Russia may have refused to sell the S-300 missile to Iran, but it is hardly refraining from selling weapons to its traditional Middle Eastern friends. Despite its recent agreement to buy drones and other military equipment from Israel and a strong Israeli and US diplomatic... MORE

A new study from the Center for American Progress, the think-tank closely linked with the Obama White House, urges the US government to adopt a new, “comprehensive policy” toward Georgia and the Russia-Georgia conflict (“A New Approach to the Russia-Georgia Conflict,” October 2010, www.americanprogress.org.) The... MORE

On September 2, 2010, the Georgian President, Mikheil Saakashvili, signed Order No.707, which approved the adoption of the Georgia’s Threat Assessment Document for 2010-2013. In accordance with Article 61 of Georgia’s General Administrative Code, the aforementioned document replaced the previous Threat Assessment Document for 2007-2009,... MORE

In early September, a Chinese fishing boat that collided with a pair of Japan Coast Guard (JCG) vessels near the Senkaku/Diaoyu islands reignited a longstanding dispute between Beijing and Tokyo over the East China Sea. The captain of the Chinese trawler was detained by the... MORE

While attending a conference on security in Taipei as October arrived, I found it easy to point to indications of an erosion in American support for Taiwan unprecedented since the 1970s. This was in part owed to a sense in Washington that President Ma Ying-jeou's... MORE

The appointment of Vice-President Xi Jinping as vice-chairman of the Chinese Communist Party's Central Military Commission (CMC) has confirmed the Fifth-Generation cadre's status as heir-apparent to President and General Secretary Hu Jintao. Xi's induction into the policy-setting CMC, which was decided by the just-ended plenum... MORE

The Franco-German-Russian summit in Deauville and its timing (Medvedev Deflects Merkel-Sarkozy Proposal on Transnistria at Deauville Summit, EDM October 22) reflects the fragmentation of Euro-Atlantic and EU policy-making vis-à-vis Russia. This process was ongoing for some time and accelerated recently. The financial-economic crisis has stimulated... MORE

French President, Nicolas Sarkozy, and German Chancellor, Angela Merkel, met on October 18-19 in Deauville, France, with Russian President, Dmitry Medvedev, ahead of summit events scheduled for the coming weeks: NATO, NATO-Russia, and European Union-Russia. The Deauville meeting seemed designed preemptively to influence the discussions... MORE

Turkey’s position on US efforts to create a ballistic missile defense (BMD) system in Europe has emerged as another source of tension in US-Turkish relations. The Bush administration originally contemplated the installment of a missile shield in Eastern Europe, yet failed to achieve its stated... MORE

The leaders of four political parties –Ar-Namys, Ata-Jurt, Respublika, and Social-democratic Party of Kyrgyzstan (SPDK) – traveled to Moscow days after the October 10 parliamentary elections (www.24.kg, October 15). Reportedly, they met with Russian officials to discuss the possibility of forming a coalition. All four... MORE