Latest Eurasia Daily Monitor Articles
NATO’s Response Force, Other Planned Capabilities Stillborn
NATO's crisis symptoms are multiplying in the run-up to the Alliance's 60th anniversary summit, scheduled to be held from April 2 to 4 on both sides of the Franco-German border. The crisis is unacknowledged, much less addressed in any systematic way, by allied leaders in... MORE
Turkey’s Kurdish Question: Irony Within Irony
In November 2008 Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan made one of his most disconcerting statements toward the Kurds in Turkey: "We have said, ‘One nation, one flag, one motherland, and one state.'...Those who oppose this should leave" (See EDM November 4, 2008). In January 2009 the... MORE
Georgia Prepares to Repel Russian Aggression
The Georgian army, defeated in the five-day war with Russia, is recovering and preparing to ward off potential Russian aggression. "Our defenses should be ready to repel potential Russian aggression. All the military programs and priorities for 2009 will be developed based on the experience... MORE
Putin’s “Power Vertical” Doesn’t Leave Other Ties to Keep Russia Together
"As a scholar, I establish the fact that the Russian Federation is developing signs of the initial stage of a breakup," Professor Alexei Malashenko, Scholar-in-Residence of the Carnegie Moscow Center, told Jamestown on February 12. "Not unlike the case of the USSR, the current economic... MORE
Gul’s African Visit Could Indicate How Turkey Will Act in the UN Security Council
Turkish President Abdullah Gul visited Kenya and Tanzania to expand Turkey's relations with the two African countries. With this visit, Abdullah Gul became the first Turkish president to pay an official visit to these sub-Saharan nations. Kenya and Turkey signed an agreement that envisages cooperation... MORE
Russia’s New Energy Doctrine
The Kremlin articulated some details of its new assertive energy strategy, following the inauguration of a major energy project on the Pacific island of Sakhalin and a significant energy deal with China. Russian President Dmitry Medvedev dismissed perceived attempts to exclude Russia from global energy... MORE
Territorial Dispute Takes Second Place to Russian-Japanese Economic Cooperation
On February 18 Japanese Prime Minister Taro Aso visited Sakhalin Island, becoming the first Japanese leader to do so since the end of the Second World War. He was there at the invitation of Russian President Dmitry Medvedev to participate in a ceremony marking the... MORE
Will the Closure of Manas Airbase Strengthen U.S.-Turkish Relations?
The Kyrgyz parliament's vote to close down Manas Airbase puts at risk supply routes for international forces operating in Afghanistan shortly after the U.S. decision to bolster the American military presence in Afghanistan (EDM, February 20). The attempts to find alternative routes in the wake... MORE
Critics Question Kazakhstan’s Membership in Collective Rapid Response Force
The Kazakh Interior Ministry recently released a detailed press account of an armed clash between Arlan anti-terrorist detachment and a group of "extremist forces" in the Zelenov District of West Kazakhstan Province. Four soldiers from the Arlan group were reportedly wounded during the fight, but... MORE
Russian Economy Slows Down, but Protest Activity Remains Feeble
The new economic data released by the Russian Federal Service of State Statistics (Rosstat) last week surprised even the doomsayer-economists, who have become the mainstream in this discredited profession. The key statistic was the drop in industrial output in January by 16 percent compared with... MORE