Latest Eurasia Daily Monitor Articles
WILL MORE MONEY HELP BUY MORE MODERN WEAPONS?
The 27,000-strong Georgian military is a 40th the size of the Russian military of over one million. Only several thousand solders from each side were directly involved in the war last month, which lasted three days before the Georgian forces were ordered to withdraw. Russia... MORE
BELARUS PREPARES FOR PARLIAMENTARY ELECTIONS
Preparations for the parliamentary elections scheduled for September 28 are well under way. Chair of the Central Election Commission Lidziya Yarmoshyna has declared that the election is intended to "smash stereotypes" about Belarus (Moscow Times, September 14). Although some opposition parties are taking part, Charter... MORE
RUSSIA OFFERS SUPPORT AMID KYRGYZSTAN’S ECONOMIC CRISIS
Following a bilateral meeting in Moscow, Kyrgyz Prime Minister Igor Chudinov announced an agreement with his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin to begin cooperation in the hydro-energy sector (www.24.kg, September 17). Furthermore, Russian Gazprom will explore natural gas reserves in Kyrgyzstan. Chudinov was vague about how... MORE
TGS STILL THE ULTIMATE GUARDIAN OF SECULARISM IN TURKEY, BASBUG INSISTS
The Turkish military is as committed as ever to defending the principle of secularism enshrined in the country’s constitution but will resist attempts to be dragged into party politics, General Ilker Basbug, the new chief of the Turkish General Staff (TGS), told journalists in Ankara... MORE
NEW COALITION OR EARLY ELECTION FOR UKRAINE
On September 16 Ukrainian parliament speaker Arseny Yatsenyuk pronounced the ruling coalition of President Viktor Yushchenko’s Our Ukraine-People’s Self-Defense (NUNS) and the Yulia Tymoshenko Bloc (BYT) officially dead. If no new coalition emerges within 30 days, Yushchenko will be entitled to disband parliament and call... MORE
WALL STREET CHAOS AFFECTS TURKEY
The reverberations from the bankruptcy of Lehman Brothers investment bank after its shares dropped more than 80 percent before the September 15 opening bell on the New York Stock Exchange have thrown Wall Street into a volatile situation with worldwide echoes, and the fiscal uncertainties... MORE
RUSSO-GEORGIAN WAR CREATES SECURITY DILEMMA FOR IRAN
Although the Georgian-Russian military conflict and its still uncertain aftermath may have produced no considerable change in Iran’s foreign policy, the projection of Russian power has created a new security dilemma for the Islamic Republic. Iranians certainly hope that the crisis will open new diplomatic... MORE
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