Introduction The Fifth Plenary Session of the Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) Central Committee, which took place from October 26 – 29, has elevated the status of President and CCP General Secretary Xi Jinping to that of Helmsman, a title once reserved only for the late... MORE

On October 19–20, Tallinn, Estonia, hosted the fifth summit of the Three Seas Initiative (3SI), a forum for dialogue involving a dozen European Union member states located in Central and Eastern Europe (ERR, October 19). The regional initiative was informally inaugurated in September 2015, on... MORE

President Vladimir Putin’s promotion of the Northern Sea Route (NSR) and Russian development of the seabed of the Arctic Ocean and adjoining parts of the Russian Federation were intended to excite and unify Russians at a difficult socio-economic time (see EDM, October 20). But things... MORE

The COVID-19 coronavirus pandemic continues to accelerate in Russia: during the past week, the high mark in daily infections moved from 15,000 to 17,500, of which about a third were registered in Moscow. The Kremlin still asserts that the situation is under control, but its... MORE

Introduction In mid-October, Chinese Communist Party (CCP) General Secretary Xi Jinping unveiled reformist rhetoric by pledging to turn the southern city of Shenzhen (Guangdong Province) into a "comprehensive reform pilot project" (综合改革试点, zonghe gaige shidian), and a “socialism with Chinese characteristics advance demonstration zone” (中国特色社会主义先行示范区,... MORE

Introduction Following Chinese intrusions into India’s northern territory of Ladakh beginning in June (China Brief, July 15), relations between the two countries have seen a major downturn. Two strands of official Chinese thinking have emerged from statements by People’s Republic of China (PRC) officials, as... MORE

On July 29, the Russian government issued an order concerning plans for the development of federal transport, railway, information and communications infrastructure that includes the construction of Port Lagan, in the Republic of Kalmykia (Portnews.ru, August 3). The idea to establish a port in Kalmykia... MORE

The poisoning of Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny caused an uproar in the international community, even leading to debates inside Germany about whether to punish Moscow by canceling the Nord Stream Two natural gas pipeline (see EDM, September 21). While the fate of Gazprom’s multi-billion-dollar... MORE

Since Vladimir Putin became president, Russia’s forests have declined in size by 45 million hectares, some 6 percent of the country’s total. The shrinking forest cover has been the result of the spread of uncontrolled forest fires (80 percent) as well as increased harvesting (20... MORE

As is often the case, much of the Western coverage of the launch of Russia’s new nuclear-powered icebreaker, the Arktika, has relied heavily on Kremlin press releases, with little to no examination of the actual situation. The vessel is the world’s largest of its type... MORE