Four years after first seizing power, Kyrgyz President Kurmanbek Bakiyev is seeking a snap re-election. Bakiyev was able to receive rapid support from parliament and the Constitutional Court in scheduling elections for July 23, instead of waiting until the constitutionally defined election date in October... MORE

On March 23, 2009 the Moscow City Court ruled that Semion Mogilevich, also known as Sergiy Shneider, will remain in prison until May 23 while investigators continue to examine his case. (Kommersant Daily, March 24). This is the third extension of his detention the court... MORE

As negotiations continue between the EU and Belarus with the prospect of the latter joining the Eastern Partnership, the Belarusian opposition has formulated its own conditions for any future agreement. In turn, President Alyaksandr Lukashenka has branded his opponents a "fifth column" and seeks to... MORE

Recent opinion polls and a local election on March 16 have shown that two stars are rising in Ukrainian politics. The time remaining until the January 2010 presidential election should show whether the two, far-right Oleg Tyahnybok and liberal economist Arseny Yatsenyuk, will prove viable... MORE

Novruz, marking the arrival of spring and beginning of a new year, is being celebrated in Turkey between March 20 and 24, along with other Middle Eastern and Central Asian countries. This year's celebrations in Turkey showed that this cultural event still remains highly contested... MORE

As the prosecutors deepen their investigations into the Ergenekon criminal network, they have found interesting evidence that indicates two opposing camps within the Turkish military. Recently, the neo-nationalist daily Cumhuriyet's Ankara correspondent, Mustafa Balbay, was detained on accusations of being a member of Ergenekon. Balbay... MORE

Moldova's opposition parties are small and leader-centered. Most of the opposition parties compete against one another for the same segments of the electorate or for overlapping segments. In these cases party labels are also often irrelevant or misleading. For a country that does not have... MORE

Moldova will hold parliamentary elections on April 5, and its new parliament will elect the new president and confirm a new government. Incumbent President Vladimir Voronin's second, final term of office expires in April. The transition process ahead will severely test the country's weak political... MORE

China was the first country to establish diplomatic relations with the Democratic Republic of Timor-Leste—more commonly referred to as East Timor—when it gained formal independence on May 20, 2002 (China Brief, July 5, 2006). Since that time China has expanded its economic interests in East... MORE

Premier Wen Jiabao has pulled out all the stops to reassure the National People’s Congress (China’s parliament)—and the world—that the Hu-Wen government’s revamped stimulus package can ensure an eight percent growth rate this year. That the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) has discouraged NPC deputies from... MORE