Weighing the option to prolong President Nursultan Nazarbayev’s term to 2020 by referendum, Kazakhstan’s governing elite has engaged in an unprecedented open debate. The process is of a far broader scope than any old-fashioned deal-making among leadership factions. By the same token it has attracted... MORE

No individual or group has yet claimed responsibility for the suicide bombing at Moscow’s Domodedovo Airport on January 24, which killed 35 people and wounded at least 125. However, the Russian media has been full of the theories and rumors about who may have been... MORE

According to independent sources, who summarized their findings based on reports that have been officially published in the media by Russian authorities, Ingushetia had the second largest number of victims of violence in the North Caucasus in 2010, an unfortunate outcome similar to what happened... MORE

Kazakhstan’s term as the chairman of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) had not quite ended, when a civic initiative group proposed in mid-December 2010 to prolong President Nursultan Nazarbayev’s term as head of state until 2020, by means of a constitutional... MORE

Russia’s natural gas sector has increased its domestic production and exports, apparently recovering in the aftermath of the recent economic downturn. However, the industry remains dependent on exports amid growing costs. Moscow’s official statistics appeared to indicate that the domestic gas sector managed to overcome... MORE

The Domodedovo airport bombing on January 24, that left 35 dead, including the alleged suicide bomber and more than 100 injured – Russians and foreigners – has overshadowed other important political events: the final ratification of the START III arms control treaty by both houses... MORE

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