Latest Eurasia Daily Monitor Articles
ARE EARLY ELECTIONS AN OPTION FOR YUSHCHENKO?
Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko may opt for an early parliamentary election in order to reverse the 2004-2006 constitutional reforms. Reversing the amendments, which diminished presidential authority and made it possible for Yushchenko's rivals to quickly return to power, is probably impossible without controlling two-thirds of... MORE
TURKMENISTAN TILTS TOWARD RUSSIA
Turkmenistan’s foreign policy discernibly tilted toward Russia in the days following the death of the country’s president on December 21, 2006. Russia sees the continuation and improvement of commercial and diplomatic relations with Turkmenistan as vital for a number of reasons. Russia has become dependent... MORE
NEUTRAL TURKMENISTAN PRESENTS SECURITY DILEMMA IN THE CASPIAN
On December 26 Gurbanguly Berdimukhamedov, Turkmenistan’s acting president, was shown on national television conducting meetings of the State Security Council and Cabinet of Ministers. These images showed Agagelgy Mametgeldiyev, Turkmenistan’s defense minister, seated next to Berdimukhamedov at the meeting. Although there was nothing unusual about... MORE
GEORGIA’S HARD-EARNED CHRISTMAS PRESENT: RUSSIAN MILITARY OUT OF TBILISI
On December 25, 2006, the last personnel of Russia’s garrison in Tbilisi and the rump Headquarters of the Group of Russian Forces in the Transcaucasus (GRVZ) pulled out of Georgia’s capital and of the country altogether. Their unwilling, though ultimately precipitate, withdrawal crowns 15 years... MORE
TWELVE MONTHS: THE SHORT LIFE OF COMFORTABLE ASSUMPTIONS ABOUT RUSSIA’S ENERGY POLICY IN 2006
The Kremlin’s confiscatory assault on Royal Dutch Shell and threats to other Western energy majors in Russia on Black Tuesday, December 12 (see EDM, December 13) is the latest in a series of moves disproving Western wishful thinking about Russia’s energy policy. That wishful thinking... MORE
RUSSIA’S SAKHALIN-2 PROJECT REMAINS UNDER PRESSURE
Russian officials have made little secret of their unhappiness over the terms of existing production sharing agreements, notably Sakhalin-2. Russia refuses to foot the Sakhalin-2 cost overruns, according to Russian Industry and Energy Minister Viktor Khristenko. He argued that doubling the project's spending estimate would... MORE
KYRGYZ PROTEST GROWING WESTERN INFLUENCE AT HOME
Following the December 6 fatal shooting of a Kyrgyz truck driver at the U.S. military base in Kyrgyzstan, anti-U.S. sentiments have been mounting in the country. That incident has moved beyond a mere diplomatic spat between the Kyrgyz government and the U.S. embassy and has... MORE
RUSSIAN MEDIA SPLIT ON IRAQ STUDY GROUP REPORT
Surprisingly, the official Russian media reaction to the publication of the Baker-Hamilton Iraq Study Group report has been very restrained -- even difficult to find (Rossiya TV, NTV, December 6). This restraint may be because official Russian commentators and the government well understand that total... MORE
THE RUSSIAN LOVE AFFAIR WITH PINOCHET
In Soviet times Chile’s General Augusto Pinochet, who died December 10 at the age of 91, was denounced as a ruthless dictator and a henchman of U.S. imperialists. On September 11, 1973, Pinochet led a bloody coup that overthrew the government of Salvador Allende --... MORE
NEW COMPLICATIONS IN UKRAINE’S ENERGY SITUATION
Indications are multiplying that the Ukrainian government is abandoning a project to extend the Odessa-Brody pipeline into Poland as a route for Kazakhstani oil outside Russian control. Instead, the Ukrainian government now intends to connect the Odessa-Brody pipeline with the Druzhba pipeline that carries Russian... MORE