Latest Eurasia Daily Monitor Articles
KAZAKH OPPOSITION ACTIVIST MYSTERIOUSLY DIES AHEAD OF PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION
The sudden death of Zamanbek Nurkadilov, a prominent opposition activist in Kazakhstan, has triggered a flurry of speculation that is raising the tension level ahead of the December 4 presidential election. Nurkadilov's wife, the popular singer Makpal Zhunusova, found him dead in their home in... MORE
ANDIJAN SHOW TRIAL VERDICT CONDEMNED BY WEST
The first criminal trial related to the May uprising in Andijan, Uzbekistan, ended in Tashkent on November 14. The Supreme Court of Uzbekistan sentenced the 15 defendants to prison terms ranging from 14 to 20 years. According to Judge Bakhtier Dzhamalov, the investigation proved that... MORE
PUTIN’S BUREAUCRATIC RESPONSE TO RUSSIA’S ECONOMIC MISBALANCE
For Russian President Vladimir Putin, the long trip to Busan, South Korea, to the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) forum summit was quite problem-free, since Russia has no stake in the deadlocked trade disputes that dominated the agenda. The APEC leaders urged Moscow to join the... MORE
RUSSIAN-JAPANESE PEACE TREATY REMAINS ELUSIVE
On the eve of Russian President Vladimir Putin's November 20-22 trip to Japan for a summit in Tokyo with Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi, a peace treaty between the two neighboring states appears elusive. The summit comes at a difficult time for Japan in terms of... MORE
EU COMMITTED TO CHANGE IN BELARUS
On November 17, Belarusian president Alexander Lukashenka declared that he expected to win 90% of the electoral vote in the presidential elections of 2006, a figure far exceeding anything he has achieved hitherto. At the same time he accused the European Union and the United... MORE
REVISITING THE ORANGE REVOLUTION, PART ONE: CONSIDERABLE GAINS MADE
Ukraine held the second round of its contentious presidential election on November 21, 2004. When the incumbent regime of President Leonid Kuchma tried to steal the election from popular favorite Viktor Yushchenko, thousands of Ukrainians took the streets in what came to be known as... MORE
RUSSIAN PERSONNEL CHANGES TO AFFECT FAR EAST REGION
Russian President Vladimir Putin's latest personnel shakeup is likely to affect the country's Far Eastern region, as well as relations with some neighboring states. When Putin promoted his chief of staff, Dmitry Medvedev, to the post of first deputy prime minister on November 14, the... MORE
SEPARATISTS IN GEORGIA CLOSELY MONITORING UN SECURITY COUNCIL DELIBERATIONS ON KOSOVO
The leaders of Georgia's breakaway regions, Abkhazia and South Ossetia, are anxiously watching developments in Serbia's separatist region, Kosovo. The sudden interest stems from the UN Security Council's October 24 decision to start talks about the future status of Kosovo. If the international community recognizes... MORE
CHINESE NEED RUSSIAN OIL TO FILL PIPELINE FROM KAZAKHSTAN
Mesmerized by the huge hydrocarbon export opportunities offered by China's rapidly developing Xinjiang province, last year Kazakhstan began building the Atasu-Alashankou oil pipeline to connect western China with oilfields in Aktobe region, western Kazakhstan. The daunting adventure, hailed as the project of the century in... MORE
BOMBINGS FAIL TO CURB KABUL’S NEW ECONOMIC VITALITY
Despite bombings and the lingering Taliban insurgency, Afghanistan is showing signs of slowly integrating with regional as well as international economic organizations. This week has been one of Afghanistan's bloodiest, as suicide bombings shook the capital and southern Afghanistan. In one attack in Kandahar province,... MORE