Making sense of the political turmoil and the potential threat of the Islamic State in Libya is becoming increasingly difficult. At the beginning of March 2015, delegations from various Libyan factions met in the Moroccan coastal town of Skhirat, to negotiate under the auspices of... MORE

In recent months, the Islamic State militant group has started using ethnic Kurdish militants in operations against the security forces of the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) in Iraq and in its propaganda materials. Some Kurdish Islamic State militants have taken part in videoed killings. For... MORE

On March 4, Gogi Topadze, the leader of the Party of Industrialists and one of the key members of the ruling Georgian Dream (GD) coalition, delivered another diatribe against Georgia’ hopes for North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) membership. Topadze stated that Georgia’s NATO membership was... MORE

Chechen involvement in the murder of the prominent Russian opposition leader Boris Nemtsov, on February 27, was considered one of the most probable versions of what happened from the outset of the official investigation. However, the arrest of Chechen suspects by the Russian Drug Control... MORE

This week (March 16–21), the Russian military began massive, “sudden” military exercises (“vnezapnaya proverka”). The authorities initially announced that the “sudden exercises” are intended to check out the battle readiness of Russia’s Northern Fleet and the possibility of reinforcing it with forces from other military... MORE

The word “Belarus” brings to mind few, if any, specific connotations for many in the West. Until recently, they did not associate significant positive developments with that country. But now, this situation is changing. One clearly significant development is the country’s growing export of software... MORE

The Terek Cossack Military is undergoing profound changes as its leaders are systematically replaced with new figures, backed by the government. The change is especially visible in the largest part of the Terek Cossack force, the Stavropol region Cossack district. The previous ataman (chieftain) of... MORE

For those long-accustomed to the idea that the situation in the former Soviet space resembles that of France, where an education minister once famously claimed that he could say at any moment just which line of poetry French students across the country were studying, the... MORE

During a mysterious period of absence from public view, controversy erupted around Russian President Vladimir Putin sharing his reflections on the annexation of Crimea in 2014, after a trailer for the documentary was screened on March 11, 2015. By March 15, following the Russian president’s... MORE

On March 4–5, Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi visited Kyiv and Moscow during a diplomatic trip aimed at enhancing Italy’s role as meditator in the Ukraine conflict. Renzi paid a visit to Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko, before travelling to Moscow to meet Vladimir Putin and... MORE