Latest Eurasia Daily Monitor Articles
SMOOTHER TIMES AHEAD FOR TROUBLED ALLIES U.S. AND TURKEY
On the night of December 16-17, Turkish F-16 warplanes, using U.S.-provided intelligence, bombed the headquarters of the rebel Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), deep inside northern Iraq, in the first large-scale cross-border offensive on the rebel hideouts (Today's Zaman, December 17). Turkey's military hailed the night... MORE
RUSSIA’S FAR EASTERN WORKERS WARY OF CHINESE MIGRANTS
The Russian government has urged accelerated development of the country's Far East and pledged sizable investments for regions bordering China and the Pacific. However, some executives of Russia's state-controlled enterprises apparently prefer to rely on imported labor in their Far Eastern projects, prompting loud complaints... MORE
BADRI PATARKATSISHVILI’S PROGRAM: BUYING THE ELECTION TO BUY GEORGIA
Today (December 18) the tycoon Badri Patarkatsishvili publicized his socioeconomic program as a presidential candidate via his fully owned media holding, Imedi. Addressing Georgia’s voters from his temporary London domicile in the run-up to the January 5 presidential election, Patarkatsishvili pledged to: Cover the expenses... MORE
RIGGED ELECTIONS DRAW FIRE FROM KYRGYZ OPPOSITION
On Sunday, December 16, Kyrgyzstan held snap parliamentary elections, following the constitutional referendum of October 21. Twelve political parties competed for 90 seats, to be distributed on the basis of proportional representation. As expected, President Kurmanbek Bakiyev’s Ak Zhol political party won the elections with... MORE
TURKEY TRUMPETS ATTACK ON PKK, TURNS TO “ENEMY WITHIN”
As the Turkish media continues to bask in the military strike against bases in northern Iraq belonging to the illegal Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), the Turkish authorities have stepped up their pressure on the legal pro-Kurdish Democratic Society Party (DTP). Yesterday (December 17), Turkish police... MORE
WILL PUTIN ACCEPT MEDVEDEV’S INVITATION?
The United Russia party is holding a congress today, December 17, during which it will likely officially nominate First Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev as its presidential candidate, thereby formalizing a move that the party made jointly with three other pro-Kremlin parties a week ago... MORE
RUSSIA MULLS BAIKAL-AMUR RAILWAY UPGRADE, IN LIGHT OF ECONOMIC, ENVIRONMENTAL CHANGES
Russia has unveiled a sizable investment program to improve the Baikal-Amur Railway line (BAM), which was originally designed to become an alternative route to the Trans-Siberian Railway. However, after years of operation, BAM is yet to prove its economic viability, and the railway may eventually... MORE
RUSSIA, UKRAINE TRADE HARSH WORDS OVER HISTORICAL MEMORY
On December 14 Russia’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA) issued a strongly worded statement complaining of “open nationalist, anti-Russian, and Russphobic feelings and developments in Ukraine.” Attempts are being made, it claimed, to “use difficult periods in our joint history to receive brief political rewards... MORE
TURKEY SPEAKS VOLUMES WITH A MUTED RESPONSE TO EU SNUB
Turkey’s muted response to the EU’s refusal to include an explicit reference to the country’s accession in its recent statement on enlargement is yet another indication of the waning enthusiasm in Turkey for what was once the country’s overriding foreign policy goal. At the conclusion... MORE
WILL KREMLIN USE 1990s PRIVATIZATIONS TO STRENGTHEN ITS GRIP ON BUSINESS?
Analysts and observers both inside and outside Russia have pointed to President Vladimir Putin’s apparent choice of First Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev to be his designated successor as a sign that Kremlin policy, at least in the realm of economics, may be moving toward... MORE