Beijing instituted a new round of personnel changes among the top-ranking officers of the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) and its general departments. According to official state-media, Central Military Commission (CMC) Chairman and PRC President Hu Jintao conferred three senior military officers the rank of general... MORE

Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan paid a one-day visit to Syria, which involved discussions on Turkey's mediator role between Israel and Syria. Erdogan and the Syrian President Bashar Assad discussed bilateral relations, regional developments and Turkey's peacemaking role in the region. Assad requested Turkey's mediating... MORE

The open letter to the Obama administration (EDM, July 22) carries the signatures of 22 personalities including former heads of state and prime ministers, other statesmen and policymakers from Central-Eastern European countries. Made public on July 16, the letter draws on a concept paper issued... MORE

Last week the newest Russian Navy Bulava-30 (SS-NX-30) sea-based intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) disintegrated 28 seconds after launch. The latest crash came on top of a long string of unsuccessful test launches that have called into question the future of the Bulava, planned to be... MORE

The U.N.-led peace talks launched by the Turkish Cypriot leader Mehmet Ali Talat and his Greek Cypriot counterpart Dimitris Christofias in September 2008 aiming to find a comprehensive solution to the Cyprus problem has entered a new phase. On July 20 at the Peace and... MORE

Azerbaijan's President Ilham Aliyev met his Armenian counterpart Serzh Sarksyan in Moscow on July 17 in their latest round of reconciliation talks. Turkey has closely followed the talks between the two presidents, facilitated by the Russian President Dmitry Medvedev, hoping that the resolution of the... MORE

On July 18, the renowned human rights center Memorial announced the suspension of its activities in Chechnya, following the murder of its activist Natalya Estemirova on July 15. Estemirova was kidnapped in Grozny near her home and found dead in neighboring Ingushetia later on the... MORE

Since the meeting with U.S. President Barack Obama in Moscow two weeks ago, President Dmitry Medvedev has been involved in a flurry of external activities from the G8 summit in L'Aquila, Italy to the informal gathering of several neighboring presidents at the traditional horse races... MORE

The inter-governmental agreement (IGA) on the Nabucco project, signed on July 13, depends existentially on Azerbaijan for start-up and first-phase gas supplies. Azerbaijan remains a staunch supporter of Nabucco and other components of the E.U.'s Southern Corridor project, but not an unconditional supporter to be... MORE

Memorial has blamed Chechen President Ramzan Kadyrov for the murder of Natalya Estemirova, who worked in the Russian human rights group's office Grozny. Estemirova's body was found with bullet wounds to the head and chest near the village of Gazi-Yurt in Ingushetia yesterday just hours... MORE