Latest Articles about Domestic/Social
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Ivanishvili Unveils “Georgian Dream” Movement’s Top Team
The billionaire Bidzina Ivanishvili, founder of the “Georgian Dream” opposition movement, has unveiled the movement’s top team for the upcoming parliamentary elections. A businessman with no previous political experience, Ivanishvili entered politics in October 2011, launched Georgian Dream as a public movement in December, intends... MORE
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Ablyazov Sentenced to Prison in UK for Contempt of Court
The fugitive Kazakh banker Mukhtar Ablyazov, accused of embezzling $5 billion from Kazakhstan’s BTA bank, was sentenced on February 16 to 22 months in prison for failing to disclose his assets and lying under oath to the High Court of England and Wales. Justice Nigel... MORE
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Balkars in Kabardino-Balkaria Believe Government Is Deliberately Undermining Their Economic Well-Being
On February 20, the Memorial Human Rights Center published its October 2011 report on the situation in the mountainous region of Kabardino-Balkaria. The report details the adverse effects of the counter-terrorist regime on the economic situation in this remote and vulnerable republic. A counter-terrorism operation... MORE
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Putin Leads a War-Like Campaign Toward a Crushing but Hollow Victory
The last two weeks before the Russian presidential elections on March 4 saw a pronounced turn toward more aggressive and populist-patriotic campaigning by Vladimir Putin, who appears to be on track to a decisive victory. His team of seasoned courtiers was shocked by the explosion... MORE
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Kazakhstan’s Socio-Economic Modernization Strategy: Challenges and Opportunities for the Next Decade
On January 27, 2012, Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev addressed the people of Kazakhstan with a statement titled “Socio-economic Modernization: the Main Vector of Kazakhstan’s Development.” In what now resembles an American state-of-the-union address, Nazarbayev outlined ten main priorities that will shape the country’s development in... MORE
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Viktor Yanukovych Two Years on: Why Many Got Him Wrong
February 25 will mark the second anniversary of Viktor Yanukovych’s election, during which attitudes toward him and his administration have hardened. But this was not always the case, and views of Yanukovych can be divided into three groups: to order, naïve and realistic.To Order: From... MORE
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Dagestani Man Abducted by Security Forces Freed After Mass Protest by Fellow Villagers
Tensions between Dagestan’s law enforcement bodies and residents of the village of Gimry in the republic’s Untsulkysky district flared up on February 21. A large group of Gimry residents blocked the Makhachkala-Botlikh highway to protest the kidnapping of a 40-year-old fellow villager, Magomed Gamzatov. The... MORE
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Sanctions and Scuffles: The Response to Repression in Belarus
The past few weeks in Belarus have seen an unseemly squabble between various sectors of what can loosely be termed as “the opposition.” The reason has been the failure of the Coalition of Six to agree on a strategy for the parliamentary elections, and the... MORE
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Fighting Along Chechen-Dagestani Administrative Border Heaviest in Recent Years
The start of the large-scale special operation by the police, military and Federal Security Service (FSB) forces launched in Chechnya’s Nozhai-Yurt district on February 13 sent the Russian news agencies into disarray. They reported there were three groups of militants headed by 26-year-old Arslan Mamedov... MORE
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Putin Declares His Defense Agenda for the Next Decade
Prime Minister Vladimir Putin, running for a third presidential term on March 4, has been publishing his election platform bit by bit as lengthy articles in different Moscow daily newspapers. This week it was the government-owned Rossiyskaya Gazeta that carried a 6,500-word text about defense... MORE