Though the concept of Afghan and Western reconciliation with the Mullah Mohammad Omar-led Taliban has gained much momentum, the consequences of some kind of ad hoc settlement between the Islamists and the government of President Hamid Karzai have not been clearly defined. Opposition is growing... MORE

The Russian government is still looking for the ways to solve the armed resistance problem in the North Caucasus. The government, however, makes no attempt to understand the core issues of the region, seeking instead a quick fix using administrative methods and force. This time,... MORE

In 1850, Ivan Turgenev popularized the literary concept of the “superfluous man” in his Dnevnik Lishnego Cheloveka (The Diary of a Superfluous Man). The character is unable to reconcile his own talents and abilities to the state-centric approach demanded by his employment. During the reorganization... MORE

On July 6, a massive anti-government protest took place in the town of Baksan, Kabardino-Balkaria. An estimated 600 unarmed young men blocked a vital highway connecting the capital of the republic, Nalchik, with the neighboring Stavropol region. The protesters demanded that the authorities “put an... MORE

The failure of the tripartite Kazan summit on June 24 to resolve the standoff in Karabakh will undoubtedly have serious regional repercussions. Certainly they cast the insight and capability of Russian diplomacy and President Dmitry Medvedev’s leadership into question. Moscow clearly anticipated and even publicly... MORE

New Delhi’s presence has suddenly expanded in Kyrgyzstan following Indian Defense Minister A.K. Antony visit to Bishkek on July 4-5 to meet with his Kyrgyz counterpart, Abibilla Kudayberdiyev, to discuss bilateral cooperation on security issues. It was agreed that by the end of July, Indian... MORE

A number of incidents of insurgency-related violence were reported across the North Caucasus this past week.An improvised explosive device (IED) was discovered and defused by Federal Security Service (FSB) bomb disposal experts today (July 8) in Dagestan’s Kizilyurt district. The Kavkazsky Uzel website reported that... MORE

Follow-up reports in Moscow in the aftermath of the failed NATO-Russia Council discussions on European missile defense underscored the fact that any idea of a joint system, as opposed to a joint concept, was dead. Aleksei Arbatov, a leading Russian expert on strategic issues and... MORE

After months of bombardment by NATO warplanes, Qaddafi’s military is no longer the force it was when it was on the verge of defeating the rebels by taking their “capital” of Benghazi prior to the March 27 commencement of the NATO intervention. Since then, NATO... MORE

Events in the North Caucasus today increasingly are forcing more experts to review their forecasts for this region as militant activities intensify and the mood in Russian society shifts. Today, the question of splitting the North Caucasus off from Russia is discussed in wide circles... MORE