Latest Articles about Domestic/Social
![](/wp-content/uploads/2015/07/ks.jpg)
Obama Administration Undercutting Ukraine’s Position in the Minsk Armistice Negotiations
Urged by US Assistant Secretary of State Victoria Nuland in Kyiv last week, Ukraine took a first step toward legalizing the secessionist authorities in the country’s constitution (see EDM, July 20). Concurrently, US Vice President Joseph Biden asked Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko to accept local... MORE
![](/wp-content/uploads/2015/07/The_Islamic_State_s_Sinai_Province_attacked_an_Egyptian_naval_vessel_with_a_missile_on_July_16.jpg)
Egypt’s Growing Militant Threat
During the past two months, Egypt has witnessed an unprecedented wave of attacks by Islamist militants, mostly launched by the Islamic State’s Egyptian branch—which calls itself “Sinai Province,” and which was formerly known as Ansar Bayt al-Maqdis—against tourists in Luxor, the chief prosecutor, a naval... MORE
![](/wp-content/uploads/2015/07/French_police_conducting_an_anti-terrorism_operation_in_Lunel_where_a_significant_number_of_individuals_have_left_for_jihad_in_Iraq_and_Syria_Source_France24.jpg)
The French Jihadist ‘Foreign Legion’ in Syria and Iraq
It is probable that before the end of 2015, more than 1,000 French residents or nationals will have traveled to Syria and Iraq to join one of the various armed groups active in the two countries. This mobilization dwarfs all prior French jihadist travel to... MORE
![](/wp-content/uploads/2015/07/Gulmorod_Halimov_is_the_most_famous_Tajik_to_join_the_Islamic_State_after_defecting_from_the_Tajikistani_security_forces.jpg)
Tajikistan’s Counter-Productive Campaign Against Terrorism
In May 2015, missing Tajikistan police commander Colonel Gulmurod Halimov appeared in an Islamic State video to announce his defection to the group. While his defection caused embarrassment in Tajikistan’s capital Dushanbe, given the regime’s repressive religious policy, this development was also perhaps unsurprising. A... MORE
![](/wp-content/uploads/2015/07/Dmitry_Yarosh.jpeg)
Right Sector Challenges Kyiv in Western Ukraine
Three people were killed and at least 13 wounded in the western Ukrainian town of Mukacheve (Mukachevo), on July 11, as members of the nationalist paramilitary group Right Sector (RS) attacked local police near a local sports club with machine guns and grenades. RS claimed... MORE
![](/wp-content/uploads/2015/07/d0b0d180d0bcd0b8d18f-111_01.jpg)
Southern Russia Mobilizes Against Islamic State
Russian news agencies reported that both Russian President Vladimir Putin and Chechnya’s governor, Ramzan Kadyrov, expressed their condolences to the leadership of Iraq for the terrorist attack in Khan Bani Saad, Diyala Governorate. Terrorists detonated a car laden with explosives in the city, killing more... MORE
![](/wp-content/uploads/2015/07/zx620y348_2538688.jpg)
The Greek Crisis: Financial and Political Risks to the Balkans
Although the Greek banks reopened on July 20, and Athens repaid some of its debt to the International Monetary Fund and the European Central Bank, unease about the Greek crisis continues in the Balkans. The last 25 years of turbulent political and economic transition have... MORE
![](/wp-content/uploads/2015/07/circassia__1_.jpg)
Circassian Activists Ready to Demand Separation From Karachaevo-Cherkessia
Circassian activists plan to resume the work of the Extraordinary Conference of Circassian People in Karachaevo-Cherkessia this coming autumn. The plans were discussed at a meeting of the Circassian organization “Adyghe Khase–Circassian Parliament,” which took place in the city of Cherkessk, on July 8. According... MORE
![](/wp-content/uploads/2015/07/Alyaksandr_Lukashenka_-_EDM_July_21__2015.jpg)
Belarus and the Debate on the Intrinsic Value of Social Order
The upcoming presidential campaign in Belarus is gaining momentum. This pivotal theme is being discussed against the backdrop of, and in conjunction with, two other phenomena: the ongoing economic decline and regional geopolitics. Alongside the incumbent, President Alyaksandr Lukashenka, thirteen candidates applied to the Central... MORE
![](/wp-content/uploads/2015/07/Tajik_SSR_-_EDM_July_21__2015.jpg)
Today’s Ethno-Regional Clans in Tajikistan Are Products of Soviet Nationality Policy
Tajikistan’s ethno-regional clans have played a key role in the political life of this Central Asian republic since 1991. These clans have their roots not so much in ancient and archaic forms of social organization but in the way in which Moscow’s nationality policies intentionally... MORE