Latest Eurasia Daily Monitor Articles
UNCERTAINTY ON EVE OF NATO HANDOVER IN SOUTHERN AFGHANISTAN
This week coalition forces in Afghanistan announced the end of the 45-day “Operation Mountain Thrust,” which killed more than 600 Taliban fighters. The operation took place in the volatile region of southern Afghanistan and included more than 10,000 U.S.-led coalition and Afghan forces (VOA, July... MORE
UKRAINIAN PARLIAMENT, CABINET IN LIMBO
No cabinet is emerging in Ukraine to replace the outgoing one of Prime Minister Yuriy Yekhanurov. Meanwhile, President Viktor Yushchenko may disband parliament at any time and call new elections. This uncertainty is apparently Yushchenko’s conscious choice, as he delays the appointment of a new... MORE
NEW POLL SHOWS ARMENIANS EQUALLY SUPPORTIVE OF RUSSIA, WEST
A U.S.-funded opinion poll released this month paints an interesting, if contradictory, picture of the geopolitical preferences of Armenia’s population. It shows that the vast majority of Armenians continue to support the close political and military ties with Russia maintained by their government. At the... MORE
RUSSIA UPS OIL EXPORTS TO CHINA BY RAIL
Russian boosted its oil exports to China by rail this year, but crude shipments are yet to match earlier expectations. In the first six months of 2006, Russian crude shipments to China by rail reached some 100,000 barrels per day (nearly 5 million tons) or... MORE
MOSCOW UNLEASHES A MOUNTAIN CHIEFTAIN AGAINST GEORGIA
Russian authorities, having recently co-opted Kodori Gorge chieftain Emzar Kvitsiani, are now unleashing him against Georgia. The Georgian free mass media as well as Russia’s unfree ones are amply disseminating his message. Televised reports show him flanked by armed men in uniform, some of them... MORE
IRAN BUILDS PARTNERSHIP WITH TAJIKISTAN
Iran, despite intense U.S. and British diplomatic efforts, has pressed ahead with its strategy of strengthening regional ties in Central Asia, putting a special focus on Tajikistan. Washington and London have probed these evolving relations without making any headway on the Tajik government’s support for... MORE
AZERBAIJAN IS GROWING RAPIDLY, THANKS TO ITS OIL
The July 13 opening ceremony of the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan pipeline marked the beginning a new era in the history of Azerbaijan, Georgia, and Turkey. Azerbaijan is already begun to collect dividends from its oil sales, as reflected in a recent public announcement by Azerbaijani officials on... MORE
AN INFORMAL FAREWELL TO THE DYSFUNCTIONAL COMMONWEALTH
There were plenty of good reasons to organize an informal top-level meeting of the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) in Moscow last weekend. Old conflicts and new tensions dividing its 12 member-states, from the deadlocked antagonism between Armenia and Azerbaijan to the ongoing spy scandal... MORE
SUMMIT PRESCRIBES CIS LITE; PUTIN BLINKS BEFORE SAAKASHVILI; VORONIN STANDS UP TO PUTIN
Devalued by an unusually low attendance -- only eight out of twelve presidents -- the CIS informal summit in Moscow on July 21-22 marks the official transition of this organization to a “lite” version of its former self. With Russian President Vladimir Putin’s acquiescence, Kazakh... MORE
MOSCOW’S ANTI-GEORGIAN AGITPROP TARGETS WASHINGTON
Responding to Georgia’s call for the replacement of Russian “peacekeeping” troops by international police (see EDM, July 20), Moscow now accuses Georgia of a premeditated intent to launch military operations in South Ossetia and/or Abkhazia. Moreover, Russia threatens to intervene with its troops on the... MORE