On July 8 the Ossetian militia captured 47 Georgian servicemen and publicly humiliated them by forcing them to their knees before Russian TV cameras, roiling tensions between Tskhinvali and Tbilisi. When Ossetia released most of the captive on July 9, the highly explosive situation was... MORE

The answer to this question, based on recent and ongoing developments in Ukraine, is "no." Opinion polls taken in Ukraine have consistently shown that two-thirds to three-quarters of Ukrainians do not believe this year's elections will be free and fair. Even President Leonid Kuchma has... MORE

Commenting on the latest developments in and around the breakaway South Ossetia region before departing for London on July 12, Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili made a remarkable statement. He said that certain forces in Russia want to duplicate the events of 1992, when opposition forces... MORE

Kazakhstan has recently undertaken a number of steps towards improving its military capabilities through seeking closer military cooperation with Western countries. These efforts have congealed into what Moscow interprets as an emerging policy in Astana favoring the West. These areas of military cooperation, combined with... MORE

According to Kazakhstan's influential youth paper Express K, the Saryarka district court in Astana is investigating an unprecedented case. For the first time in Kazakhstan's history, a member of a skinhead movement has been indicted for stirring up racial and interethnic strife. Yevgeni Yefimenko, a... MORE

The murder of Paul Klebnikov, editor of the Russian-language version of Forbes magazine, which began publication in April, has shocked observers in both Russia and the West. It has also sparked intense speculation about who was behind what everyone believes was a contract killing. The... MORE

Russia has prepared a new combat regiment for deployment in Ingushetia. The regiment consists of 600 servicemen, who joined under a contract after completing their military training in the North Caucasus Internal Troops District. The 126th Regiment of the Interior Troops (MVD) has been specifically... MORE

The annual EU-Ukraine summit on July 7-8 came just over one week after the NATO-Ukraine Committee met during NATO's Istanbul summit. At the NATO-Ukraine summit relations did not advance; but nor did they deteriorate. The NATO-Ukraine Action Plan was not upgraded to a Membership Action... MORE

The official announcement on July 9 to postpone the Afghan presidential elections from September to October and the parliamentary elections from September to April or May of 2005 comes as no surprise. Analysts following events on the ground in Afghanistan knew many weeks ago that... MORE

With the Communist Party of the Russian Federation (KPRF) now split in two (a faction of KPRF members who oppose its leader, Gennady Zyuganov, held their own party congress on July 3, the same day Zyuganov and his supporters held the regular congress), Rodina (Motherland)... MORE