Latest Eurasia Daily Monitor Articles
VICE PRESIDENT CHENEY’S VISIT TO BAKU RAISES SPECULATIONS
On September 3, US Vice President Dick Cheney arrived in Baku as part of his tour to the region of the former Soviet Union. The visit was the first such high-ranking visit by a US official and drew much attention because of the recent events... MORE
ONGOING TRADE CRISIS DEMONSTRATES TURKEY’S LACK OF LEVERAGE AGAINST RUSSIA
On September 8, Kursad Tuzmen, the Turkish Minister of State for Foreign Trade, said that the delays being faced by Turkish exports trying to enter Russia had so far cost the country $500 million. The crisis began in mid-August when trucks and ships carrying Turkish... MORE
CRISIS IN UKRAINE
Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko is ready to call an early parliamentary election as his party, Our Ukraine – People’s Self-Defense (NUNS), withdrew from a coalition with Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko’s Bloc (BYT). According to Ukrainian laws, NUNS has time until September 13 to change its... MORE
RUSSiANS DOUBT OBJECTIVITY OF OFFICIAL MEDIA WHILE SHARING THEIR SENTIMENTS
A national poll conducted by the independent Levada Center over August 15-22 – that is, in the immediate wake of the five-day Russo-Georgian war – found a high degree of anti-Western and particularly anti-American sentiment. A total of 75 percent of the respondents stated that... MORE
BASBUG MAKES HIS MARK
On September 4-5 General Ilker Basbug, the new chief of the Turkish General Staff (TGS), conducted a two day visit to the predominantly Kurdish southeast of the country, inspecting military units, meeting with selected NGOs in Diyarbakir, and mingling with the local people on the... MORE
CAN NAZARBAYEV HELP KYRGYZSTAN ESCAPE MOSCOW’S PRESSURE?
Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev’s reluctance to support Russia’s recognition of South Ossetia and Abkhazia’s independence at the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) summit in Dushanbe last week has clearly damaged the organization’s internal cohesion, revealing cleavages between its strongest members–Russia and China. But Nazarbayev also gave... MORE
ARMENIA, TURKEY INCH TOWARD RAPPROCHEMENT
Months of confidential diplomatic contacts and exchanges of unusually cordial statements have left Armenia and Turkey on the verge of an historic rapprochement that would have far-reaching ramifications for regional security. This weekend President Abdullah Gul will become the first leader of modern-day Turkey to... MORE
MONGOLIA’S POLITICAL LEADERS COMPROMISE, RESUME COOPERATION
On June 29 Mongolia held its fifth round of parliamentary elections for the Ulsyn Ikh Khural (State Great Hural, or Parliament) since the country abandoned Communism in 1990 and held its first multiparty elections. Opposition parties cried foul; two days later the country’s capital erupted... MORE
FURTHER RUSSIAN MILITARY ACTION IS POSSIBLE
After the EU summit on September 1 in Brussels, French President Nicolas Sarkozy told a press conference, "All of Europe is united" against Moscow's behavior in Georgia. "We can't go back to the age of spheres of influence; Yalta is behind us," stated Sarkozy, referring... MORE
THE STATE OF THE UKRAINIAN MILITARY
During the August 2008 commemoration of the 17th anniversary of Ukrainian independence, armored units of Ukraine’s ground forces paraded down Kyiv’s Khreschatyk Boulevard, while air force planes flew overhead in a show of Ukrainian military might and preparedness. The decision to include a full-scale military... MORE