On January 5, 2012, President Barack Obama and Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta released new defense strategic guidance, highlighting U.S. national defense priorities and underscoring America’s determination to maintain its global leadership and military superiority despite budgetary constraints [1]. The strategy indicates the United States... MORE

On March 6, China and India operationalized a coordination agreement to avert conflict along their contested border. The Working Mechanism for Consultation and Coordination on India-China Border Affairs, as the agreement is officially termed, was first broached by Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao during a visit... MORE

BEIJING DENIES RUSSIAN RUMORS OF SU-35 FIGHTER PURCHASE Last week, Russian media reported Moscow was close to finalizing a $4 billion deal for 48 Su-35s with Beijing. The reported sticking point was that the Russian side wanted greater assurances that Chinese engineers would not reverse... MORE

On March 9, Iranian Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Salehi wrapped up a three day visit to Tajikistan to discuss developments in joint economic projects including the construction of the Cangtuda-2 dam, Istiqlol tunnel and the beginning of a new Aini hydroelectric station in the Zarafshan... MORE

Turkmen President Gurbanguly Berdimuhammedov’s visit to Turkey on February 28-March 1, highlighted the evolving nature of the two countries’ bilateral relations, built around flourishing economic ties. Berdimuhammedov’s first foreign trip since his reelection on February 12 also provided an opportunity to mark the 20th anniversary... MORE

As the Kremlin was preoccupied with the presidential transition, relations between Russia and its Central Asian ally Kyrgyzstan unexpectedly became shaky. When Kyrgyz President Almazbek Atambayev traveled to Russia last month, his visit was supposed to highlight bilateral partnership. Instead, however, Atambayev’s trip to Moscow... MORE

Yevgeny Shevchuk’s election as “president” of Transnistria in December 2011 ended the 20-year rule of Igor Smirnov, belatedly replacing a Soviet with a post-Soviet leadership group. Shevchuk defeated the Kremlin-picked candidate (the Supreme Soviet’s fossilized chairman Anatoly Kaminski). Moscow campaigned to remove Smirnov as a... MORE

One of the weaknesses of Belarus’s geopolitical situation and indeed of its self-perception is that Belarus is a crossroads, a land in between. In many ways this cliché informs thinking about Belarus – while something of note is occurring within its borders, there is a... MORE

Six years to the day since their collapse (February 28, 2006), official negotiations on the Transnistria conflict were supposed to restart in Dublin in the 5+2 format (Russia, Ukraine, OSCE, United States, European Union, Chisinau, Tiraspol). The Dublin meeting on February 28-29, 2012 was to... MORE

Already in 2012, two Iranian terrorist plots against Azerbaijan have been exposed, Moscow has substantially reinforced its garrisons in the Caucasus in expectation of a war involving Iran by this summer, and Russia has also warned Georgia against hosting US troops there for purposes of... MORE