Ukraine’s Foreign Minister Petro Poroshenko visited Moscow on October 23. Appointed earlier this month, Poroshenko views rapprochement with Russia as one of his main goals, and he made a point of saying what Moscow wanted to hear during his meeting with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei... MORE

The Kremlin is maintaining its policy of trying to impose “external” rule on Ingushetia. The individual assigned to the post of prime minister of the republic is not only an outsider, but also an ethnic Russian. Such actions have aroused indignation within Ingushetia. For example,... MORE

Only 24 hours passed between Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s warm welcome to Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki in the presidential palace in Damascus and the attacks on the government buildings in Baghdad that killed dozens and spoiled the development of fraternal relations between the two... MORE

The European Commission has released its “2009 Progress Report” and “Enlargement Strategy Paper” in which it assessed developments in Turkey. The strategy paper stressed Ankara’s role in contributing to the stability of the Middle East and the South Caucasus. Turkey’s efforts toward the normalization of... MORE

For 30 years now, ever since the United States severed formal diplomatic relations with the Republic of China (ROC) on Taiwan and recognized the People’s Republic of China (PRC), the U.S. has continued defense cooperation with Taiwan to maintain peace and stability in the Taiwan... MORE

On September 15, a task force co-chaired by Senator Charles Robb (D-VA) and Senator Daniel Coats (R-IN) at the Bipartisan Policy Center released a report [1], calling on President Barack Obama to devise a tougher strategy to prevent a nuclear Iran.  The subtitle of the... MORE

After the extravaganza marking the 60th anniversary of the People’s Republic of China (PRC), the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) leadership has unleashed what the domestic media heralds as “marathon autumn diplomacy” (malasong qiuji waijiao). Premier Wen Jiabao visited North Korea and Vice-President Xi Jinping is... MORE

The strains in Turkish-Azeri relations caused by Turkey's energy policies and its attemps to resolve its diplomatic problems with Armenia are beginning to dominate the agenda in Ankara’s relations with Baku.On October 15, in a district of Baku, Turkish flags decorating monuments commemorating the Turkish... MORE

The strains in Turkish-Israeli relations have increased over the past week, raising questions about the durability of the strategic relationship between the two countries.Earlier last week, Ankara’s decision to cancel the international dimension of the multinational Anatolian Eagle air defense exercise dealt a serious blow... MORE

Also on October 13 the head of the Russian Federal Security Service (FSB), Aleksandr Bortnikov, publicly accused Georgia of harboring “al-Qaida” agents, arming and training “international terrorists,” infiltrating them into Chechnya, and orchestrating “terrorist” sabotage of oil and gas pipelines in Dagestan. He offered no... MORE