Central Asia in 2017 recalls Charles Dickens’ observation in A Tale of Two Cities: it was truly the best of times, if far from perfect, and the worst of times, if far from disastrous. And depending on whether one focuses on the problems the five... MORE

Ukraine missed some chances to improve the domestic situation last year, with the fight against corruption not as efficient as Western creditors expected and the economy growing at only a sluggish pace. Among the country’s achievements in 2017 were the long-awaited ratification of the association... MORE

Taking into consideration post-Soviet Georgia’s usually dramatic political life, the year 2017 was not particularly spectacular domestically or internationally. And yet, there were certain developments that will likely have strong and lasting effects on the country’s future, at least in the medium term. Last year... MORE

Moldova witnessed clear signs of democratic backsliding in 2017, along with window-dressing reforms and paying lip service to its international and domestic commitments. Against this backdrop, the country did experience some consumption-based economic growth, which the government has identified as stability, although the opposition views... MORE

Having lost its Special Economic Zone (SEZ) status on April 1, 2016, Russia’s westernmost region, Kaliningrad Oblast, has once again demonstrated an inability to cope with mounting economic challenges. Meanwhile, floods and adverse weather conditions near the close of 2017 compelled local authorities to beg... MORE

At the end of December and following Vladimir Putin’s premature declaration of victory in Syria (see EDM, December 14, 2017), Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB) announced that the militant underground in the North Caucasus had been liquidated—a claim even less justified than the president’s pronouncement... MORE

Where there is bureaucracy and waste, inevitably there has been the opportunity for on-going corruption. And such a situation is only aggravated by misplaced state secrecy. In Ukraine, there perhaps has been no greater symbol of on-going poor decision making, planning, bureaucracy and waste than... MORE

Following bloody clashes between ethnic Uyghurs and Han Chinese in the city of Urumchi, in Xinjiang Uighur Autonomous Region, in the summer of 2009, Beijing resorted to both carrot and stick policies to secure stability in this volatile territory. On the one hand, the central... MORE

In practical terms, Russia has not yet begun 2018—the country awakes from its traditional holiday vacation only on Tuesday (January 9). That said, Russians’ common reflection on the year past can easily be summed up with “Good riddance!” By almost any measure, 2017 was not... MORE

Lost in the sea of political rhetoric and policies laid out during the Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) 19th Congress in October were references to United Front Work—an important group of policies that the CCP uses to forge consensus at home and exert influence abroad (Xinhua,... MORE