Latest Eurasia Daily Monitor Articles
ROMANIA IS THE LATEST TARGET FOR GAZPROM’S SOUTH STREAM TEMPTATIONS
On October 17 in Moscow, Gazprom president Alexei Miller conferred in the presence of the Romanian ambassador with the general managers of Romania’s Transgaz and Romgaz companies,. Gazprom’s communiqué implied, and subsequent leaks to the Russian media corroborated, that the Russian side proposed including Romania... MORE
PUTIN’S CONSENSUS AMONG THE ELITE TESTED BY THE DEEPENING CRISIS
For the vast majority of Russians the idea of a global financial crisis remains entirely foreign and the shocking figures about the meltdown on the domestic stock exchange are meaningless. The legendary Klim Petrovich—the Russian cousin of Joe the Plumber created 40 years ago by... MORE
RUSSIAN TV DOWNPLAYS THE FINANCIAL CRISIS AT HOME
The world financial crisis, which has hit Russia’s stock market harder than those of most other countries, is starting to trickle down to the average Russian. As Nezavisimaya gazeta reported on October 20, repeated crashes of Russia’s main stock market indices in recent weeks and... MORE
AZERBAIJAN’S PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION: A NATIONAL MANDATE FOR POLICY CONTINUITY
The final returns of Azerbaijan’s October 15 presidential election, released by the Central Electoral Commission, show President Ilham Aliyev winning reelection for another five-year term with 88.7 percent of the votes cast. Six other candidates received between 2.86 and 0.65 percent each. Nearly 76 percent... MORE
TURKEY’S SECURITY COUNCIL SEAT PROMISES CHALLENGES AS WELL AS KUDOS
On October 17, Turkey was elected as a non-permanent member of the UN Security Council for 2009-2010, securing 151 votes in the first round of voting. Turkey finished comfortably ahead of its two rivals: Austria, which took the second seat allocated to countries from the... MORE
MOSCOW PROVIDES FEW DETAILS ON SOUTH OSSETIA BOMBING
At 4:45 P.M. on Friday, October 3, a powerful car bomb exploded outside the headquarters of the Russian peacekeeping forces in Tskhinvali, the capital of Georgia’s breakaway region of South Ossetia. Although the casualty figures cited in the initial reports varied from six to 11,... MORE
IRAN GAINS FROM GEORGIAN CONFRONTATION
In the aftermath of the August Georgian-Russian confrontation, a new Caspian geopolitical reality is slowly emerging from the fog of war. The clash highlighted the vulnerability of Western-funded and built Caspian export pipelines, which, by transiting the Caucasus, avoided both Russian and Iranian territory. During... MORE
CHARGES FILED AGAINST TAJIK OPPOSITION FIGURE
On September 22 the Prosecutor General’s Office of Tajikistan launched a criminal case at the request of the Ministry of Internal Affairs against Dodojon Atovulloev, the founder of the newspaper Charogi Ruz and leader of the popular movement Vatandor (Patriot). “The criminal case has been... MORE
POLLS SUGGEST WAVERING POPULAR SUPPORT FOR THE AKP
Recent opinion polls suggest that a string of corruption scandals and the slowdown in the pace of economic growth in Turkey are eroding popular support for the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP). An opinion poll conducted from October 8 to 12 by the Metropoll... MORE
RUSSIAN TACTICS DERAIL GENEVA TALKS ON ABKHAZIA AND SOUTH OSSETIA
International discussions on security and stability arrangements in South Ossetia and Abkhazia, Georgia, were launched at the Palace of Nations in Geneva on October 15. The process is expected to be a long one, but it adjourned on the first day amid disagreement about how... MORE