilled into one bad 90s Swedish pop song. [kml_flashembed movie=”http://www.youtube.com/v/HMKahowfB_E” width=”425″ height=”350″ wmode=”transparent” /] Yet the struggles between business and the state, between Putin and Khodorkovsky, between liberals and siloviki, between the democrats and the Kremlin, far from being epic ideological […]
Still staying on the issue of Russia, Mark Dillen, head of an international public affairs consultancy and blog writer for FPA's 2008 Presidential Election and Public Diplomacy blogs, attended and discussed the World Affairs Council of Northern California's annual conference which featured a ‘Reading Russia’ series. Dillen discusses that most of the scholars present were […]
“The owl of Minerva flies at dusk”, the philosopher Hegel, wearing only a false moustache and flapping his arms, liked to whisper conspiratorily to terrified passers-by. (No wonder his last words were: "Only one man had ever understood me, and he didn't understand me”. But I digress.) Just so, I am having a very difficult […]
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