September 27 will mark 15 years since the opening of the first Confucius Institute in South Korea in 2004. Today, over 500 of these Chinese government-funded centers operate in more than 150 countries worldwide. Many of them plan to celebrate the occasion as part of... MORE

Several days ago (September 22), the Russian Ministry of Interior’s regional office in Kabardino-Balkaria—one of the North Caucasus republics to which Circassians in the Middle East want to return—turned to a Telegram channel to declare that it is seeking to “effectively realize” a new program... MORE

While some seven or eight years ago newsworthy events pertaining to Belarus were considered rare, today they are so abundant it is difficult to choose which to focus on. Just during the last week, a lingering debate over Belarus’s integration with Russia reached a fever... MORE

Russia’s annual major autumnal exercises are usually accompanied by a loud propaganda campaign advertising the country’s military might; this year, however, official reporting on the Tsentr 2019 war games was rather low key. On Friday (September 20), President Vladimir Putin, in his capacity as commander-in-chief,... MORE

The long-awaited trial of former president of Armenia Robert Kocharyan (in office, 1998–2008) and other officials charged with violations of the constitutional order is finally about to begin, with hearings of witness testimonies underway. For more than a year since his indictment, Kacharyan’s defense lawyers... MORE

The term “political technology” prevalent across the former Soviet space, might perhaps be best described as “a euphemism for what is by now a highly developed industry of political manipulation.” The Kremlin has used this tool widely in Russia as well as in other former... MORE

Moscow media last week (September 12) celebrated the launch a new Russian river cruise ship, the Mustay Karim (Vzglyad, September 12). But several weeks earlier, an announcement by Omsk regional officials highlighted just how far down Russia’s once proud river fleet has slipped. Specifically, the... MORE

The sudden sacking of United States National Security Advisor John Bolton just days after he returned from his high-profile visit to the Belarusian capital tempted some observers to try to draw conclusions from this incident regarding the future of Belarusian-US ties. Surely any such attempts... MORE

The Georgian parliament voted, on September 8, in favor of naming former minister of internal affairs Giorgi Gakharia the country’s new prime minister. Ninety-nine members of parliament (MP) took part in the motion, and 98 cast their vote in favor of Gakharia’s government, with no... MORE

On September 8, 2019, local elections occurred in many regions of the Russian Federation, including St. Petersburg and Moscow, where the city council (Mosgorduma) was reelected. The capital city’s Mosgorduma does not wield any real power. Its 45 members, excluding the speaker and a couple... MORE