Latest Articles about Domestic/Social
U.S.-led “Sea Breeze” Combined Exercise Canceled in Ukraine
On June 22 Ukrainian Naval Headquarters confirmed unofficially that the country's political deadlock has doomed the multinational military exercise Sea Breeze-2009. According to the Ukrainian headquarters sources, the U.S. Armed Forces European Command (EUCOM) and the U.S. Sixth Fleet notified Ukraine's defense ministry on June... MORE
Moldova Embarks on Electoral Campaign in Tension-Filled Atmosphere
Exercising his interim powers under the constitution, Moldova's outgoing president Vladimir Voronin has dissolved the parliament that was elected on April 5 and has called new parliamentary elections for July 29. Voronin's decree, issued on June 15, had become unavoidable after the opposition twice boycotted... MORE
Tremors Shake the Three Pillars of Putin’s Regime
Prime Minister Vladimir Putin signed a revised anti-crisis program for 2009 last week, asserting that the previous plan had been accomplished and setting the first priority on the fulfillment of the state's social obligations for the population and the second - on preserving and developing... MORE
Erdogan Avoids Confrontation with the Military over Alleged Plot
Since the publication of a document, allegedly prepared by Colonel, Dursun Cicek, outlining a plan to undermine the governing AKP and the Gulen movement last week, Turkish domestic politics has focused on the future of civil-military relations (EDM, June 15). Nonetheless, fears over a split... MORE
Murder of Ingush Judge Tied to Proceedings for 2004 Rebel Attack
The high-profile assassination of Dagestan's Interior Minister, police Lieutenant-General Adilgerei Magomedtagirov, on June 5 - responsibility for which was claimed personally by the commander of the Gimry Jamaat, Ibragim Gadzhidadaev (EDM, June 12) - has been followed by similarly gripping events in the North Caucasian... MORE
Libyan Islamists Back Away from al-Qaeda Merger in Reconciliation with Qaddafi Regime
It has been more than two years since talks started between the Libyan authorities and the imprisoned leaders of the Libyan Islamic Fighting Group (Al-Jama’a al-Islamiya al-Muqatilah bi Libya – LIFG). As both sides acknowledge past mistakes, there are finally signs that the longtime antagonists... MORE
Having Previously Declared Victory, Kadyrov Wants Rebels Crushed in 2 Weeks
Chechen President Ramzan Kadyrov has claimed repeatedly over the last several years that the republic's rebels have all but been wiped out. However, since the counter-terrorist operation was officially ended in April, authorities in Chechnya and neighboring Ingushetia have had to launch a number of... MORE
Medvedev Advocates Increasing Grain Exports to Enhance “Global Food Security”
In his speech to the World Grain Forum in St. Petersburg on June 6, Russian President Dmitry Medvedev pledged that the country will double its grain production by bringing back into use some 20 million hectares of farmland that "has not been ploughed since the... MORE
Tensions Flare in a Kabardino-Balkaria Resort Populated by the Balkar Minority
On June 12 hundreds of protesters in the Elbrus district of Kabardino-Balkaria blocked the highway that connects this mountainous resort region with the republic's lowlands. The protestors were current and former tourist industry employees demanding shares in a tourist company, a just distribution of land... MORE
Russia Celebrates its National Day Facing an Uncertain Future
Russia's national day had all the necessary flags in the streets and a reception in the Kremlin, but few Russians see the point in celebrating the "Declaration on State Sovereignty" approved by the Congress of People's Deputies on June 12, 1990. That act delivered a... MORE