The Ukrainian Presidential Office envisages a system of international security guarantees vis-a-vis Russia that would answer Kyiv’s post-war requirements. The guarantees would be provided by willing North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) members countries, albeit, at the moment, short of NATO membership, this would potentially clear... MORE

The Myanmar junta and the Rakhine nationalist Arakan Army (AA) have agreed on an informal ceasefire in Rakhine State (Mizzima, November 29). This truce, which came into effect at the end of November, occurred despite a sharp escalation in fighting in the months following the... MORE

A breakaway group of the Baloch Liberation Army (BLA), which is headed by a student-turned-leader named Bashir Zaib, kidnapped two junior officers of Pakistan's military on September 25 in the restive southwestern Balochistan province. The abductees were a junior military officer and an intelligence officer... MORE

On November 30, the Islamic State (IS) announced that its “caliph,” Abu al-Hassan al-Hashimi al-Qurashi (Abu al-Hassan), was killed and another leader, Abu al-Hussein al-Husseini al-Qureshi (Abu al-Hussein), was the new caliph (alarabiya.net, November 30). This was the second time in only one year that... MORE

Philippines Security Forces Halt Islamic State Attacks after Mindanao Bus Bombing On November 27, Philippine police conducted an operation at an Islamic State in Southeast Asia Province (ISEAP) hideout in Maguindanao, Mindanao and killed two ISEAP members (akhbaralaan.com, November 28). The operation served as a... MORE

*Click here for Part One. While the Kremlin stubbornly contends that the Russian defense industry will have no issues in replenishing those munitions that have been heavily depleted in Ukraine, closer analysis of the production rates within the industry reveal otherwise. First and foremost, Russia’s... MORE

The Russian government has taken notice of environmental changes that have steadily opened the Arctic coastlines of countries in the northern hemisphere to increased maritime traffic, with the Kremlin recently announcing its intention to expand maritime cargo transportation along the Northern Sea Route (NSR) in... MORE

The joint military exercises involving Azerbaijani and Turkish forces just north of the Iranian border, which were announced on December 5, are clearly a warning to Tehran that any further Iranian challenges to Baku will be met by the combined forces of those two countries.... MORE

Click here to read Part One, Part Two and Part Three. Moldova is the last remaining target of Russia’s “special status” playbook, in this case in Transnistria. This is also the last conflict in which the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) barely clings... MORE

On November 3, Uzbekistani Foreign Minister Vladimir Norov and his Kyrgyzstani counterpart Jeenbek Kulubaev signed a bilateral deal in Bishkek, under which Kyrgyzstan agreed to cede to Tashkent the territory surrounding the Kempir-Abad Reservoir, covering 4,485 hectares, in exchange for over 19,000 hectares elsewhere (Radio... MORE