Evidence has emerged in Russia’s Southern Military District (MD) that the conflict in Ukraine is not popular among Russian contract personnel (kontraktniki). Reportedly “dozens” of kontraktniki have absconded from or deserted their units on grounds of their opposition to being sent to fight in Donbas.... MORE

On July 10, the Russian occupation forces in the separatist territory of South Ossetia (Tskhinvali region) moved the occupation line deeper into Georgia, thus effectively slicing off additional lands in the Georgian villages of Tsitelubani and Orchosani. Russian troops erected new signs, marking what they... MORE

In Kyiv, on July 15–16, US Assistant Secretary of State Victoria Nuland prevailed on President Petro Poroshenko and parliamentary leaders to accept constitutional liabilities toward the Russian-controlled Donetsk and Luhansk territories. Nuland’s intervention achieved its goal, but not without a severe political commotion in Kyiv.... MORE

It was a year ago last Friday (July 17) that the Boeing 777 Malaysian Airlines Flight 17, flying from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur, was shot down by a missile over eastern Ukraine, resulting in a loss of 298 lives. The shock of that tragedy awakened... MORE

Twice in recent days (July 10 and 14), German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President François Hollande have jointly demarched Kyiv to, first, legalize the Donetsk-Luhansk authorities in Ukraine’s constitution, and next, to legitimize those authorities through local elections in those territories. Moscow has been... MORE

On July 14, Russian government forces in Kabardino-Balkaria managed to kill three members of the Islamic underground during a special operation in the republic’s Baksan district. During a counterterrorist operation two weeks earlier, government forces neutralized two insurgents in Nalchik, the republic’s capital. The Russian... MORE

As global attention focuses on China’s rising tensions with neighboring states in the South China Sea, violence has erupted elsewhere in the region, this time along China's border with Myanmar. Widely ignored in the western media, the cross-border tension is part of a long-smoldering Burmese... MORE

On November 3, 2014, the Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress (NPCSC) published the much-anticipated draft “Counter-Terrorism Law”–consisting of 106 articles in 10 chapters–for public review, drawing sharp international criticism (NPC website). In February, presumably in response to international criticism as well as domestic... MORE

The Mongolian Armed Forces (MAF), working with the United States Pacific Command (USPACOM) and the US government’s Global Peace Operations Initiative (GPOI) program, hosted their annual multinational exercise known as Khaan Quest 2015, on June 20–July 1. The exercise was held at the 311th Army... MORE

In April, a sharia court decreed that a range of orders issued by Amir Salakhuddin Shishani (Feyzulla Margoshvili), the long-time leader of the Jaish al-Muhadjireen wal-Ansar (JMA), were in breach of sharia norms. JMA is an insurgent group fighting the Syrian regime made up mainly... MORE