The militarization of Russia has reached such an extent that not only its military force as such has become a foreign policy tool, but even individual weapons systems are also being used for this purpose. In recent weeks, the coastal defense missile system Bastion has... MORE

The Mongolian People’s Party (MPP) came to power in a land-slide election in June 2016 due to the dissatisfaction with the Democratic Party’s (DP) economic policies. However, in outlining its economic development and foreign relations priorities, the MPP has made it clear that it intends... MORE

On November 28, the Committee for Defense and Security in the Georgian parliament held hearings on whether to amend the Law on the Occupied Territories (Sputnik-georgia.com, November 29). The proposed changes in the legislation would concern the criminal prosecution of Russian citizens who visit Abkhazia... MORE

After giving his first major post-election interview to Zvezda, a television channel owned by the Russian Ministry of Defense (Tvzvezda.ru, November 17), a week later, Moldovan President-elect Igor Dodon offered his first extensive interview to the western media—Romania’s National Public Broadcaster (Tvr.ro, November 24). The... MORE

In his annual address to the parliament, on December 1, President Vladimir Putin praised the Russian people for defying economic hardships, maintaining “patriotic” (i.e.: pro-Kremlin and pro-Putin) national unity, and for standing up to Western pressure. Putin sounded confident and sometimes triumphant: In Syria the... MORE

On October 21, a regular Kyiv–Minsk flight by a Belavia (Belarusian state carrier) Boeing 737−800 passenger jet was interrupted. At 3:36 p.m., Ukrainian air traffic control demanded that the airliner, which had 136 passengers on board and took off 11 minutes earlier from Kyiv International... MORE

The Russian government killed or expelled nearly the entire Circassian nation from the North Caucasus in 1864, after this group resisted the Russian Empire’s advance there for more than a century. To this day, the Circassians remember this as their “genocide.” Now, the Russian government... MORE

On October 23 and 25, a team of Ukrainian hackers, known as Kiberkhunta (Cyber-Junta), unveiled a massive number of e-mails that belonged to the notorious Russian official Vladislav Surkov. Prior to 2013, Surkov was responsible for Russia’s domestic policies in Vladimir Putin’s administration. After 2013,... MORE

The outcome of the presidential election in the United States was celebrated in Moscow with such joy and triumphalism as if Russia had scored a major political victory (see EDM, November 10). Mainstream commentators gloated; the public forgot to reflect on the 99th anniversary of... MORE

In offering his condolences on the death of Uzbek President Islam Karimov in September, Chinese president Xi Jinping expressed that the Chinese people had lost a true friend. Earlier, in late June Xi had delivered a speech in Uzbekistan’s parliament in which he called for... MORE