Latest Eurasia Daily Monitor Articles
EUROPEAN UNION PUTS A TOE IN MOLDOVA
Responding to Moldova's appeals after years of procrastination, the European Union has decided to institute an EU Special Representative to Moldova, with a focus on Transnistria conflict settlement (AP, February 8). The decision must be welcomed as progress. But it follows the EU's style of... MORE
PROFOUND GENERATION SHIFT FOLLOWS UKRAINE’S ORANGE REVOLUTION
Now that the Ukrainian parliament has confirmed Yulia Tymoshenko as prime minister (see EDM, February 7), the country is witnessing a radical generational change. New people, pro-Western and not tainted by Soviet rule, are entering the political system (Zerkalo nedeli, February 5, includes biographies of... MORE
U.S.-RUSSIA RELATIONS: TURNING POINT OR DEAD END?
Clearly, the recent democratic transitions in Georgia and Ukraine have put the U.S.-Russia relationship under strain. The crucial factor in U.S.-Russia relations may now be the future evolution of the political system inside Russia. Thus far, the Bush administration has tended to turn a blind... MORE
KREMLIN REDEFINING POLICY IN “POST-SOVIET SPACE”
In a marathon-length press conference on February 3, Kremlin political consultant Gleb Pavlovsky laid certain Russian markers in Eurasia ahead of the George W. Bush-Vladimir Putin summit and, by the same token, seized the moment to announce a major redefinition of Russia's policy in the... MORE
WILL ZHVANIA’S DEATH UNDERMINE GEORGIA’S DELICATE POLITICAL BALANCE?
Georgian Prime Minister Zurab Zhvania was buried on Sunday, February 6, becoming the 101st distinguished Georgian to be interred in the Didube memorial in Tbilisi. As the Georgian people paid their last respect to Zhvania at the St. Trinity Cathedral in Tbilisi, confidants of Zhvania... MORE
ARMENIANS COUNT THEIR LOSSES AS THEIR CURRENCY GROWS STRONGER
Armenia's national currency, the dram, has appreciated dramatically against the euro and especially against the U.S. dollar over the past year, hitting hard a large part of the country's population. The real causes of this phenomenon have been a matter of serious contention in recent... MORE
RUSSIA’S CONFUSING PACIFIC OIL GAME
Although Moscow's East Asian policies have been eclipsed by the oil and gas game, the long saga of Russia's desire to create a Pacific oil pipeline, coupled with the controversial Yuganskneftegaz sell-off, have added a measure of confusion to Russia's ties with China. Last December,... MORE
NEW GROUP OF GEORGIA’S FRIENDS FOUNDED
Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Romania, and Bulgaria founded the "New Group of Georgia's Friends" on February 4 in Tbilisi. The specification "new" differentiates it from the decade-old "Group of Friends of Georgia," originally comprised of the United States, Germany, Britain, and France. That old group... MORE
UKRAINE HAS NEW CABINET
On February 4 Ukraine's parliament approved President Viktor Yushchenko's choice for prime minister, his populist ally Yulia Tymoshenko. She mustered 375 "yes" votes in the 450-seat body, beating the record set by Pavlo Lazarenko, whose bid for prime minister was supported by 344 parliamentarians in... MORE
RUSSIA-JAPANESE RELATIONS AT A FAMILIAR IMPASSE
Despite initial hopes that Russian President Vladimir Putin would visit Japan in March, the month is rapidly approaching without a date being set. Thirty years ago, at the height of detente, there was great hope for Russo-Japanese relations. The script then stated that, despite tense... MORE