The most important development concerning the North Caucasus in 2010 did not occur there or even on the streets of Moscow. Rather, it took place in the minds of an increasing number of Russians who have concluded that the costs – economic, political and human... MORE

Seven months after the violence in Osh, much uncertainty prevails about what caused the bloodshed and who were its main perpetrators. Instead, rumors fill the gaps, with some in Kyrgyzstan fearing a renewal of violence and others quietly blaming either ethnic Uzbeks or ethnic Kyrgyz... MORE

“Paris is well-worth a [Catholic] mass” (“Paris vaut-bien une messe”), King Henri IV, a Protestant, remarked when told that his attendance at a Catholic Church service was the price for his acceptance by the Parisians. That remark is recorded as the epitome of crass political... MORE

Russian Foreign Minister, Sergey Lavrov, visited Turkey in order to attend the talks between Iran and the P5+1. Prior to the start of the talks on the Iranian nuclear issue, Lavrov held crucial meetings with his Turkish counterpart, Ahmet Davutoglu, on bilateral relations as well... MORE

On January 24, an explosive device detonated in the arrivals area of Moscow’s Domodedovo international airport. A suicide bomber with an explosive device equivalent to 5-7 kilograms of TNT allegedly caused the blast. At least 35 people died in the attack and over 100 persons... MORE

Predictably, the Russian top brass declared the fall 2010 draft as a “success,” despite clear signs that it failed to meet its target. On January 20, Colonel-General Vasily Smirnov, the Deputy Chief of the General Staff and Chief of the Main Organizational and Mobilization Directorate... MORE

Russian President, Dmitry Medvedev, and Prime Minister, Vladimir Putin, received the Afghan President, Hamid Karzai, on January 21-23 for an official visit. It was the first Russian-Afghan presidential-level meeting since a freshly installed Karzai had met the then President Putin in 2002. Russia is now... MORE

Tajikistan has agreed to cede a fraction of its territory to neighboring China in a bid to settle a border dispute that dates back more than a century. On January 12, the lower house of the Tajik parliament voted to ratify the 2002 border demarcation... MORE

On January 21, the first meeting of the Russian governmental commission on socio-economic development of the North Caucasus took place in Moscow. The chair of the commission, Prime Minister Vladimir Putin stated that the government and major Russian companies would invest significant resources into the... MORE

The privilege of addressing the opening session of the World Economic Forum (WEF) in Davos is valued highly by the Russian President, Dmitry Medvedev, who interprets this as international recognition of the business correctness of his “modernization” course. Following today’s bombing of Domodedovo airport in... MORE