The town of Semender—a suburb of Dagestan’s capital Makhachkala—has been notorious to those who follow the situation in the mountainous North Caucasus republic. In March, clashes between government forces and a group of militants who were holed up in a government official’s home lasted several... MORE

In an apparent last-ditch attempt to stop the so-called interim agreement to solve the Iranian nuclear problem that is being prepared in Geneva by the group of six nations—the United States, France, Germany, the United Kingdom, Russia and China—Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu came to... MORE

On October 8, Chevron announced its decision to withdraw its lone bid in a tender for shale gas exploration rights (vzinios.lt, October 8). “Because of the changing regulatory and legislative landscape, Chevron believes that its business interests in Lithuania are best served focusing on our... MORE

The European Union–Moldova association and free trade agreements, to be initialed in Vilnius and signed next year, should enable Moldova’s existing government to win the 2014 elections against the Communist Party and fend off Russian pressures. With that in mind, EU officials and the Moldovan... MORE

On November 17, Giorgi Margvelashvili was inaugurated as the fourth president of Georgia (Rustavi 2 TV, Channel 1, Imedi TV, November 17). However, his rhetoric and appointments to his foreign policy team have already raised concerns about the foreign policy course his administration may take.... MORE

On November 12, Russia’s NTV television channel broadcast a program called “Who Wants to Divide Russia?” which listed people who supposedly want to divide up the Russian Federation. The list included Yevgenia Albats, the liberal editor of the popular Russian magazine The New Times, whom... MORE

Kazakhstan, as other natural resource-rich countries, faces a difficult task of diversifying its economy and avoiding the resource curse. Indeed, the share of natural resources rents in GDP, which is the sum of oil, natural gas, coal, mineral, and forest rents, in Kazakhstan was 38.2... MORE

If Joseph Stalin had not drawn “the so-called Orenburg corridor, which cut off Bashkortostan from the Kazakh SSR [Soviet Socialist Republic],” the editor of the independent Kazan weekly Zvezda Povolzhya says, Bashkortostan and Tatarstan would have gained union republic status before the collapse of the... MORE

The European Union and Moldova are fully set to initial an Association Agreement (AA) and a Deep and Comprehensive Free Trade Agreement (DCFTA) at the EU’s Eastern Partnership Summit on November 28¬–29 in Vilnius, under the EU’s Lithuanian presidency. Moreover, uniquely for Moldova at the... MORE

Recent statements by Russia’s naval top brass concerning highly ambitious plans to develop sixth-generation warfare capabilities at sea and to shortly introduce another Borey-class submarine run contrary to the long-term narrative of decline in Russian naval power. The author recalls asking a leading specialist on... MORE