Latest Eurasia Daily Monitor Articles
POSSIBLE FOOD UNREST IN CENTRAL ASIA
Harvest yields below projected levels combined with rising prices have analysts watching events in Central Asia, wondering if increased food prices might trigger civic protests. Poor weather has combined with the U.S. demand for ethanol bio-fuel to affect global grain prices. Because the United States... MORE
POLITICAL CRISIS LOOMS AS INFLATION GROWS IN KYRGYZSTAN
As food prices continue to rise in Kyrgyzstan, the potential for another political crisis is rising. Kyrgyz Prime Minister Almazbek Atambayev recently threatened to sack ministers who failed to foresee and prevent the 30% inflation rate for wheat prices in the past three months. If... MORE
POLITICAL TENSIONS HIT TURKISH ECONOMIC TIES WITH NORTHERN IRAQ
Turkish companies active in northern Iraq say that political tensions between Turkey and the Iraqi Kurdish authorities have severely damaged their ability to do business in the region. Many are now preparing to wind up their operations in northern Iraq and return to Turkey (Milliyet,... MORE
PUTIN APPOINTS NEW PRIME MINISTER: HAS SUCCESSION RACE BEGUN?
Yesterday, September 12, Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Fradkov resigned. His departure was hardly a surprise. Rumors of his impending resignation had been circulating all summer. However, most observers had anticipated that First Deputy Prime Minister Sergei Ivanov -- an old friend of President Vladimir Putin... MORE
KAZAKHSTAN SEEKS FULL CONTROL OVER KASHAGAN OIL TAP
The ongoing dispute between the Kazakh government and the Italian Agip KCO oil consortium reached a critical point when Kazakh Prime Minister Karim Masimov, addressing the second Eurasian Energy Forum held in Astana on September 6, issued what sounded like an ultimatum. He clearly articulated... MORE
BULGARIA’S AMBITIONS FOR CASPIAN OIL TRANSIT
On September 10 Bulgarian Minister of Foreign Affairs Ivailo Kalfin outlined the country’s goals to join transport corridors for Caspian oil and gas. Kalfin spoke in the wake of an official visit to Kazakhstan and Turkmenistan, the first such visit by a senior Bulgarian official... MORE
NEW DRAFT TURKISH CONSTITUTION FORESEES EASING RESTRICTIONS ON RELIGIOUS AND ETHNIC IDENTITY
A draft of the planned new Turkish constitution has been leaked to the media, and it suggests that the Justice and Development Party (AKP) is planning to ease restrictions on the expression of religious and non-Turkish ethnic identities while reducing the political influence of the... MORE
TURKISH POLICE FOIL MASSIVE BOMB ATTACK IN ANKARA
The discovery of a vehicle packed with explosives in the center of Ankara has once again raised questions about Turkey’s vulnerability to a mass-casualty terrorist attack. On the morning of September 11, two police sniffer dogs identified explosives in a Mercedes panel van in a... MORE
OLD RUSSIAN STRATEGIC BOMBERS CONTINUE TO MAKE NEWS
This summer Russian strategic bombers flew exercise missions to the North Pole, near Alaska, and down the coast of Norway toward Great Britain and other far-off destinations. During the Cold War, such flights were routine. Russian strategic bombers such as the older Tu-95 “Bear” and... MORE
SCHROEDER’S MESSAGE TO EUROPE FROM MOSCOW
On September 8 in Moscow, former German chancellor and current Gazprom official Gerhard Schroeder launched the Russian edition of his memoirs, courtesy again of Gazprom. Russia’s First Deputy Prime Minister and Gazprom chairman Dmitry Medvedev contributed the preface to the memoirs’ Russian edition and acted... MORE