Latest Eurasia Daily Monitor Articles
RUSSIA SUSPICIOUS OF “BLOCS” IN CENTRAL ASIA
On March 27 a joint meeting of representatives from the Secretariat of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) and members of the OSCE Center in Dushanbe discussed security measures with the Tajik government. Saidmumin Yatimov, Tajikistan’s first deputy foreign minister, described the... MORE
READING AND MISREADING MOSCOW’S POSITIONS ON KOSOVO
On March 30 in Brussels, the meeting of Ministers of Foreign Affairs of the European Union’s 27 member countries showed for the first time some cracks in the EU’s common front regarding conflict resolution in Kosovo. The EU collectively, as well as the United States... MORE
KOSOVO: RUSSIA’S FIFTH FROZEN CONFLICT?
To continue freezing the resolution of the four post-Soviet secessionist conflicts, Russia needs a fifth frozen conflict in Kosovo and a linkage to make resolution of one dependent on resolution of the others. At the same time, Moscow hopes that a linkage policy could lead... MORE
KREMLIN USING NATIONALISTIC RHETORIC TO NEUTRALIZE OPPOSITION BEFORE ELECTIONS
On March 24, the authorities in the Russian city of Nizhny Novgorod brutally broke up an anti-government rally using riot police. The Nizhny Novgorod rally was the third “March of the Discontents” organized by Other Russia, a coalition of opposition parties and groups have united... MORE
TURKMENISTAN REJOINS THE GLOBAL COMMUNITY
Following the death of Turkmen President Saparmurat Niyazov on December 21, his successor, Gurbanguly Berdimukhamedov, is carefully opening his country’s Internet access to the outside world. Under Niyazov, Turkmenistan had long been isolated from the World Wide Web. According to the Internet World Stats directory,... MORE
TOWARD A RUSSIA-LED CARTEL FOR GAS?
Proposals for the Gas-Exporting Countries’ Forum to consider the possibility of forming a cartel have in recent weeks been aired by the presidents of Russia, Iran, and Algeria, as well as the Emir of Qatar, from among the major exporting countries; and also by Venezuela... MORE
POLITICAL SHAKE UP IN AZERBAIJAN SHOWS INCREASING POSITION OF THE PRESIDENT
A series of high-level arrests, court trials, and expulsions from the ruling party in Azerbaijan OVER the last month has stirred up tensions in the higher echelons of power and once again created rumors and speculation that the ruling party is collapsing. Casual observers and... MORE
MOSCOW AND PYONGYANG STRUGGLE TO AGREE ON DEBT WRITE-OFF
During rare talks in Moscow on March 23, Russia fell short of delivering on its earlier pledges to forgive Pyongyang much of its Soviet-era debt. The debt write-off was viewed as Russia's economic incentive to encourage more North Korean cooperation with international efforts to defuse... MORE
GAS SUPPLIERS’ CARTEL: NOT AN “OPEC,” BUT CARTEL ALL THE SAME
With common trepidation substituting for a common policy, the West is awaiting the Gas-Exporting Countries’ Forum (GECF) meeting on April 9 in Doha, Qatar. It will be the group’s sixth meeting in almost as many years, but it is the first meeting that might result... MORE
RETIRED GENERALS SPICE UP ARMENIAN ELECTION CAMPAIGN
Three retired army generals have added an element of intrigue and uncertainty to political life in Armenia with their separate decisions to stand in the parliamentary elections scheduled for May 12. Two of them resigned from the military for that purpose last month and are... MORE