Latest Eurasia Daily Monitor Articles
DUSHANBE SUMMITS FOLLOW RUSSIAN AGENDA
Russian President Vladimir Putin has said he is pleased with the success of the “triple summit” of the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS), Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO), and Eurasian Economic Community (EurAsEc) last week in Dushanbe, Tajikistan, and he described them as “most fruitful”... MORE
CAN TYMOSHENKO LIVE WITH A GRAND COALITION?
Opposition leader Yulia Tymoshenko’s hopes to become prime minister may be dashed. President Viktor Yushchenko wants to invite the Party of Regions (PRU), led by her archrival, Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovych, to join a new Cabinet of Ministers. If the PRU, which will have more... MORE
TURKEY PREPARES FOR CROSS-BORDER MILITARY OPERATION
Over the next few days the Turkish parliament is expected to approval a motion authorizing a cross-border military operation into northern Iraq to strike at camps belonging to the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) in the Qandil Mountains. On October 9, a three and one-half hour... MORE
RUSSIAN GENERAL IMPLICATED IN NARCOTICS STING
On October 2 Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB) carried out what initially appeared to be a routine arrest of a suspect connected with corruption in a counter-narcotics trafficking agency. However, the arrest of Lieutenant-General Alexander Bulbov, a department head in the Federal Service for Control... MORE
“ACTION FOR ACTION” ON THE CFE TREATY: OPPORTUNITY AND RISKS
Delegations from 30 countries signatory to the Treaty on Conventional Forces in Europe (CFE) held an emergency brainstorming session on October 1-2 near Berlin amid Russian threats to abandon the treaty imminently. Discussions are continuing in Vienna. With NATO unity less than ironclad on how... MORE
KYRGYZSTAN CONSTITUTIONAL REFERENDUM SET FOR OCTOBER 21
Two weeks ago Kyrgyz President Kurmanbek Bakiyev unveiled his draft constitution, which substantially increases his powers. Bakiyev’s constitutional project will be confirmed or rejected in the national referendum scheduled for October 21. Meanwhile, most local observers agree that the regime will likely falsify the final... MORE
NEW TURKISH STUDY HIGHLIGHTS POVERTY AMONG KURDS
The unemployment rate stands at 70% of the adult population in the shantytowns that surround Diyarbakir, the largest city in the predominantly Kurdish southeast of Turkey, according to a recent study by Istanbul’s Bosphorus University (Milliyet, September 29). Socioeconomic underdevelopment has long been regarded as... MORE
MOLDOVA QUITTING BACK-CHANNEL NEGOTIATIONS WITH KREMLIN, SEEKS RAPPROCHEMENT WITH TIRASPOL
Moldovan President Vladimir Voronin is pulling back from the bilateral, non-transparent negotiations with the Kremlin, on which he had embarked in September 2006. Concessions offered by Chisinau incrementally in the negotiating rounds with Russian Security Council Secretary Yuri Zubakov and, periodically, with President Vladimir Putin... MORE
WILL ASHGABAT ABANDON NEUTRALITY?
While Western powers compete to entice Turkmenistan’s new leadership to share access to the country’s munificent hydrocarbon resources, Moscow is pursing a longer-term goal by attempting to modify the country’s long-standing neutrality stance. The Kremlin apparently hopes to enmesh Turkmenistan in existing post-Soviet defense pacts... MORE
ORANGE REVOLUTION BACK ON TRACK AFTER UKRAINE ELECTION
Ukraine’s September 30 parliamentary elections mark a resurrection of the Orange Revolution. The two orange forces, the Yulia Tymoshenko bloc (BYuT) and Our Ukraine-People’s Self Defense (NUNS), together won 45% of the votes. Their expected 230 seats (out of 450) should be enough to create... MORE