The smooth performance of the power-sharing mechanism connecting President Dmitry Medvedev and Prime Minister Vladimir Putin has given way to grinding and clanking as their recent statements betray deepening disagreements. Kremlin-watchers have long been puzzled about the lack of visible tensions between the co-rulers, despite... MORE

While the Kyrgyz President Kurmanbek Bakiyev visited the U.S. base in Bishkek on September 11 to pay tribute to growing relations between Washington and Bishkek, more of his opponents are threatened with being physically removed for their criticism. Baktybek Beshimov, a member of parliament (MP)... MORE

Ukrainian lawmaking has fallen victim to the presidential election campaign. Parliament has failed to resume its work after the summer vacation as the opposition Party of Regions (PRU) physically blocks the rostrum making it impossible to vote. The party is protesting against the refusal by... MORE

The troubled peace talks have resumed in Cyprus after Greek Cypriot officials boycotted them in the first week of September. As the second part of the negotiations began, the Turkish Cypriot leader Mehmet Ali Talat and his Greek Cypriot counterpart Dimitris Christofias met for their... MORE

Kazakhstan's defense ministry is actively preparing to host the final stage of the Collective Operational Response Force (CORF) exercise in October. On September 7 Army-General Mukhtar Altynbayev, the Chairman of Kazakhstan's Joint Chiefs of Staff confirmed that the planning phase of the exercise in the... MORE

The topic of power-sharing inside the rather peculiar duumvirate of President Dmitry Medvedev and Prime Minister Vladimir Putin has long since lost its news value, but in the last couple of days it has suddenly acquired new currency. Personal relations between the co-rulers are beyond... MORE

Dagestan's President Mukhu Aliev has denounced a claim by two leading Russian human rights activists that Dagestan has illegal prisons and extrajudicial killings.On September 8, the Memorial human rights center made public an open letter signed by its head, Oleg Orlov, and Lev Ponomarev, head... MORE

Armed conflict between Burma’s armed forces (known as the Tatmadaw) and the Kokang militia (known as the Myanmar National Democratic Alliance Army, MNDAA), along the Sino-Burmese border in late August brought into sharp focus the complex and sometimes testy relationship between Burma (Myanmar) and the... MORE

Following disappointing presidential elections in July, the Kyrgyz President Kurmanbek Bakiyev is continuing to sideline his political opponents and silence the local mass media. Opposition leaders are persecuted with the help of ingenious techniques. Their relatives are threatened with administrative and criminal charges, while opposition... MORE

Two electoral cycles behind most of Eastern Europe, Moldova stands on the brink of the post-post-Communist era. Uniquely in Moldova, moreover, the post-communist transition and the post-post-communist era will be telescoped into a single stage, the start of which is now. Other East European countries... MORE