Latest Eurasia Daily Monitor Articles
MEDVEDEV’S ADDRESS IS RETURNED FOR REVISIONS
A major presidential performance had been scheduled for last week in the Kremlin, but it was postponed indefinitely at the last possible moment and without any convincing explanation. President Dmitry Medvedev was due to present his first annual address to the Federal Assembly on October... MORE
OFFICIALS OFFER REASSURANCES, BUT SOME FEAR A REPEAT OF 1998
In interviews over the weekend, top Russian economic officials sought to downplay fears that the global financial crisis would lead to a devaluation of the ruble and other dire consequences for Russia. Some observers, however, say Russian officials are playing down what lies ahead, and... MORE
RUSSIA TAKES INITIATIVE IN INTERNATIONAL PUSH FOR KARABAKH PEACE
Russia has taken the center stage in international efforts to resolve the Karabakh conflict, which could yield a breakthrough before the end of this year. President Dmitry Medvedev is expected to host a potentially decisive meeting of his Armenian and Azerbaijani counterparts next month. Moscow... MORE
GAZPROM SEDUCING ROMANIAN GOVERNMENT WITH SOUTH STREAM
Romania could be described until now as the staunchest and perhaps last remaining loyalist in the Western-backed Nabucco project. While four of the five Nabucco participant countries (save Romania) and a number of other countries in the region are variously negotiating Russian options, such as... MORE
KAZAKHSTAN WITHDRAWS TROOPS FROM IRAQ
The strategic seismic shockwave unleashed throughout the former Soviet Union by the August military confrontation between Georgia and Russia continues to reverberate throughout the Caucasus and Central Asia, as national leaders there reassess their relationships with Washington and Moscow. During the clash Azerbaijan, unable to... MORE
WESTERN INERTIA FUELS RUSSIAN DRIVE IN CENTRAL ASIA
On a visit to Astana on October 5, U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice announced to the press in a conspicuously diplomatic tone that the United States had no intention of undermining Russian interests in Central Asia or drawing Kazakhstan into the American sphere of... MORE
CONSTITUTIONAL COURT RULING ON HEADSCARF DEEPENS THE DEMOCRACY CRISIS IN TURKEY
In February the Justice and Development Party (AKP) teamed up with the Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) and amended Articles 10 and 42 of the Constitution to lift the ban on headscarves on university campuses. The Republican Peoples Party CHP appealed to the Constitutional Court to... MORE
OFFICIALS WARN OF A POSSIBLE RUSSIA-GEORGIA WAR IN THE FUTURE
The withdrawal of Russian soldiers two weeks ago from the so-called "buffer security zones" around Georgia’s breakaway territories of Abkhazia and South Ossetia did not stabilize the situation. The buffer zone around South Ossetia, occupied by Russian troops during the war with Georgia last August,... MORE
MOSCOW SEEKS MORE EXCUSES FOR PROLONGING NAVAL PRESENCE IN SEVASTOPOL
For the first time since the Soviet era, Russia’s Black Sea Fleet undertook an offensive operation in August of this year when it attacked Georgia, landing Russian ground forces in Abkhazia. The Russian Fleet, mainly based in Sevastopol, misused Ukraine’s territory and abused Ukraine’s neutrality... MORE
PROTESTS AGAINST U.S. MILITARY PRESENCE HELD IN BISHKEK
According to the results of opinion poll conducted by 24.kg news agency in Kyrgyzstan, majority of respondents (46 percent) see Russia as a genuine ally, while the United States scored less than 4 percent (www.24.kg , October 8). The United State earned the most (37... MORE