The massive upheaval of Iraq’s population that has occurred since 2006 threatens the long-term stability of the country, regardless of short-term gains achieved through the political process or military surges. Symptomatic of a destabilized Iraq, displaced populations are themselves a source of future destabilization. Many... MORE

In his February 2, 2010 “Annual Threat Assessment of the U.S. Intelligence Community,” U.S. Director of National Intelligence Dennis C. Blair predicts that Iraq will continue making progress, although “this forecast is dependent on the next government’s effective management of Arab-Kurd tensions, continued progress in... MORE

Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko has withdrawn her appeal from the High Administrative Court against the February 7 election runoff result. This means that nothing will prevent the election winner Viktor Yanukovych’s inauguration on February 25. However, Tymoshenko refused to admit her defeat. Moreover, she told... MORE

Last October, eight unarmed Kurdish militants and 28 Kurdish civilians returned to southeast Turkey from bases of the Parti Karkerani Kurdistan (Kurdistan Workers’ Party - PKK) in northern Iraq. It was intended as the first of a series of government-sponsored “returns” of PKK activists and... MORE

Iraq’s Shi’a Arabs, the demographic majority with an estimated 60-70% of the population, wield the most political influence in Iraq. But the Shi’a of Iraq are a diverse group, with major regional differences between the Shi’a of Basra and the deep South and the Shi’a... MORE

Two major myths promoted by President Viktor Yushchenko in Ukraine’s 2010 presidential elections were that there was no difference in policies between the two main candidates, Viktor Yanukovych and Yulia Tymoshenko, and that both were “pro-Russian.” These myths helped defeat Tymoshenko by 3 percent in... MORE

On February 15, a court in Moscow dropped the case against the liberal newspaper Novaya Gazeta brought by Chechen President Ramzan Kadyrov. The Chechen leader had appealed to the court to prosecute the paper and several well-known Russian human rights activists on defamation charges, but... MORE

On February 8, President Dmitry Medvedev announced his decision to recommend that the Dagestani parliament appoint Magomedsalam Magomedov as president of Dagestan (RIA Novosti, February 8).The announcement came less than two weeks before the term of the current president, Mukhu Aliev, expires. Magomedsalam Magomedov was... MORE