Latest Eurasia Daily Monitor Articles
CONFLICT IN SOUTH OSSETIA CONFUSES KYRGYZ GOVERNMENT AHEAD OF CIS SUMMIT
Although Kyrgyzstan has yet to declare its official response to the conflict in South Ossetia, Kyrgyz pundits have quickly used the developments in Georgia in their revision of real and imagined implications of the U.S. military base at the Manas Airport. The Kyrgyz government and... MORE
DEVILS AND DETAILS: AHMADINEJAD VISITS TURKEY
Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad arrived in Turkey on August 14 in the latest in a series of high level contacts between the two countries against a backdrop of growing international pressure on Tehran over its nuclear program. Both the United States and Israel have expressed... MORE
THE RUSSIAN-GEORGIAN WAR WAS PREPLANNED IN MOSCOW
Last week military tension in Georgia's separatist region of South Ossetia escalated into all-out war. The Ossetian separatists were provoking a conflict to give the Russian military a pretext for direct intervention. Late in the evening of August 7, a heavy mortar bombardment of Georgian... MORE
RUSSIA’S WAR ON GEORGIA IS AIMED AGAINST THE WEST
For the fifth day running, Russian forces are pursuing their onslaught against Georgia. Russian troops have brutally advanced far beyond the so-called conflict zones, deep inside the country, occupying towns and villages and destroying Georgia’s infrastructure through aerial bombardments. In addition, the Russian Navy has... MORE
SARKOZY ARMISTICE PLAN FAVORS RUSSIA, UNDERCUTS GEORGIA
On August 12 in Moscow, following Georgia’s unilateral ceasefire, French President Nicolas Sarkozy agreed with Russian President Dmitry Medvedev on the conditions for Russia to cease hostilities against Georgia. That evening, Medvedev announced that Russia was temporarily ceasing hostilities against Georgia. That same evening Sarkozy... MORE
SARKOZY-MEDVEDEV PLAN FLAWED IN SUBSTANCE AND PROCESS
French President Nicolas Sarkozy’s initiative for a Russian cease-fire in Georgia (see accompanying article) is undoubtedly a helpful short-term measure, dictated by military necessity. It is also a welcome sign of more active European involvement in the South Caucasus after a long period of neglect.... MORE
TURKEY AND THE PROBLEMS WITH THE BTC
With Western eyes fixed on the clash between Russia and Georgia over the disputed enclaves of South Ossetia and Abkhazia, the conflict is affecting neighboring countries’ oil shipments, particularly Azerbaijan and transit nation Turkey. There was a terrorist attack on August 5, two days before... MORE
UKRAINIAN GOVERNMENT EXPRESSES STRONG SUPPORT FOR GEORGIA
Ukraine’s president and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, which comes under his jurisdiction, have reacted sharply to the Georgian-Russian conflict. President Viktor Yushchenko has close personal relations with President Mikhail Saakashvili with whom he is direct contact on a daily basis (www.president.gov.ua, August 9). The... MORE
HIZB UT-TAHRIR AND U.S. ALLIES IN CENTRAL ASIA
As Tashkent and Washington move to repair relations that were downgraded after divergent interpretations of the tragic events in Andijan on May 12, 2005, the U.S. is seeking to reengage Uzbekistan’s support for continuing cooperation of military operations in Afghanistan, for which Tashkent assented within... MORE
MOUNTING PKK DEATH TOLL INCREASES PRESSURE ON THE TURKISH GOVERNMENT
On August 11 nine Turkish soldiers were killed when the truck in which they were traveling was struck by a mine laid by the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) in Kemah county in the province of Erzincan in southeast Turkey. It was the largest death toll... MORE