According to unofficial reports in both Baku and Washington, an American air base will soon be established in Azerbaijan to support U.S.-led antiterrorist operations. U.S. President George W. Bush and Secretary of State Colin Powell are said to have gotten President Haidar Aliev's consent to... MORE

Kazakhstan is responding positively to U.S. proposals regarding the use of Kazakhstani bases by American-led antiterrorist forces. Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbaev had, within days of September 11, offered the U.S. overflight rights and the use of land infrastructure in Kazakhstan. Nazarbaev made those offers publicly,... MORE

With time rapidly running out before this week's long-anticipated Russian-U.S. summit meeting, high-level negotiating delegations from the two countries met in New York yesterday. Their goal: to make a final push for an agreement to permit the Bush administration to continue its missile defense testing... MORE

The Heritage Foundation and The Wall Street Journal today released their annual survey of economic freedom, the 2002 Index of Economic Freedom, which analyzes countries according to various factors involved in economic freedom, comes up with an overall rating for each and ranks them accordingly,... MORE

Amid shifts in the global political landscape that began with the September 11 terrorist attacks on the United States, Russia and India this week appeared to solidify a "strategic partnership" that has been strengthened by the war in Afghanistan even as it has been tested... MORE

The fate of the planned meeting between President Vladimir Putin's representative in the Southern federal district, Viktor Kazantsev, and representatives of Chechen rebel leader Aslan Maskhadov, remains up in the air. While the two sides have said that the meeting will take place, the issues... MORE

The Russian authorities are continuing to highlight what they claim are the close links between the Chechen rebels and Afghanistan's ruling Taliban movement. According to a press report today, radio transmissions made November 7 by forces belonging to the rebel field commanders Shamil Basaev and... MORE

On November 7, the U.S. House of Representatives took the unprecedented step of approving security assistance funds for countries that aspire to join NATO. The three Baltic states were earmarked as recipients, along with four other applicant countries (Slovakia, Slovenia, Romania and Bulgaria) from the... MORE

The German government appears finally to have overcome its political hesitations with respect to NATO's Baltic enlargement. Although the German military did join its NATO counterparts in assisting the Baltic states' fledgling forces, the German government long avoided any clear expression of political support for... MORE

Along with Russia, Ukraine saw its share of celebrating the anniversary of the Bolshevik Revolution on November 7. The events in Kyiv, however, were far from impressive. At most, some 3,000 to 4,000 marchers appeared on the streets of the capital, a far cry from... MORE