Russia along with the rest of the international community strongly condemned the latest North Korean underground nuclear test this week. The Russian U.N. permanent representative Vitaly Churkin, censured North Korea and declared that it "violated international law and is threatening regional and international peace and... MORE

The People's Republic of China (PRC) is home to 22 percent of the world’s population, but has only 7 percent of its total arable land. Following the Chinese people's recovery from the humanitarian disaster of the "Great Famine," which according to one authoritative account contributed... MORE

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