The diplomatic acrobatics and brinkmanship on display over Iran’s nuclear program are escalating tensions in the Persian Gulf to new heights, raising the stakes for all of the protagonists involved—including China. In this context, it is worth examining China’s position on the rapidly evolving events... MORE

The run-up to this year’s leadership succession has brought more excitement than observers could reasonably expect when the top two presumptive leaders, Xi Jinping and Li Keqiang, seemed set after the 17th Party Congress in 2007. The competition between Chongqing Party Secretary Bo Xilai and... MORE

On February 11, over 1,000 Circassian activists gathered in Maikop, Adygea, to discuss the issue of repatriating Circassians from war-torn Syria. In a special declaration passed at the conference, the participants called on the Russian government “to take the Circassians-compatriots living in Syria under its... MORE

Interfax reported today (February 17) that five policemen were killed and six wounded yesterday during two shootouts with militants in Dagestan’s Kazbekovsky district along the republic’s administrative border with Chechnya. A law-enforcement source told the news agency that the Russian special operation in the area... MORE

The First Deputy Defense Minister and Chief of the General Staff of the Armed Forces, Army-General Nikolai Makarov, during a press conference this week lambasted the Russian defense industry, which is producing expensive, but low quality armament inferior to Western products. Makarov declared the Russian... MORE

On February 8, the newspaper Kommersant shed light on the current situation of the prominent Ingush militant leader Emir Magas (aka Ali Taziev, Ahmed Yevloev) – the only high-profile militant leader captured by the Russian security services alive in the past few years. In June... MORE

Despite the scale of the challenges facing Russia’s adoption of network-centric approaches to warfare, senior officials consistently emphasize sixth-generation capabilities as the fundamental driver in defense modernization plans. On February 10, Vadim Malyukov, the Head of the Main Communications Directorate of the Armed Forces and... MORE

Aleksei Navalny, the anti-corruption blogger and rising star of the movement in opposition to Vladimir Putin, yesterday (February 9) accused the Chechen Interior Ministry of embezzling federal funds. Navalny wrote in his blog that he conducted his own investigation of purchases by the Chechen Interior... MORE

No authority in NATO has endorsed or in any way encouraged the Euro-Atlantic Security Initiative’s (EASI) proposals to introduce Russia into a redefined “Euro-Atlantic security community,” implying decision-making powers for Russia alongside the United States and European Union (see EDM, February 9). EASI is a... MORE

The popularity of Somalia’s al-Shabaab militants is slowly declining for many reasons, including a growing financial crisis and infighting in the movement’s leadership. Somalia’s Transitional Federal Government (TFG) is taking advantage of the group’s current weakness by opening different fronts against the militants. The 2012... MORE