Latest Articles about Domestic/Social
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Ukraine Shows Readiness to Pay More Attention to Oppressed Groups in Russia
On June 15, Ukrainian parliamentary deputy Oleg Lyashko initiated a bill on recognizing the Circassian genocide, citing the long period of subjugation and oppression of the Circassians by the Tsarist forces in the 18th and 19th centuries. The legislator referred to the fact that Georgia’s... MORE
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Controversy Emerges Insides Russia Over Chechen Film Depicting 1944 Deportations
The Russian government refuses to understand that the history of the groups they conquered and the history of the conquerors cannot be combined into one narrative. When the conquerors start reciting their heroic history, they come into conflict with those whom they conquered, who have... MORE
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South Stream Brings Down Bulgaria’s Government
Bulgaria is heading for new parliamentary elections as the troubled governing coalition fell apart one year into its mandate. This development was not caused by the daily anti-government protests that have continued for over a year. Indeed, the ruling elite has paid little attention to... MORE
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Virtually All Abductions in North Caucasus Carried out by Authorities
The distinctive feature of the kidnappings in the North Caucasus today is that they are apparently carried out only by Russian government forces. In fact, some analysts assert that the kidnappings of the earlier periods, ostensibly organized by Chechen militants between the first and the... MORE
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Xinjiang Work Forum Marks New Policy of ‘Ethnic Mingling’
The recently concluded Central Work Forum on Xinjiang (zhongyang Xinjiang gongzuo zuotanhui) marked a subtle yet significant departure in the Chinese Communist Party’s approach to ethnic policy. Economic development remains a top priority; yet the new generation of Party leaders understands that money alone will... MORE
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Legal Reform and the Mass Line: The ‘Socialist Rule of Law’ With A Human Face?
On Monday, June 16, Chinese state media announced plans to launch pilot judicial reform programs in six provinces, experimenting with changes that will centralize control of the judiciary at the provincial level. According to an interview with a “responsible official” from the Central Judicial Reform... MORE
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Belarus and Russia: Relationship Irritants
Two fundamental circumstances affect the incredibly close relationship between Belarus and Russia—the signing of the Eurasian Economic Union (EuEU) treaty, which goes into effect on January 1, 2015, as well as the ongoing conflict in eastern Ukraine. Both circumstances exert ambivalent pressures on those relationships.... MORE
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Mosque Construction in Stavropol Sparks Debate Over Role of Islam in Region
On June 8, residents of the village of Vinsady in Stavropol region’s Predgorny district rallied against government plans to allow the construction of a mosque. Six hundred people joined the protest against the authorities’ decision, but went home after a local official reassured them that... MORE
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Transcarpathian Rusin Leader ‘Does Not Exclude’ Using Force Against Kyiv
Most Ukrainians and international observers are focusing on Russia’s invasion of southeastern Ukraine or on the possibility that Moscow will use forces from Moldova’s Transnistria to create a “Novorossiya” (“New Russia”) across southern Ukraine and eliminate Kyiv’s access to the Black Sea (see EDM, April... MORE
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Ukraine’s Crisis: Poroshenko’s First Lesson
On May 27, Ukrainian First Deputy Prime Minister Vitaliy Yarema promised journalists that the Anti-Terrorist Operation (ATO) being conducted in the country’s eastern Donetsk and Luhansk regions (Donbas) would be greatly intensified shortly following Petro Poroshenko’s inauguration (Interfax-Ukraine, May 27). However, during his inauguration speech... MORE