Latest Articles about Middle East
MOSCOW RUNS INTERFERENCE FOR TEHRAN
Iran's nuclear program, especially its recent launch of a uranium enrichment process, could trigger a massive international crisis. Tehran has hitherto ignored European, Israeli, and American pressure to desist enrichment activities and terminate its program, fanning concern that it seeks a nuclear weapon that would... MORE
RUSSIAN MEDIA MULLS GROWING ETHNIC INTOLERANCE
A recent wave of apparently racist attacks, including the murders of an Uzbek migrant worker in Moscow and a Vietnamese student in St. Petersburg (see EDM, October 15 and 18), has sparked discussion in the media and among politicians about rising ethnic tensions in Russia.... MORE
ANGRY RELATIVES AND PARLIAMENTARIANS CALL FOR BATDYEV’S RESIGNATION
After at least a year of warnings, the situation across the entire North Caucasus has deteriorated alarmingly. All the republics in the region share the same problems: Islamist militants, popular distrust of the authorities, and conflicts among the governing elite. The tragedy in Beslan made... MORE
MOSCOW AND RIYADH: DO OIL, RELIGION, AND ANTI-TERRORISM MIX?
As the price of oil soars above $50 a barrel, Saudi Arabia and Russia have begun to approach each other with a view to increase cooperation in stabilizing oil markets. Moscow's ambassador to Riyadh, Andrei Baklanov, has mentioned Saudi approaches to Moscow about cooperation in... MORE
THE DESTRUCTION OF YUKOS AND PUTIN’S ESTRANGEMENT FROM THE WEST
Vladimir Putin has never been a man of second thoughts, but these days he might reflect on his year-old decision to put Mikhail Khodorkovsky behind bars without much joy. The negative repercussions of the arrest are definitely greater than he expected in an area that... MORE
RUSSIAN ARMY ABUSE: DENIALS AND RHETORIC
The recent Human Rights Watch report on the abuse of conscripts within the Russian army has provoked outrage in Moscow, eliciting strong denials and attempts by the authorities to downplay the scale of the problem. The U.S.-based group asserted that first-year conscripts in the Russian... MORE
MOSCOW LIBERALS HOLD DEMONSTRATION
Some 2,000 people gathered on Pushkin Square in central Moscow on Saturday October 23 to protest the war in Chechnya and, more broadly, the administration of President Vladimir Putin. Members of various human rights and pro-democracy groups, including For Human Rights, the Anti-war Club, and... MORE
KARACHAEVO-CHERKESSIA HIT BY CRIMINAL VIOLENCE
The North Caucasus republic of Karachaevo-Cherkessia has been buffeted by instability this week. Over three successive days, a group of several hundred distraught relatives and friends of seven people who disappeared earlier this month and are believed to have been murdered held demonstrations in Cherkessk,... MORE
POLICYMAKERS, ANALYSTS DEBATE THE PROSPECTS OF A RUSSIAN-U.S. PARTNERSHIP
Two events -- the upcoming U.S. presidential election and Russian President Vladimir Putin's recent announcement of his controversial "reform measures" -- appear to have intensified discussions about the current state and possible evolution of Russian-American relations. One group of politicians and pundits in Moscow and... MORE
PUTIN ASSERTS THAT TERRORISTS SEEK BUSH’S ELECTORAL DEFEAT
Russian President Vladimir Putin had a busy international schedule in mid-October, meeting in Moscow with Canadian Prime Minister Paul Martin and Brazilian Vice-President Jose Alenkar, followed by a full-scale official visit to China, and then staying for several days in Central Asia with a dense... MORE