Two years ago, Russian tanks stopped on the outskirts of Tbilisi before slowly rolling back to the devastated Tskhinvali, but nobody in Russia appears interested in celebrating or even reflecting on that “victory,” which is still broadly approved by public opinion (www.levada.ru, August 4). Russian... MORE

China’s People’s Liberation Army Navy (PLAN) forces took to the East China Sea in late June for live-fire maneuvers. These naval exercises were widely interpreted as expressions of preemptive Chinese displeasure over U.S.-South Korean exercises slated for the Yellow Sea. Washington dispatched the nuclear-powered aircraft... MORE

Ahead of the OSCE summit under Kazakhstan’s chairmanship, Russian officials are resurrecting the agenda of “OSCE reforms” to reconfigure the organization in line with Russian foreign policy objectives. The reform proposals date back for the most part to 2004 and have been promoted since then... MORE

On July 30, the primary news outlet of the Chechen militants, Kavkaz Center, citing its own sources, reported Moscow was preparing a drastic shift in its policies in the North Caucasus. According to the website, the main points of Moscow’s new plan for the North... MORE

Authorities in Armenia and Karabakh have reacted very positively to the July 22 decision by the highest UN court to uphold the legality of Kosovo’s 2008 declaration of independence from Serbia. They say it strengthens the Armenian case for international recognition of Karabakh’s de facto... MORE

Kazakhstan’s OSCE chairmanship has passed its mid-point and is working against the clock to prepare the summit in Astana, which will exceptionally be held well before the year’s end. The issue of Kazakhstan’s legacy in chairing the OSCE has suddenly gained urgency; following the 56... MORE

Russian Prime Minister, Vladimir Putin, Moscow Mayor, Yury Luzhkov, and Patriarch Kirill flocked to Ukraine last week. While the official goals of the visits were different, each promoted the Kremlin’s ideology of a single Russian worldview and personally congratulated President, Viktor Yanukovych on his birthday,... MORE

(Part Two) The Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) is the primary international organization in charge of resolving the Transnistria conflict since 1993. This task forms the basis, and sole raison d’etre, of the OSCE Moldova Mission’s mandate. Russian veto power, however, has... MORE

(Part One) Kazakhstan’s chairmanship of the OSCE, to be crowned by the summit of 56 heads of state in Astana, can hardly ignore Russia’s challenges to the post-Cold War international order (EDM, July 27). Fortuitously, Kazakhstan’s chairmanship and the summit coincide with round anniversaries of... MORE