On October 6 the French President Nicolas Sarkozy arrived in Astana on a state visit and met his counterpart Nursultan Nazarbayev. During his one day visit he also held talks with Kazakhstan’s Foreign Minister Kanat Saudabayev and the Minister of Economics and Budget Planning Bakhyt... MORE

Since last month, the Kyrgyz public has been able to watch China’s CCTV channel broadcasting in the Russian language. For now, the channel broadcasts only in Bishkek. But the Chinese government is ready to invest in digital receivers for the southern parts of Kyrgyzstan, in... MORE

Authorities in Tiraspol are watching the political deadlock in Chisinau with barely concealed satisfaction. Moldova’s political and constitutional crisis since April has further deepened the freeze on both tracks of negotiations on the Transnistria conflict: the international 5+2 format and the bilateral right bank –... MORE

The IMF and World Bank annual summit in Istanbul have ended after seven days of meetings and seminars. During the meetings the policy-steering International Monetary and Financial Committee (IMFC), asked the IMF to address four key reform areas –the IMF’s mandate, its financing role, multilateral... MORE

Until 2005, Chinese public perceptions of India were generally benign, even bordering on benign neglect. Yet, a radical change in Chinese public attitudes toward India has noticeably taken place since then and it can be attributed in part to an increasing number of Chinese strategic... MORE

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