Latest Eurasia Daily Monitor Articles
MOSCOW MAY DISPATCH FIREBRAND NATIONALIST TO NATO
The Russian Foreign Ministry has confirmed that the outspoken, anti-Western Dmitry Rogozin is about to be appointed to an important diplomatic position, and “This may be the post of permanent representative to NATO” (RIA-Novosti, Reuters, October 24). The current Russian representative at NATO headquarters, General... MORE
DIFFERENCES WITHIN UKRAINIAN COALITION ESCALATE
A coalition consisting of President Viktor Yushchenko’s Our Ukraine-People’s Self-Defense bloc (NUNS) and the Yulia Tymoshenko Bloc (BYuT) is showing cracks long before the newly elected parliament even has its first meeting, which is expected in late November. There is no unity of opinion among... MORE
DTP CALLS FOR AUTONOMY AMID CONTINUING TENSIONS FOLLOWING RECENT PKK ATTACKS
Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan has delivered his strongest warning yet to the United States and the Iraqi Kurds ahead of his scheduled meeting with President George W. Bush on November 5. Speaking at a reception to celebrate the anniversary of the foundation of... MORE
LEX MOL REFLECTS EUROPEAN RETHINKING ON ENERGY INVESTMENT REGIME
Overwhelmingly approved by the Hungarian parliament, the legislation known as “Lex MOL” [MOL law] is set to take effect after the presidential signature as a final formality. The law reacts to Austrian state-controlled energy champion OMV’s hostile takeover bid against MOL, Hungary’s largest economic entity,... MORE
LEX MOL AND THE VOLKSWAGEN RULING: COMPARING APPLES AND ORANGES
On October 23 the European Court of Justice (ECJ), the European Union’s highest court, overturned Germany’s Volkswagen law, which restricts the voting rights of that company’s shareholders to 20%, regardless of the size of the stake owned. The European Commission had initiated the case three... MORE
SOARING TRADE BOOSTS RUSSIAN-ARMENIAN ECONOMIC TIES
Armenia’s trade with Russia has increased dramatically this year, paralleling the growing Russian economic presence in the country, which has sparked concerns about Armenia’s economic independence and even national security. The almost 62% year-on-year rise in Russian-Armenian trade registered in the first eight months of... MORE
TURKISH AUTHORITIES BEGIN TO APPLY ECONOMIC PRESSURE AGAINST IRAQI KURDS
Turkish media reports from the country’s border with Iraq suggest that the Turkish authorities have begun to apply economic pressure against the Iraqi Kurds ahead of possible full-scale sanctions. On October 24, a statement released after a six-hour meeting of Turkey’s National Security Council (NSC)... MORE
ETHNIC TENSIONS IN TURKEY CONTINUING TO ESCALATE
Over a week after the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) killed 12 Turkish soldiers when they overran a military outpost in Daglaci, close to Turkey’s border with Iraq, (see EDM, October 22), nationalist anger inside Turkey not only shows no sign of abating but appears to... MORE
PUTIN COMPARES U.S. MISSILE DEFENSE TO CUBAN CRISIS
Expectations before the regular meeting between Russian President Vladimir Putin and the EU leadership had set a new record low, and the summit in Mafra, Portugal, last Friday, October 26, generally lived up to them. The top priority for the Portuguese EU presidency has been... MORE
DEFENSE RELATIONS: LONDON LOOKS TO ASHGABAT
On October 21 London refocused British diplomatic efforts in Central Asia from Kazakhstan to Turkmenistan. The Turkmen state news agency publicized a visit to Ashgabat by an official from the UK Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO), wrongly suggesting this was the FCO’s director for Russia... MORE