Squeezed uncomfortably between China and Russia, Kazakhstan has always stressed the importance of the so-called "multi-vector" in its relations with its large neighbors. This approach allows Kazakhstan to strike the right balance of interests. During his recent visit to China, Kazakh President Nursulatan Nazarbayev was... MORE

Last week saw an intensification of Russia's diplomacy in strategic Central Asia. On June 17, the leaders of Russia, China, and four Central Asian nations met in Tashkent, Uzbekistan, to raise the profile of their security grouping, the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO). This gathering was... MORE

On June 22, five days before the Lithuanian presidential election runoff, the government's Special Investigations Service (SIS) raided the offices of four political parties, seized financial and other documents, and announced "corruption" indictments against five politicians from those parties. The four parties are: Social-Democrats, led... MORE

The pro-governmental "Saakashvili-Victorious Ajaria" party, the Ajarian branch of the ruling "National-Movement-Democrats," scored a landside victory in the June 20 elections in Ajaria. The elections were the first to be held following the downfall of Aslan Abashidze's authoritarian rule. The party received 75% of votes,... MORE

There are fears that tribal insurgency in South Waziristan is connected to wider terrorist activity elsewhere in Pakistan. The June 17 killing of pro-Taliban tribal leader Nek Mohammad, presumably with US technical help, has added more fuel to the fire of extremist Islamic militancy in... MORE

While the numbers are still preliminary, Russian news agencies early on June 23 quoted a source in Ingushetia's Interior Ministry as saying that 57 people were killed in attacks launched simultaneously by armed guerrillas across Ingushetia. The attacks, which began on the evening of June... MORE

A delegation of 27 Vienna-based ambassadors to the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) from member countries visited Moldova on June 9-12. This unprecedented, mass descent was followed by the visit of OSCE's Chairman-in-Office for 2004, Bulgarian Foreign Affairs Minister Solomon Passy, in... MORE

On the sidelines of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) summit in Tashkent, June 16-17, a historic agreement was signed between Russia and Uzbekistan, which paves the way towards closer bilateral cooperation, as well as potentially undermining the significance of the role of the U.S. Russian... MORE

The Uzbekistan population is receptive to the idea of returning Russia to Uzbekistan as an investor and strategic partner. A recent poll conducted in the Uzbekistan capital of Tashkent clearly indicated that people from diverse socio-economic groups and different ethnic backgrounds view the meeting between... MORE

On June 17, Chaghcharan, the capital of Ghor province in northwestern Afghanistan fell to the hands of a renegade commander Abdul Salam. The governor appointed by the central government has fled for his life. This is the third time in as many months that an... MORE