Latest Eurasia Daily Monitor Articles
TURKEY’S FIRST MILGEM WARSHIP LAUNCHED IN ISTANBUL
On September 27 the Turkish navy launched the corvette TCG Heybeliada, the first modern warship to be designed, built, and equipped primarily from local resources. The TCG Heybeliada is the first in what will eventually be a series of 12 multi-purpose littoral combat warships built... MORE
RUSSIAN NAVY DEPLOYMENTS APPARENTLY INTENDED TO ANNOY U.S.
While most military analysts observing last month’s confrontation between Georgia and Russia over South Ossetia and Abkhazia tended to focus on the ground clashes, the naval significance of the encounter has spread far beyond Georgia’s waters. The U.S. Navy dispatched relief to Georgia on warships... MORE
RUSSIA IN MOLDOVA: A COUNTER-EXAMPLE TO UKRAINE AND GEORGIA?
Russia and Moldova are exploring a possible settlement of the Transnistria conflict on a bilateral basis, outside the international 5 + 2 format. Russia is the initiator of this approach, pulling a reluctant but still hopeful Moldova along. The Russian-desired outcome would: reunify Moldova nominally,... MORE
LESSONS AND LOSSES OF GEORGIA’S FIVE-DAY WAR WITH RUSSIA
The Georgian Government, defeated in the five-day war with Russia, has been adopting a two-pronged approach in its information strategy: trying to prove that the war was initiated by Russia on August 7, and frequently praising the might of the Georgian Army, which inflicted 10... MORE
TURKEY SEEKS TO TIGHTEN LEGISLATION AGAINST MONEY LAUNDERING
On September 16 a directive by the Turkish Ministry of Finance to try to tighten Turkish anti-money-laundering legislation was published in the country’s Official Gazette. “The Directive on the Harmonization Program Regarding Responsibilities Related to the Prevention of the Laundering of Criminal Proceeds and the... MORE
RUSSIA NEUTERING THE COUNCIL OF EUROPE AFTER INVASION OF GEORGIA
The Council of Europe’s Parliamentary Assembly (PACE), which opens its autumn session in Strasbourg on September 29, can hardly afford to ignore Russia’s invasion of Georgia and its consequences. A motion is pending at PACE to “reconsider the Russian delegation’s credentials, on grounds of serious... MORE
RUSSIA’S GLOBAL WAR GAMES
This week the Russian armed forces began month-long strategic military exercises called Stability 2008. According to the Defense Ministry, the scenario suggests "a worsening of the situation and an escalation of crisis situations into military confrontation" (www.mil.ru, September 20). The composition of the forces and... MORE
CORRUPTION IN THE HYDRO-ENERGY SECTOR BECOMES CLEARER IN KYRGYZSTAN
On September 18 and 19 representatives of the Central Asian ministries of energy met in Almaty to discuss regional energy cooperation. The first round of negotiations was held on September 9 and 10 but failed to produce any agreement among the participating states, because of... MORE
MORE SPEED, LESS HASTE RESULTS IN TURKISH NUCLEAR TENDER FIASCO
Turkey’s latest attempt to acquire nuclear power resulted in humiliating failure on September 24, when only one consortium submitted a bid to build the country’s first nuclear power plant at Akkuyu, near the eastern Mediterranean port of Mersin. In the six months following the announcement... MORE
GERMAN VESTED INTERESTS RANKLED BY U.S. VIEW ON EUROPEAN ENERGY SECURITY
According to German media reports, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA) in Berlin has protested to the U.S. Embassy over an op-ed article by the U.S. Ambassador in Sweden, who criticized the Russo-German Nord Stream gas pipeline project on the Baltic seabed and other aspects... MORE