The Democratic Progressive Party’s (DPP) “Defense Policy Blue Paper,” could not have come out at a more opportune time for Taiwan’s main opposition party. Less than a month after its June 6 publication, Taiwan’s defense establishment was thrown into turmoil by the death of Corporal... MORE

Writing in the last two issues of China Brief, Andrew Chubb raised an important analytical question about reading Chinese official sources: how much sense can we make of them without thinking about the audiences expected to read them? Chubb focused on the hawkish rhetoric of... MORE

On August 12, Chechen militants launched a bomb attack targeting the reconnaissance group of the Russian interior ministry’s Sever Battalion, which is primarily manned by residents of the Chechen Republic (www.mk.ru/incident/article/2013/08/13/898403-chechenskie-boeviki-vzorvali-chechenskiy-spetsnaz.html). One officer died and four others were injured in the blast. That same day,... MORE

Six years after Doku Umarov publicly rejected the idea of Ichkerian independence in favor of the Islamic state of the Caucasus Emirate, he continues to justify this change.In a recent video posted on August 8, Umarov responded to questions from people who reside abroad that... MORE

New initiatives supporting Russian economic and political objectives keep emerging in Ukraine as the date of the expected signing of the Association Agreement with the European Union at the November 28–29 EU Eastern Partnership Summit in Vilnius approaches. On August 9, the leader of the... MORE

The anti-government protests in Bulgaria have continued for over 60 days with no sign of resolution during the summer. Thousands of demonstrators demand the resignation of the Socialist-led government, deeming it corrupt and protective of oligarchic interests, including Russian political and business interests. Slogans condemning... MORE

On August 7, the leader of the united insurgent movement of Kabardino-Balkaria and Karachaevo-Cherkessia, Khasanbi Fakov, was killed in Kabardino-Balkaria’s capital Nalchik. The 34-year-old Fakov was on Russia’s federal wanted list for allegedly staging numerous attacks on law enforcement personnel. The road police stopped a... MORE

Pro-Moscow activists and commentators have been universally critical of Tatarstan’s new nationality policy concept, a document adopted on August 1, which defines Kazan as the chief protector of Tatar national culture and of ethnic Tatars wherever they live (see EDM, August 6). The more moderate... MORE

Last week, Georgia marked the five-year anniversary of the start of the short military conflict with Russia over South Ossetia and Abkhazia. The conflict ended in Georgia’s defeat and the recognition of the independence of its former autonomies by the Russian Federation. The mourning ceremonies... MORE