On March 4 Russian Deputy Defense Minister for Finance and Economic Affairs Lyubov Kudelina outlined defense spending plans in light of the global financial crisis, expressing confidence that although there would be some cuts in the overall budget of the Ministry of Defense (MoD), this... MORE

U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton's visit to Ankara on Saturday, the highest-level direct contact between the administration of President Barack Obama and the Turkish government so far, highlighted the value each side places on sustaining the Turkish-American partnership. In addition to her meetings with... MORE

Romania and Bulgaria find themselves in the unenviable position of being the poster children for corruption in the EU. Bulgaria is plagued by organized crime gangs roaming the streets of its cities and killing for hire, while Romania is saddled with corrupt politicians who seem... MORE

Shifting gears from an ostensible equidistance between pipeline projects, German Chancellor Angela Merkel has come out against proposals to use European Union funds to kick-start the Nabucco pipeline project for bringing Caspian gas to Europe. Although Germany was never interested in this project in a... MORE

Last week marked a year since Dmitry Medvedev was elected Russia's third president, but he has few reasons to be satisfied with this start. There is nothing resembling a "Medvedev team" in the Kremlin, and 86 percent of the respondents in a special Levada Center... MORE

The International Criminal Court (ICC) has issued a warrant for the arrest of Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir. The ICC accused al-Bashir of being directly responsible for the attacks by pro-government militia in Sudan's Darfur province. Turkey hosted al-Bashir twice last year and his deputy Ali... MORE

Kyrgyz President Kurmanbek Bakiyev proposed holding negotiations with opposition forces to discuss future political developments in the country. The opposition, in turn, agreed to the negotiations but demanded that the meeting be held in a neutral location and in the presence of independent observers. The... MORE

On March 4 and 5 armed units of the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) conducted raids on the headquarters of Naftohaz Ukrainy, the state-owned oil and gas company, and UkrTranshaz, the operator of the Ukrainian gas pipeline company. According to a March 5 report by... MORE

On March 3 the Hungarian gas transmission operator FGSZ—a subsidiary of MOL, the Hungarian oil and gas company—signed a contract with Croatia's state pipeline operator Plinacro to build an interconnector gas pipeline between the two countries. The project fits within MOL's strategy of promoting construction... MORE

U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton will visit Ankara on March 7, the last day of her diplomatic tour of the Middle East. Ankara has prepared a number of issues to discuss during the visit—most importantly, Afghanistan, the American withdrawal from Iraq and the role... MORE