Latest Eurasia Daily Monitor Articles
MOSCOW DODGES IRAN’S NUCLEAR OFFENSIVE
The European troika (France, Germany, and the UK) was clearly taken by surprise last week by Iran's determined drive to resume its uranium enrichment program. Their proposal, delivered to the impatient new leaders in Tehran in early August, was far from convincing, but they had... MORE
UKRAINIAN MEDIA DISCUSS LIFESTYLES OF PRESIDENT’S SON, PRIME MINISTER
The integrity of Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko and Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko has been called into question by a barrage of media reports suggesting that they or their families live beyond their means. Their awkward reactions to the reports have only added fuel to the... MORE
WHAT IS BEHIND THE GROWING TENSION IN RUSSIAN-POLISH RELATIONS?
The relationship between Moscow and Warsaw, never particularly easy throughout the last decade, appears to have degraded to the level of fistfights. Exactly a week after the July 31 mugging of three teenage sons of Russian diplomats in a Warsaw park, a Polish embassy employee... MORE
RUSSIA’S OILY ECONOMIC GROWTH
On August 4 the Russian government held a meeting to discuss the economic results of the first six months of 2005. They listened to a report by German Gref, Minister of Trade and Economic Development and the main standard bearer for the besieged market-liberal wing... MORE
FAUX PAS IN BRUSSELS, FEHLTRITT IN BERLIN REGARDING BELARUS
Representatives of civil society in Belarus and the Executive Council of the Rada of the Belarusian Republic are appealing to the European Commission (EC, executive arm of the European Union) and the German government-connected international broadcaster, Deutsche Welle Radio, to correct their recent decision to... MORE
THE MYTH OF UKRAINE’S “THIRD FORCE” IN PARLIAMENT
Parliamentary speaker Volodymyr Lytvyn has made another trip to Moscow on August 1 to seek political support for the March 2006 parliamentary election (Ukrayinska pravda, August 1). But the choice is limited and it is not clear with whom Lytvyn's People's Party of Ukraine (NPU)... MORE
MOSCOW AND INSURGENTS TAKE STEPS TO MILITARIZE THE NORTH CAUCASUS
Observers, security officials, and journalists across Russia are all talking about the possibility of another big war in the North Caucasus. This conflict is already known as "the third Caucasus war," as there have been already two military campaigns in Chechnya. Last year, rebel spokesman... MORE
“GODFATHER OF THE TALIBAN” ACCUSES ISLAMABAD OF AIDING TALIBAN INSURGENTS
As Afghanistan's September 18 parliamentary elections draw closer, there are new allegations about Pakistan's involvement in that country's domestic politics. Pakistan has also announced the closure of more than 30 refugee camps in Baluchistan and the North-West Frontier. Afghan and U.S. officials have spoken in... MORE
BIRD FLU OUTBREAK THREATENS TO DEVASTATE CENTRAL EURASIAN ECONOMY
As Russia and Kazakhstan are now threatened by the Asian bird flu, the outbreak is understood to potentially entail wider economic repercussions. In the words of Russia's popular newspaper Moskovsky komsomolets: "Europe is afraid of our poultry" (August 8). The first cases were confirmed in... MORE
MOSCOW’S CENTRAL ASIAN FRIENDS CAMPAIGN AGAINST U.S. BASES
On August 5 and 10, respectively, the heads of presidential think tanks in Kyrgyzstan and Kazakhstan made statements to local media, calling for the removal of U.S. bases from Central Asia. Their statements largely reflected Moscow's public arguments to that end. In Bishkek, Valentin Bogatyrev,... MORE