Latest Eurasia Daily Monitor Articles
COLLAPSE OF RUSSIAN STOCKS: RESULT OF THE GLOBAL MALAISE, OR SOMETHING MORE?
With the U.S. investment bank Lehman Brothers collapsing and the U.S. government bailing out insurance giant AIG, Russia’s stock markets continued their steep fall on September 17 after recording record losses the previous day. The ruble-denominated MICEX fell by 17.5 percent and the dollar-denominated RTS... MORE
UKRAINE, VANCO ENERGY, AND THE RUSSIAN MOB
The saga of Houston-based Vanco Energy Company’s conflict with the Ukrainian government over a shady production-sharing agreement (PSA) to explore the Black Sea shelf for oil and gas has taken a new twist. Recently uncovered evidence suggests that one or more of Vanco Energy Company’s... MORE
ARMED CLASH IN ASHGABAT
According to Turkmenistan’s Foreign Ministry press service, an incident occurred in Ashgabat on September 13, as a consequence of the activities of an illegal drug ring. The Prosecutor-General’s Office said that an operation involving the use of police and special forces units had been launched... MORE
ASSASSINS OF KYRGYZ JOURNALIST STILL AT LARGE
On October 24, 2007, one of the most prominent journalists in the southern Kyrgyzstan and the Uzbek part of the Ferghana Valley, Alisher Saipov, was assassinated in the town of Osh. The passersby, who were in the vicinity, said that Alisher was killed pointblank by... MORE
DTP PRESENTS FINAL DEFENSE IN CLOSURE CASE
On September 16 the pro-Kurdish Democratic Society Party (DTP) presented its final defense in the case filed for its closure at the Turkish Constitutional Court. Public Prosecutor Abdurrahman Yalcinkaya first applied to the court for the DTP’s closure on November 16, 2007, arguing that it... MORE
LEADING POLITICAL SCIENTIST ADMINISTERS LAST RITES TO REFORM HOPES
Has the conflict between Russia and Georgia jeopardized hopes that Russia can pursue a path of economic modernization based on “innovation,” as both President Dmitry Medvedev and Prime Minister Vladimir Putin have promised? That view was put forward by political scientist Lilia Shevtsova, of the... MORE
RUSSIAN PASSPORTS AS MOSCOW’S GEOPOLITICAL TOOL
The official protest by the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA) on September 11 over the allegedly “unfriendly” attitudes of the Ukrainian authorities to Russia was met by a stern response on the same day by Ukraine’s Foreign Ministry (www.mfa.gov.ua). Russia’s MFA protested about President... MORE
RUSSIA EYES “TRANSIT SUPERPOWER” STATUS
Despite continuing disagreements with the West, Russia's top officials have pledged to turn the Eurasian nation into a "transit superpower" to link Europe and Asia by developing transcontinental railways and encouraging infrastructure development projects. New transportation infrastructure projects would allow Russia to emerge as a... MORE
POLL SUGGESTS ECONOMIC SLOWDOWN IS ERODING AKP’S POPULARITY
A recent public opinion poll conducted by the Sonar Research company suggests that the slowdown in the Turkish economy is eroding the popularity of the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP). Sonar Research interviewed 2,927 people in 22 of Turkey’s 81 provinces over the period... MORE
TURKEY LAUNCHES KARABAKH PEACE INITIATIVE
On September 10 Turkish Foreign Minister Ali Babacan announced that he expected to meet with his Azeri and Armenian counterparts in New York later this month on the fringes of the annual UN General Assembly meetings to discuss a solution to the problem of Karabakh... MORE