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

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

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

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

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

The Turkish Energy Ministry has repeated Turkey’s determination to press ahead with a new natural gas agreement with Iran, despite objections from the United States. On October 3, Turkish Energy Ministry officials announced that that Turkey would not seek international financing for the $3.5 billion... MORE

Last week Georgia’s former defense minister, Irakli Okruashvili, accused the country’s pro-Western President Mikheil Saakashvili of large-scale corruption and conspiring to kill Badri Patarkatsishvili, a prominent businessman. Okruashvili claimed that then-prime minister Zurab Zhvaniya, who was found dead in a friend’s apartment in 2005, actually... MORE

Moscow is facing an increasing deficit in bilateral trade with China. Russian industries have found themselves hard-pressed by Chinese competition, and business leaders are calling for the introduction of anti-dumping measures, indicating a looming trade dispute between the two neighbors. Russian officials have long recognized... MORE