In his last address before retiring as China’s security chief in October, Meng Jianzhu (孟建柱) briefed members of the Politburo Standing Committee on the use of artificial intelligence (AI) to predict threats to social order (Sina, September 21). AI-enabled policing is the latest evolution of... MORE

In the wake of a fire on November 18 in a poor Beijing suburb that killed 19 people, police equipped with bulldozers and heavy-duty demolition equipment evicted several tens of thousands of migrant workers who had settled in Beijing over the past ten years (Ming... MORE

Ever since President Vladimir Putin began his regional amalgamation campaign in 2003, and especially since he launched his attack on non-Russian languages last summer (see EDM, September 19), many non-Russians have regularly declared that the Kremlin leader is plotting to destroy the non-Russian republics and... MORE

Russian President Vladimir Putin (65) announced, on December 6, that he will in fact be running in the upcoming presidential election, scheduled for March 18, 2018. His main potential opponents from the official Duma opposition parties (the Communist party boss Gennady Zyuganov and the flamboyant... MORE

Like his father Heydar Aliyev before him, Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev remains committed to a balanced foreign policy, one that seeks to maintain good relations with both the Russian Federation and the West. But a series of Russian actions that Baku views as hostile have... MORE

Armenia and the European Union signed a Comprehensive and Enhanced Partnership Agreement (CEPA) at the fifth Eastern Partnership summit in Brussels, on November 24 (Armradio.am, Eeas.europa.eu, November 24). CEPA, which took nearly two years of consultations and negotiations to come to fruition, replaces the Association... MORE

In late October, the National Anti-Corruption Bureau of Ukraine (NABU) detained the interior minister’s son, Oleksandr Avakov. Allegedly, he was indicted in a corruption scheme that cost the Ukrainian budget over 14 million hryvnas (about $520,000). The younger Avakov and two other senior officials at... MORE

Contrary to expectations, Belarusian President Alyaksandr Lukashenka ignored a personal invitation to participate in the November 24 Brussels summit of the European Union’s Eastern Partnership (EaP) and sent his foreign minister instead. Lukashenka’s decision not to attend seems unusual at first glance. After all, following... MORE

After gaining their independence a quarter century ago, all of the countries of the post-Soviet space have had to delimit their borders with each other. Most have had conflicts, but all but a few of those have since been resolved. One of the most serious... MORE

Georgia recently carried out one of the most significant counter-terrorism operations of the past several years. On the evening of November 21, several special forces units armed with heavy weaponry pulled up in armored vehicles to an apartment complex in the Tbilisi district of Isani.... MORE