On August 18 the newly appointed Kazakhstan Information Minister, Altynbek Sarsenbayev, the co-chairman of the pro-democratic Ak Zhol party, presented a new draft law that is promisingly titled, "On Guarantees of Freedom of Speech in the Republic of Kazakhstan." A new law is needed, after... MORE

This month's hostage crisis in Beslan, North Ossetia, and the hundreds of fatalities resulting from officials' failure to rescue the captives have produced a political standoff in the republic. Inspired by relatives of the dead hostages, opposition forces are demanding the resignation of republic president... MORE

In his September 4 address to the nation concerning the Beslan tragedy, President Vladimir Putin cited the corrosive effect that corruption has had on the country's judicial and law-enforcement systems as one of the reasons for the wave of terrorism sweeping Russia. On September 11,... MORE

The pro-presidential majority in the Ukrainian parliament collapsed when 15 out of the 30 deputies in the moderate Democratic Initiatives-People's Power faction defected. The disintegration is a major blow to Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovych's election campaign. Yanukovych described the move as "treacherous," caused by the... MORE

On September 7, Belarusian President Alyaksandr Lukashenka announced that a referendum would be held on whether he may run for a third term in office on October 17, the date of the parliamentary elections. Though many analysts had predicted such a decision, its timing was... MORE

In an article headlined "Silence of Political Elite Is Deafening," the Moscow Times today (September 10) notes that much of Russia's political elite has "kept painfully quiet" about the Beslan school tragedy -- a function of its fear of "antagonizing the Kremlin," as Igor Bunin,... MORE

The recent spate of terrorist acts in Russia has prompted Moscow policymakers and analysts to assert that their country is at war. Yet the fundamental question "against who?" remains as murky as the concept "international terrorism." The ongoing political debate reveals that the bulk of... MORE

In late August, the Belarusian authorities brought a new criminal case against Mikhail Marynich, an opposition leader who has been held in a KGB detention center since April 26. Marynich had been Minister of Foreign Economic Relations, but he was removed from his position, ostensibly... MORE

On September 8, Romanian Foreign Minister Mircea Dan Geoana declined an invitation to visit Ukraine to discuss recent bilateral problems. Ukraine's Foreign Ministry spokesman Markian Lubkivskyi reiterated Ukraine's interest in dialogue with Romania. But how sincere is the Ukrainian side in its stated desire for... MORE

The existing Russian "peacekeeping" operation for Abkhazia is a legacy of the 1993 Russian military intervention in Georgia, the subsequent military advance to the Inguri River, and the ethnic cleansing of the Georgian plurality of Abkhazia's population by the Russian-backed Abkhaz minority. International organizations and... MORE