After decades of loyalty to Yemen’s President Ali Abdullah Saleh, the country’s best known and most controversial Islamic scholar has called for the regime’s downfall and the creation of an Islamic Caliphate in the southern Arabian Peninsula. The defection of the influential Shaykh Abd al-Majid... MORE

Yemeni Major General Ali Muhsin al-Ahmar announced on March 21, 2011 that he was joining anti-government protesters in their calls for Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh to step down (Mareb Press, March 21, 2011). Ali Muhsin’s defection to the growing protest movement in his country... MORE

Turmoil in the Arab world has elicited contrasting responses from the two sides of Georgia’s political opposition. Extra-parliamentary radical groups (themselves of varied colors) seem inspired to start yet another regime-change campaign. The parliamentary opposition, on the other hand, rejects the use of “revolutionary” methods... MORE

On March 28, the Russian security forces launched a large-scale assault on militants in Ingushetia.  The Russian air force was used to bomb rebels in the mountainous Upper Alkun area of the republic. Ground operations were carried out in Ingushetia’s largest town, Nazran, and other... MORE

In early March, a group of Russian defense journalists visited military infrastructure in the Russian Far East. In a lengthy article in Moskovskiy Komsomolets, Olga Bozhyeva said she was asked by the defense ministry to visit Transbaykal for one week to see the progress of... MORE

On March 24, Moscow’s envoy to the North Caucasus, Aleksandr Khloponin, presided over a meeting of the so-called North Caucasian Public Chamber in Vladikavkaz, North Ossetia. The gathering’s stated purpose was to find ways to boost an “all-Russian identity,” something that North Caucasians presumably lack,... MORE

Six years after ousting an unpopular leader and one year since yet another forceful regime change, Kyrgyzstan faces the dilemma of identifying the role of both events in the country’s recent history. The March 24, 2005, regime change, ousting President Askar Akayev and electing Kurmanbek... MORE

On March 23, an unauthorized demonstration was held in Ingushetia’s main city Nazran, during which protestors demanded that the republican authorities ascertain the fate of Ilez Gorchkhanov, a resident of Nazran’s Plievsky municipal district who had disappeared. Witnesses said the demonstrators, including friends and relatives... MORE

With Prime Minister Vladimir Putin’s protection, the Novatek Company seems set to acquire full ownership (or at least the stock options for full ownership) in Yamal LNG, Putin’s new pet project. The Russian government and Novatek are now inviting Western companies to develop that gas... MORE

China’s previous five-year plans were generally focused on the economy and little else. Yet, the outline of the 12th Five-Year Blueprint on Economic and Social Development for 2011 to 2015 (hereafter Blueprint), which was released at the end of the National People’s Congress (NPC) last... MORE