In an unprecedented move, on July 1 Kazakh law enforcement authorities suspended the operation of the independent www.posit.kz website for three months. Confirming the harsh measure, Kazakh Deputy Prosecutor General Askhat Daulbayev said that the legal action had been taken after the website operators published... MORE

During the 20th century, Mongolia’s fate was inextricably bound to that of its giant neighbors Russia and China, but since the collapse of Communism there in 1990, Ulaan Baatar has been cautiously reaching out to the outside world for new security arrangements with nations as... MORE

On August 5 there was an explosion and subsequent fire on a section of the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan (BTC) oil pipeline running through eastern Turkey, resulting in the flow of oil through the pipeline being halted. By August 7 the fire was reported to be under control,... MORE

On August 6 the board of directors of Austria’s OMV energy conglomerate decided to abandon its hostile takeover attempt against the Hungarian counterpart MOL (OMV press release, August 6; Der Standard, August 7). The European Commission’s negative assessment of a possible takeover, as well as... MORE

On August 4 Kyrgyz police confiscated a weapons cache from U.S. citizens living in a rented house on the outskirts of Bishkek. The U.S. Embassy in Bishkek immediately responded, confirming that the weapons were sanctioned by the Kyrgyz government as part of the anti-terrorism training... MORE

Turkey continues to announce new armament programs that involve the development and production of a “Turkish brand” of major weapons systems. On July 29, under a technology cooperation deal signed between Turkey and South Korea (ROK), Turkey initiated a $500 million project for the design,... MORE

There is a new turn in the dispute over the right of the U.S. company Vanco to explore the oil and gas fields in the Ukrainian part of the Black Sea. The government of Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko has indicated its readiness to back down... MORE