Latest Articles about Foreign Policy
Success Eludes the Presidential Envoy to the North Caucasus
Six months after Aleksandr Khloponin was appointed as the Russian president’s envoy to the specially created North Caucasus Federal District, it can be safely concluded that he has not brought anything new or particularly important to Russia’s troubled region. An attempt to shift Russia’s policy... MORE
Moscow Seeks Room to Maneuver as Crisis on the Korean Peninsula Intensifies
The sinking of the Republic of Korea’s (ROK) Corvette, Cheonan, on March 26, has proven to be a slow-building crisis, but one fraught with grave risks of conflict on the Korean peninsula. Moscow’s response has revealed much about the limits affecting Russian policy in the... MORE
TAPI and the Prospects of an Indian-Turkmen Strategic Partnership
For more than 15 years, the Trans-Afghanistan Pipeline (TAPI) project, which proposes to deliver gas from Turkmenistan to Pakistan and India via Afghanistan, has remained an elusive scheme. Backed by the West and the Asian Development Bank (ADB), it is a subject of intense debate... MORE
Turkish-Azeri Deal May Herald New Competition in Southern Corridor
On the sidelines of the Conference on Interaction and Confidence Building Measures in Asia (CICA) summit held in Istanbul, Turkey and Azerbaijan concluded agreements on natural gas cooperation. On June 7, during a ceremony attended by Turkish Prime Minister, Tayyip Recep Erdogan, Azeri President, Ilham... MORE
Iran’s Nuclear Crisis Causes Unease in Armenia
Armenia is watching, with unease, the latest developments in neighboring Iran’s standoff with the international community over its controversial nuclear program. The new, harsher sanctions imposed by the UN Security Council on Tehran last week raise fresh questions over the growing Armenian-Iranian economic ties which... MORE
Will Russia be Cast as “Peacekeeper” in Kyrgyzstan?
Kyrgyzstan’s interim leader, Roza Otunbayeva, has taken the desperate step of requesting Russian military intervention to quell the violent civil conflict in southern Kyrgyzstan. She presented that request to Russian President, Dmitry Medvedev, by telephone and letter on June 11, to Prime Minister, Vladimir Putin,... MORE
The China-Pakistan Reactor Deal and Asia’s Nuclear Energy Race
In late April, China announced the sale of two nuclear reactors to Pakistan. This deal is clearly against the guidelines of the Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG) and the spirit if not the letter of the Nonproliferation Treaty (NPT) [1]. Nevertheless, the United States has not... MORE
U.S.-China Strategic & Economic Dialogue: Not Exactly a “Dialogue”
More than 200 American officials converged on Beijing in late May for the second U.S.-China Strategic and Economic Dialogue. After two days of intensive discussions with their Chinese counterparts, the American side boasted of many accomplishments. The State Department, working on the "strategic" track of... MORE
China’s Growing Maritime HA/DR Capabilities
China launched what it claims is the first purpose-built hospital ship (Type 920) in the world in 2007, stirring a considerable amount of international speculation regarding the Chinese Navy's future roles and missions. The use of hospital ships in non-military operations by the U.S. Navy... MORE
Premier Wen’s Four-nation Tour: A “Responsible Leadership Role”?
Premier Wen Jiabao’s just-completed weeklong tour to South Korea, Japan, Mongolia and Burma (Myanmar) provides a good opportunity for evaluating the extent to which China is playing a “responsible leadership role” in world affairs. In President Barack Obama’s National Security Strategy report released in late... MORE