Anti-Taliban leaders of the former Northern Alliance coexist uneasily with the Kabul government and NATO in Afghanistan’s north. There, China proposes to explore and develop oil and gas fields and to build a transit pipeline for Turkmenistani gas via Afghanistan to China. The coexistence in... MORE

Moscow has reacted with concern after learning about the ongoing talks between Washington and three Central Asian countries aimed at agreeing on the handover of equipment linked to the NATO drawdown in Afghanistan. Russian officials fear that such equipment donations to the Armed Forces in... MORE

Bulgaria is under renewed pressure from Russia to sign the final investment agreement on the South Stream gas pipeline by November 15, 2012. Otherwise, Gazprom threatens to forsake the promised 11 percent discount for natural gas supplies, which was supposed to be given for the... MORE

Every news item about insurgent activities in Karachaevo-Cherkessia should be put in the wider context of the general situation in the North Caucasus. On a regional scale, the events in this republic are immeasurably small, especially compared to the other North Caucasus republics or to... MORE

The Moscow Center of Strategic Studies (CSS) – an influential think tank led by well-known economist, former parliamentarian and first deputy economics minister in Vladimir Putin’s first government, Mikhail Dmitriev – has recently published a report about the ongoing political and economic crisis in Russia.... MORE

On June 19, the first meeting of the new Russian government commission for the socio-economic development of the North Caucasus took place in Grozny, Chechnya. Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev presided over the meeting and stated that development of the North Caucasus was “one of the... MORE

Even after more than twenty years of statehood, Belarusians have not developed a distinctive national identity. In most countries of the Old World, the marker of identity is language. According to the internet portal Budzma.org, Novak, a Minsk-based sociological firm, conducted a national survey devoted... MORE

Ukraine’s Energy Ministry has come up with amendments to the National Energy Strategy, according to which gas imports will decline from 40 billion cubic meters (bcm) last year to as little as 5 bcm in 2030. Domestic gas consumption is expected to decline less steeply... MORE

Uzbekistan is often cast as a reluctant or difficult member of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) or the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO), because of its consistent opposition to new initiatives in either body and relentless prudence concerning its participation in multilateral military exercises. Yet,... MORE

Beijing has initiated discussions with Kabul over a new transit pipeline for Turkmenistani gas, passing through Afghanistan’s north and Tajikistan to China (see EDM June 19). The proposal’s potential ramifications are far-reaching under any of the possible scenarios.•    Implications for Afghanistan post-2014:A transit pipeline to... MORE