Latest Eurasia Daily Monitor Articles
MURDER OF KABARDINO-BALKARIA LAW-ENFORCER: ANOTHER TURN IN A VICIOUS CIRCLE?
The head of Kabardino-Balkaria’s regional anti-organized crime directorate Colonel Anatoly Kyarov, was shot to death along with his bodyguard on the evening of January 12 when their car came under fire near the headquarters of the republic’s drug control department in Nalchik, the republican capital.... MORE
WILL MEDVEDEV’S ASCENSION SOLVE GAZPROM’S PROBLEMS?
As Russia wraps up seasonal festivities with the Old Style New Year on January 13, it is beginning to acknowledge changes in the economic climate that are caused by a peculiar combination of over-heating and under-investment. The most acute symptom of this complex malady is... MORE
GEORGIA BETWEEN RULE OF LAW AND THE “GEOPOLITICS OF RUSTAVELI AVENUE”
On January 13 Georgia’s Central Electoral Commission (CEC) approved and released the final, official results of the January 5 pre-term presidential election. The process took longer than expected, largely because of contentious counting of disputed votes from a number of precincts, amounting to decimal points... MORE
TURKISH ALEVIS SPURN OVERTURES FROM AKP
In a sign of their continuing suspicions of the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP), representatives of Turkey’s Alevi religious minority spurned what the government claimed was an olive branch by boycotting a banquet organized for them in Ankara on January 11. No reliable statistics... MORE
MORE THAN 80,000 INGUSH DENY THEY VOTED IN STATE DUMA ELECTIONS
Following Russia’s State Duma elections last December 2, the United States and some European government said the elections had been neither free nor fair, and Golos, Russia’s only independent vote monitoring group, reported that they had been accompanied by “mass violations” across the country (Independent... MORE
SAME OLD FACES DOMINATE NEW KYRGYZ GOVERNMENT
The new Kyrgyz government, formed following the December 16, 2007, parliamentary elections, is comprised mostly of old faces who survived the numerous reshuffling efforts of former president Askar Akayev, the change of presidents in March 2005, and the recent parliamentary elections. President Kurmanbek Bakiyev has... MORE
THE REBIRTH OF PAN-TURKISM?
As the USSR recedes further into history, the post-Soviet Turkic nations of the Caucasus and Central Asia are rediscovering their linguistic and cultural affinities with Turkey, and activists are promoting closer cultural, economic, and political ties. Among the states of Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan, and... MORE
HOPES LOW FOR CLARIFYING ANTI-“TURKISHNESS” CONCEPT
The infamous Article 301 of the Turkish penal code, which outlaws “humiliating Turkishness,” has been the focal point of criticism that the country lacks decent legislation allowing free speech. Knowing that, Turkey’s pro-EU government is working to amend that article, but in a way that... MORE
MOSCOW EXPLOITING THE KOSOVO CONTEXT TO TAKE OVER SERBIA’S ENERGY SECTOR
The European Union looks like a bystander to Russia’s step-by-step capture of energy markets and infrastructure in EU territory. This time, Moscow is using an opening through Serbia, a country that Russia has tempted into isolation from the West by encouraging Serbian past-oriented nationalism over... MORE
NEW REVELATIONS CONCERNING NUCLEAR POWER PLANT IN BELARUS
The Belarusian government has now selected the official site for a new nuclear power station in Belarus. It has also designated a general planning operation for the plant and may be close to a decision on which company will design the reactor. The information gleaned... MORE