On October 18, Hina Rabanni Khar, Pakistan’s first female foreign minister, met with Roza Otunbayeva, Kyrgyzstan’s first female president, in Bishkek to persuade Kyrgyzstan – its competitor for a non-permanent seat on the UN Security Council – to drop out of the race. Kyrgyzstan declined,... MORE

The US-Turkish bilateral relationship is entering a new period of cooperation. While part of the positive mood characterizing the relationship is attributable to the US-Turkish coordinated action in the context of the Arab Spring, the recent changes in Turkey’s threat perceptions have also played a... MORE

President Dmitry Medvedev started his final round of top level meetings with the trip to Cannes where the leaders of the twenty largest world economic powers gathered to discuss measures to rescue the global financial system from the Greek crisis. The scale of the unfolding... MORE

In an apparent departure from earlier promises to develop their bilateral energy partnership, Russian and Kazakh leaders plan to re-focus on multilateral cooperation within the Customs Union and the Common Economic Space (CES).On October 22, Russian President Dmitry Medvedev and his Kazakh counterpart Nursultan Nazarbayev... MORE

Ukraine has signed a free trade agreement with the CIS and completed its free trade talks with the EU. Unlike membership of the Customs Union (Russia, Belarus and Kazakhstan), which Moscow keeps inviting Kyiv to join, the CIS free trade accord does not formally hinder... MORE

On September 15, on the eve of the NATO EULEX mission’s takeover of the Kosovo customs’ points Brnjak and Jarinje, Russian Ambassador Aleksandr Konuzin created a diplomatic scandal in Serbia that has apparently since grown. Speaking at the Belgrade Security Forum, Konuzin lambasted the audience... MORE

Vladimir Putin, Russia’s current prime minister, chose to make his first foreign trip to China after his announcement in late September that he would run again for president. This led some to expect Russia would align closer toward Beijing in coming years. Perhaps for this... MORE

Plenum Document Highlights Broad Role for Social Management From October 15 to 18, the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) convened the 6th Plenum of the 17th Central Committee to address China's evolving cultural milieu. On October 25, the CCP released the resolution entitled "CCP Central Committee... MORE

As grenades explode in crowded Nairobi pubs, Kenyan jet fighters bomb targets inside Somalia and France agrees to supply Kenyan forces, Kenya’s military intervention in Somalia against the Islamist militant group al-Shabaab raises many questions regarding the future security of East Africa. The Kenyan Army... MORE