As Turkey and Armenia enter the last phase of their normalization process which has intensified since February, both parties are actively preparing to welcome each other. In late September, the Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan disclosed that the Armenian and Turkish foreign ministers would... MORE

Since 2008, the People's Republic of China (PRC) has moved forward with a series of large aid and investment deals, indicating that the PRC is raising its stake in Latin America to a new level [1]. The impact of China's expanding commitment in Latin America... MORE

Last April, in a press conference capping his first one hundred days in office, President Obama remarked that the "'ship of state' is an ocean liner, not a speedboat," and that even a small shift in direction could have far-reaching consequences even a decade or... MORE

Chinese Vice-President Xi Jinping departed for Europe on October 7 for a two-week long official visit spanning from Brussels in the West to Bucharest in the East. The five European countries include Belgium, Germany, Bulgaria, Hungary and Romania. This high-level trip by the Chinese leader... MORE

The recent election in Greece resulted in a convincing victory for George Papandreou’s Pan-Hellenic Socialist Movement (PASOK). Despite the fact that Turkish-Greek relations were not a major issue during the election campaign, Ankara closely monitored the election. Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu stated that Turkey... MORE

Japan’s Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama, fresh from the resounding victory of his party in the Japanese Diet elections, traveled to New York in late September and met (among others) with Russian President Dmitry Medvedev on the sidelines of the U.N. General Assembly. At their meeting... MORE

In response to a question as to whether Ankara and Moscow have reached a deal to recognize Abkhazia and the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus, the Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov stated: “Russia will not enter a deal implying the recognition of Northern Cyprus in... MORE

Ankara will intensify its diplomatic efforts this month in order to extend Turkey's foreign policy preferences into regions that it considers as its primary interest zone. Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu said that he expects October to be a "month of peace," while Turkey facilitates... MORE

On September 25, a group of Ingush civil activists made an unprecedented public statement, harshly criticizing the policy of Ingushetia's President, Yunus-Bek Yevkurov, regarding the disputed lands in the Prigorodny district of neighboring North Ossetia (www.ingushetia.org, September 25). President Yevkurov had previously said that North... MORE

International diplomatic pressure on Turkey and Armenia to boost their efforts toward the normalization of their bilateral relations has continued on the sidelines of the U.N. General Assembly. U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton held separate meetings with the foreign ministers of both countries, urging... MORE