When Chinese President Hu Jintao visited Costa Rica last November and announced that the two countries were initiating free trade talks, it marked the beginning of a new phase in China’s courtship of Central America.  Indeed, China’s striking economic growth over the last decade has... MORE

Muqtada al-Sadr, the young Iraqi Shi’a cleric who has been studying to become an Ayatollah in the Iranian city of Qom since 2007, recently visited Turkey in a trip whose purpose is reported to have been a series of talks on Iraqi-Turkish security issues (al-Jazeera,... MORE

On May 21 Kazakhstan's President Nursultan Nazarbayev characterized the country's forthcoming chairmanship of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) as a vital part of its interest in pursuing integration with Europe. Having entered the OSCE troika this year (alongside Finland and Greece),... MORE

The Turkish parliament began debating a controversial bill last week to clear and destroy mines along the border with Syria. A private contractor plans to carry out the de-mining and secure the allocation of the cleared area for its agricultural use. The bill once again... MORE

The Russian National Security Strategy until 2020, approved by President Dmitry Medvedev on May 12, has been portrayed as innovative while clarifying the nature of the strategic environment facing the country. Much attention was devoted to the potential risk of future energy wars, in regions... MORE

On May 7, in Prague, the Eastern Partnership Project (EPP) was initiated with the participation of Georgia, Moldova, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Ukraine, and Belarus. Perhaps reflecting a response to the concerns of several European leaders, Belarus was not represented by President Alyaksandr Lukashenka or Prime Minister... MORE

On May 16 Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan visited Moscow and met with his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin, as part of Ankara's ongoing efforts to normalize its relations with Armenia. Reportedly Putin and Erdogan discussed finding a sustainable solution to the Karabakh issue as... MORE

On May 12 Russian President Dmitry Medvedev approved the latest version of the "National Security Strategy of the Russian Federation up to 2020" (www.scrf.gov.ru, May 12). The text of the 7,300 word document was posted on the website of the Russian Security Council and is... MORE

Brazil is the largest developing country in the Western Hemisphere, and China is the largest developing country in the world. According to some Western estimates, the combined economies of the BRIC (i.e. Brazil, Russia, India and China) countries would surpass the combined economies of the... MORE

Engagement between Beijing and Washington operates on many levels but none is more critical than a regularized mechanism for strategic discussion by the top officials in economics and foreign policy.  While Presidential summitry is extremely valuable, it is too infrequent and too brief to cover... MORE