With its vast arable land, Kazakhstan sees grain production as more than a matter of food security. It is also increasingly becoming an effective tool in shaping its economic and political relations with the outside world. Over the last three years Kazakhstan has taken steps... MORE

The hostilities continue in Georgia's breakaway region of South Ossetia. This week the Georgian and Ossetian sides are accusing each other of firing at villages in the conflict zone. On August 12, beginning 5:30 a.m., Ossetian separatists were shelling ethnic-Georgian-populated villages and moving their heavy... MORE

Dagestan is threatening to spin out of control. That, at least, is the claim of a pair of reports -- one in a Russian newspaper and the other on a Chechen separatist website. Nezavisimaya gazeta reported on August 10 that the mayor of the city... MORE

Senior U.S. State Department officials have reiterated their threat that if Ukraine's elections in October are not free and fair, then Ukraine has no chance of being invited to join NATO (Ukrayinska pravda, August 9). Media freedom during the elections, the officials emphasized, is an... MORE

On August 11, a Russian RS-18 (Stiletto) inter-continental ballistic missile was launched from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kyzylorda region, symbolizing the expanding Russian-Kazakh cooperation in space exploration. In recent years Kazakhstan's government has been repeatedly criticized for failing to make good use of the Baikonur... MORE

The Federal Security Service (FSB) claimed on August 10 that unnamed "foreign sponsors" have supplied Chechen separatists with funds to disrupt Chechnya's presidential election, scheduled for August 29. Sergei Ignatchenko, head of the FSB's public relations center, said the funds were specifically earmarked for increased... MORE

Equal access to the media during this year's Ukrainian presidential campaign is a key issue in determining to what degree Western governments, the Council of Europe, and the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe can judge the election as "free and fair" (Ukrayinska pravda,... MORE

Russia intends to further strengthen its military presence within Central Asia this year, beginning with deepening its commitment to its airbase in Kant, Kyrgyzstan. Essentially designed to enhance the anti-terrorist dimension of the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO), this will be accompanied by broad-ranging Russian... MORE

Kazakhstan's efforts to successfully reform its largely Soviet-legacy armed forces has taken small steps towards achieving some of its longer-term goals, though much remains to be tackled if its future development is to be rescued from decline. In July the Kazakhstani government finally gave approval... MORE

The latest escalation in Georgia's breakaway region of South Ossetia re-ignited a heated policy debate in Moscow on what should be the Kremlin's stance in the conflict. Significantly, Russia's policies vis-a-vis Tbilisi and the renegade authorities of South Ossetia are being sharply criticized by both... MORE