Latest Eurasia Daily Monitor Articles
NAZARBAYEV ORDERS DEFENSE AND SECURITY REFORMS
Last week, Kazakhstan’s President Nursultan Nazarbayev again called for the reform of the country’s defense and security structures. On November 15, he ordered the various heads of the defense and security bodies to prepare detailed proposals for restructuring their agencies, as part of the ongoing... MORE
AKP UNDER PRESSURE TO STAGE MILITARY OPERATION INTO IRAQ
Since late October, when the Turkish government first threatened to launch a military operation against camps belonging to the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) in northern Iraq, rarely a day has passed without the Turkish media reporting military movements close to the Turkish-Iraqi border in apparent... MORE
STANISLAV BELKOVSKY: PUTIN WILL LEAVE POWER COMPLETELY
The United Russia party and the recently created "For Putin" movement continue to push for President Vladimir Putin to remain in power in some capacity after his second and final constitutionally mandated presidential term ends next year. Putin himself recently hinted that he may be... MORE
AUSTRIA’S OMV DEAL WITH GAZPROM THREATENS NABUCCO PROJECT
OMV, Austria's state-controlled energy company, plans to hand over to Russia's Gazprom a 50% ownership stake in OMV's Baumgarten gas storage and distribution center near Vienna. With this move, OMV threatens to torpedo the European Union-backed Nabucco pipeline project for Caspian gas. OMV, alongside the... MORE
UKRAINE, RUSSIA FACE OFF OVER CLEANING UP OIL SPILL IN SEA OF AZOV
On November 11 a powerful storm arose in the northeastern Black Sea. By the end of it, Russia and Ukraine faced serious environmental damage from an oil spill and a potentially acrimonious diplomatic situation. According to Ukraine's Emergency Situations Ministry, after the storm four ships... MORE
AKP CONDEMNS JUDICIAL ATTEMPTS TO CLOSE KURDISH PARTY
Leading members of Turkey's ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) have condemned attempts by the country's judiciary to close down the pro-Kurdish Democratic Society Party (DTP). On November 16 Public Prosecutor Abdurrahman Yalcinkaya formally applied to the Turkish Constitutional Court for the closure of the... MORE
NEWSPAPER: PUTIN’S ENTOURAGE SEES NO ALTERNATIVE TO A THIRD TERM
Russian President Vladimir Putin recently gave the strongest hint to date that he plans on remaining at the helm of the ship of state following the end of his second and final constitutionally mandated term next May. Putin, who will head the federal list of... MORE
RUSSIA-LED BLOC EMERGES IN OSCE
Moscow is lining up the member countries of the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) -- Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan -- in a Russia-led bloc within the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe. This bloc has emerged in the run-up to the... MORE
OSCE STUMBLING OVER UNRESOLVED CONFLICTS AHEAD OF YEAR-END MEETING
Insofar as its words still matter (admittedly an increasingly dubious premise), the OSCE seems set to defer to Russia at the year-end meeting in late November in Madrid regarding the post-Soviet unresolved conflicts. The political declaration, drafted by the Spanish chairmanship, reflects Russia’s overall position... MORE
NEW TURKISH INTERNET REGULATIONS SIGNAL FURTHER RESTRICTIONS ON FREEDOM OF SPEECH
Amid fading hopes of EU membership, there are increasing signs that the Turkish authorities are tightening restrictions on freedom of speech. A new set of regulations for Internet Service Providers (ISPs) published in the Turkish Official Gazette on November 1, 2007, makes it compulsory for... MORE