Latest Eurasia Daily Monitor Articles
WHAT WILL RUSSIA GAIN FROM KAZAKHSTAN’S OSCE CHAIRMANSHIP?
As Kazakhstan’s long-awaited term of chairmanship of the OSCE draws near, Astana is stepping up its multifaceted ties with the West, disregarding the painful reaction of the Kremlin to any westward movement in Central Asia. The signing of the strategic partnership treaty between Nursultan Nazarbayev... MORE
TURKEY INITIATES PRODUCTION OF NATIONAL ATTACK HELICOPTERS
Turkey’s long-delayed goal of developing a national helicopter is finally seeing daylight. On September 7, 2007, Turkey’s Under-Secretariat for the Defense Industries (SSM) signed a contract with Turkish Aerospace Industries (TAI/ TUSAS), ASELSAN and the Italian-British rotorcraft company AgustaWestland to produce optional- attack/tactical-reconnaissance helicopters (T129... MORE
THE WEST IS CONFUSED ABOUT WHAT TO DO IN ABKHAZIA
Two explosions were reported on the railroad near Sokhumi, the capital of Georgia’s breakaway region of Abkhazia. The explosions happened near the positions of Russian Railroad Troops who are now repairing the tracks that in the future may be used for deploying Russian tanks and... MORE
THE KREMLIN PROMOTES EASTERN PIPELINE PROJECT
The Kremlin is giving its strong support to the construction of the Eastern Siberia Pacific Oil Pipeline (ESPO), apparently viewing it as an important economic and foreign policy tool. The pipeline was planned to promote faster growth of the Russian Far East, and Russian President... MORE
EU STRATEGY IN CENTRAL ASIA: ONE YEAR LATER
A year after the German EU presidency introduced the Strategy for Central Asia from 2007 to 2013, the European Commission (EC) published a draft of its progress report. The report notes intensified collaboration with the Central Asian states and sets out future dimensions for cooperation.... MORE
TANKERS, PIPELINES AND THE TURKISH STRAITS
One of the most dramatic stories in a world facing record-high energy prices has been the relentless rise of Azeri, Kazakh and Russian Caspian oil exports from southern Russia since the collapse of the USSR 17 years ago. Since 1991 Turkey has watched with growing... MORE
INVESTIGATIVE COMMITTEE UNVEILS “CONCEPTUAL DESIGN” FOR FIGHT AGAINST CORRUPTION
Work on the national anti-corruption plan recently ordered by President Dmitry Medvedev (see EDM, June 18, May 21 and 28) is moving ahead. A spokesman for the Investigative Committee of the Prosecutor General’s Office (SKP), Vladimir Markin, told Interfax on June 25 that the SKP... MORE
EUROPEANS REMISS ON NABUCCO, ILLUSION-PRONE ON SOUTH STREAM
The European Union’s current presiding country, Slovenia, has decided to join Gazprom’s South Stream pipeline project, rival to the EU’s top-priority Nabucco project. The Slovenian government announced this decision in the third week of June, with less than two weeks remaining in its presidential term.... MORE
WILL PARLIAMENTARY CRISIS LEAD TO TYMOSHENKO’S DISMISSAL?
The coalition of Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko Bloc (BYT) and President Viktor Yushchenko’s Our Ukraine--People’s Self-Defense (NUNS) no longer has a majority in the Ukrainian parliament. Two deputies quit the coalition, so it controls 225 seats in the 450-seat chamber, one seat short of a... MORE
TURKEY TO TAKE PART IN IRAQI OIL EXTRACTION
Along with five other nations, Turkey’s Turkiye Petrolleri Anonim Ortakligi (Turkish Petroleum Corporation--TPAO) has been included among state-owned countries that will be granted the right to extract oil in Iraq, according to Iraqi oil ministry official Asim Jihad. “We chose 35 companies of international standard,... MORE