One day after he was inaugurated as Ukraine's third president, Viktor Yushchenko appointed a powerful and radical triumvirate. Yulia Tymoshenko, of the eponymous bloc, was named prime minister; businessman Petro Poroshenko secretary of the National Security Council; and Oleksandr Zinchenko, the head of the Yushchenko... MORE

Some observers continue to hope that Russian President Vladimir Putin's centralization of power will at least produce more effective economic decision-making, along the lines of South Korea in the 1960s. Alas, that does not seem to be the case. The government of Mikhail Fradkov, who... MORE

Earlier this month a scandal broke out when it became known that Moscow was planning to sell Syria the Iskander-E and Igla anti-air missiles (see EDM, January 17). Rumors of this sale prompted first Israel and then America to publicly warn Russia about disturbing the... MORE

While Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili is preparing to address the January 26 session of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe with "unprecedented" peace proposals for Georgia's breakaway regions, a hostage drama in South Ossetia threatens to cloud his plans. On January 19, the... MORE

Police in Almaty have detained supporters of the Islamic organization Hizb-ut-Tahrir who had organized an unauthorized demonstration close to the central city mosque on the morning of January 20. The police media department told the Interfax-Kazakhstan news agency: "Police officers detained almost all demonstration participants,... MORE

Armenian President Robert Kocharian has announced a major crackdown on tax evasion, which is widely blamed for the highly uneven distribution of the benefits of Armenia's robust economic growth. In separate high-profile meetings with the leaders of his government's taxation and customs administration services earlier... MORE

On January 17, the New York Times published a sensational expose alleging that the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) had been key to preventing bloodshed during the Orange Revolution. The article was translated for Ukrayinska pravda the same day and has unleashed a debate as... MORE

Russian analysts are growing uneasy over what they see as a nascent geostrategic relationship between the "post-revolutionary" governments of Georgia and Ukraine. Moscow is wary that pro-Western leaders in Kyiv and Tbilisi will weaken its geopolitical dominance in the former Soviet lands by challenging Russia-led... MORE