Latest Articles about Domestic/Social
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Fake ‘Referendum’ in Crimea Sets a Real Watershed for Russia
The only real result from the hastily organized and crudely manipulated political act in Crimea last Sunday (March 16)—which should not be called a “referendum,” because it had nothing to do with a free expression of popular will—was that it did, indeed, happen. A last-minute... MORE
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Russia Arrests Several North Caucasian ‘Syrians’
The Syrian conflict has created more reasons for the Russian government to be concerned about the North Caucasus. A new category of rebels has been added to the existing rebels of the Caucasus Emirate—Syrian militants whose roots are in the North Caucasus and who total... MORE
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Crimean Crisis Increases Importance of Links Among Tatars
Moscow had hoped that the Kazan Tatars would promote the Russian Federation’s agenda in Crimea both by appealing to the Crimean Tatars for calm and by dispelling the latter’s fears about Russia’s intentions. But as in so much of what is now defined as the... MORE
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Kremlin Refuses to Tolerate Any Dissent Over Its Ukrainian Policy
Moscow is preparing to legalize the annexation of Crimea as soon as possible. A special constitutional amendment is being rushed through parliament. To enact a “constitutional law,” all regional legislatures of the Russian Federation must state their opinion, but since all of them are controlled... MORE
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Foreign Policy Implications of Mongolian Crony Democracy
Though considered a healthy—albeit developing—democracy (https://www.osce.org/odihr/elections/105158; https://www.santmaral.mn/en/publications), Mongolia has in recent years become dominated by the competing interests of its political and business factions, whose collective actions undermine the country’s democratization trends as well as complicate Ulaanbaatar’s foreign policy. For now, Mongolia resides in a... MORE
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Implications of the Crimean Issue for the North Caucasus
On March 5, the Federation Council, the upper chamber of the Russian parliament, called on the regions of the Russian Federation to support the residents of Crimea and the eastern Ukrainian regions adjacent to Russia. The parliamentarians called on the Russian regional officials to provide... MORE
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Russian Companies Say Moscow Stopped Urging Them to Invest in the North Caucasus
On March 6, the government-funded company Northern Caucasus Resorts reported that the Russian Ministry for Regional Development approved including the Veduchi multi-purpose resort project in Chechnya’s special economic zone. The decision opens the way for investing in this enterprise under preferential conditions. According to the... MORE
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Russia Puts Itself in Peril by Dismembering Ukraine
One unique feature of the still surging crisis in Ukraine is the intensity of high-level communications between the key parties to it—which should have eliminated the possibility of misunderstanding, but apparently has not. Last Friday night (March 7), United States President Barack Obama had yet... MORE
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Russian Orthodox Church Becomes Kremlin Tool for Retaining Control Over North Caucasus Muslims
It has been obvious for years already that Moscow’s North Caucasus policy has been coordinated by one of the Kremlin’s working groups on the region. It has been unclear, however, whether this Kremlin working group on the North Caucasus was actually pursuing the same policy... MORE
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National Security Trumps Reform at the NPC
Domestic and international security concerns have dominated the on-going session of China’s legislature, the National People’s Congress. This is despite high expectations that Premier Li Keqiang will unveil thorough-going economic reforms in his maiden Government Work Report (hereafter Report), which was delivered at the Great Hall of... MORE