Latest Articles about Domestic/Social
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Ivanishvili’s Government Is Readjusting ‘The Law on Occupation’
At a specially convened press conference, the State Minister for Reintegration Paata Zakareishvili announced that the government approved a bill on making significant amendments to the Law on Occupied Territories, which is often referred to as “the Law on Occupation” (https://www.civil.ge/eng/article.php?id=25727). This legislation (https://www.smr.gov.ge/docs/doc216.pdf) was... MORE
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Russian Duma Backtracks on Direct Regional Elections
United Russia brought a bill before the Duma for a first reading on January 23, 2013, that would permit regional legislatures to cancel direct gubernatorial elections for the “multi-ethnic” regions of Russia. Instead, parties in regional legislatures would pick three candidates each and present them... MORE
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Is the Caucasus Emirate Encroaching on the Volga Region?
On January 30, a conference on the influence of the Caucasus Emirate in the Volga region took place in Kazan (https://scienceport.ru/). Participants in the conference discussed issues related to the religious influence of the Northern Caucasus on the indigenous Muslim population of the Volga Region... MORE
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Moscow Patriarchate Expands Missionary Work among Non-Russians, Setting the Stage for Conflicts with Muslim Nations
One of the least noted aspects of the just completed meeting of the leadership of the Moscow Patriarchate of the Russian Orthodox Church may prove to be the most significant and explosive of all. In his speech to the Sobor, a formal gathering of Orthodox... MORE
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IMU Crackdown Reveals Regional Dynamics in Tajikistan’s Ferghana Valley
In January, security forces in Tajikistan arrested several suspected members of The Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan (IMU) in Tajikistan’s northern Sughd province (BBC Tajiki, January 28). On January 14, police in Konibodom district pulled over a vehicle for a routine traffic stop. But the driver... MORE
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Dagestan’s New Leaders Faces an Upsurge in Insurgent Activities
While the new president of Dagestan, Ramazan Abdulatipov, is busy looking for an “honest minister of education” (www.yuga.ru/news/285954/), the republic appears to have ignored the change in the leadership. In fact, the people who were dismissed by the previous president, Magomedsalam Magomedov, have already returned... MORE
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North Caucasians and Ethnic Russians Agree on Region’s Bleak Prospects
On January 23, the respected Russian non-governmental research organization the Levada Center held a press conference in Moscow on the socio-political situation in the North Caucasus. Its researchers found that contrary to expectations, poll respondents in the region were more concerned about unemployment and the... MORE
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Russian Nationalists on Both Sides of North Caucasus Fight
Politics surely makes strange bedfellows: Some Russian nationalists now take positions on the North Caucasus that would logically lead to the independence that many non-Russian nationalists in that region seek—in effect forming an implicit alliance of two nationalisms that most on each side of the... MORE
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Russian Uprising in Stavropol Region Alarms Russian Authorities
On January 26, police carried out mass arrests in Stavropol region to prevent ethnic Russians from rallying against the North Caucasians, arresting 87 people in the city of Nevinnomyssk. The protesters’ chief slogan was “Stavropol Is Not the Caucasus!” They demanded the introduction of a... MORE
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A Mixed Bag of News in Belarus to Start off the Year
Perhaps the greatest recent news involving Belarus—news, which all Belarusian regardless of political stripes considered to be great—is Victoria Azarenka’s second tennis victory at the Australian Open on January 26. Her other achievements include winning the Bronze medal at the 2012 Summer Olympics in London,... MORE