Latest Articles about Domestic/Social
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Taking Stock: Implications of the Riga Summit for the South Caucasus
Prior to its start, the European Union’s May 21–22 Eastern Partnership (EaP) summit in Riga was widely anticipated, given that the previous summit in Vilnius had been overshadowed by the war in Ukraine and newly evident Russian expansionism. Russia’s aggressive policies caused concerns in those... MORE
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Islamic State Causes Turmoil and Divisions Among North Caucasus Militant Leaders
The amir (commander) of the Khasavyurt jamaat, Islam Abu Ibragim (a.k.a. Islam Muradov), recently declared that Muslims in Dagestan should pay a tax to the Islamic State (IS). Ibragim is among those militants who left the Caucasus Emirate and pledged allegiance to IS leader Abu... MORE
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Mikheil Saakashvili Appointed Governor of Ukraine’s Odesa Province (Part Two)
To read Part One, please click here. For all their personal friendship, President Petro Poroshenko’s appointment of Mikheil Saakashvili as governor of Odesa province in Ukraine is the ultimate merit-based appointment. In Georgia, Saakashvili had presided over the boldest and most successful reform programs of... MORE
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Russian Analyst Calls on Government to Learn From Recent Unrest in Macedonia
Researchers have compared the North Caucasus and the Balkans as regions with similar historical and political trajectories (see for example Janusz Bugajski, Conflict Zones: North Caucasus and Western Balkans Compared, The Jamestown Foundation, 2014). This view has also gained traction among Russian experts. With the... MORE
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Moscow Patriarch Says Ukrainian Faithful No Longer Obligated to Obey Kyiv
Both due to the other challenges Ukraine faces and because its leaders believe a democratic and European government should not become involved in religious affairs, Ukrainian officials have avoided tackling key issues of religion. But now Moscow Patriarch Kirill has left Kyiv with little choice... MORE
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Belarus’s Multi-Directional Foreign Policy Versus the Zero-Sum Fallacy
At the May 21–22 Riga summit of the European Union’s Eastern Partnership (EaP), Belarus was represented by Foreign Minister Vladimir Makei. Nothing groundbreaking was achieved at Riga with regard to Belarus. The country refused to sign the summit declaration’s first version, which had condemned Russia... MORE
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Mikheil Saakashvili Appointed Governor of Ukraine’s Odesa Province (Part One)
On May 30, Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko appointed Mikheil Saakashvili, former president of Georgia, as chairman of the state administration (governor) of Ukraine’s Odesa province. On the preceding day, Poroshenko conferred Ukrainian citizenship to Saakashvili “as a matter of national interest of Ukraine.” The cabinet... MORE
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Putin or Bust: Relations of Russian Cossacks With the Kremlin
Cossacks in St. Peterbsurg recently unveiled a bust of President Vladimir Putin in the guise of a Roman emperor (Gazeta.ru, May 17). The bust, made from synthetic materials, was originally designed to be two and half times larger and made from bronze. It features a... MORE
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Circassian Activists in Russia Become a Serious Force
The Russian government moved against Circassian activists in late May 2015, coinciding with events marking the 151st anniversary of the end of the Russian-Circassian war. The authorities targeted two well-known leaders of the Circassian movement, Ruslan Kesh and Adnan Khuade. On May 23, police in... MORE
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Weakening Russia Curtails Population’s Access to Publicly Available Information
Russia’s deteriorating economic situation is exacerbating the various social problems in the country, and the authorities are apparently finding no other way to deal with such issues but to shut down all outlets for public debate. Last week (May 28), President Vladimir Putin expanded the... MORE