The Northern Nigerian militant group Boko Haram is showing signs of splitting along the ideological lines that emerged at the time of the July 2009 death of the group’s founder, Mallam Ustaz Mohammed Yusuf. Whereas the divisions then were an internal matter, their differences are... MORE

In early September, Moscow persuaded Dushanbe to extend the agreement on hosting its military base by 49 years. The official agreement between Russian President Dmitry Medvedev and his Tajik counterpart Emomali Rakhmon will be signed in early 2012 (www.vesti.ru, September 2). In exchange for the... MORE

The first reports of the killing of three Chechens after Friday prayers in Istanbul on September 16, indicated the incident may have been linked to the Caucasus Emirate (www.interfax.ru, September 16, 2011). Russian media tried to present the murders as being related to fighting with... MORE

On September 16, the French state bank Caisse des Depots et Consignations and Russian state company Resorts of the North Caucasus signed an agreement on setting up a joint venture. The French bank promised to raise 10 billion Euros ($14.2 billion) within a year for... MORE

Turkey has signed a memorandum with the United States on the deployment of a US radar station in the country, which will form part of the missile defense shield project to boost the protection of NATO members against potential missile threats from the East. Earlier... MORE

Russia and Mongolia staged the Selenga 2011 antiterrorist exercise during the first week in September, which if placed in a wider context of Russian defense cooperation and shifts occurring in scenario planning for its military exercises may reveal adjustments in Moscow’s security thinking. Selenga 2011... MORE

In Dagestan, the imam of the village of Kadar in the republic’s Buinaksk district was shot to death yesterday (September 15). The attack on Zainudin Daiziev took place around 10:20 p.m., local time, when two unidentified attackers shot him in his home of in the... MORE

Emboldened by international tolerance of its seizure of Moldovan territory in 1992 (see Part One in  EDM, September 15), but still unable to muster support on the state level within the CIS, Russia experimented with “collective” peacekeeping at the sub-state level against Georgia in South... MORE

Numerous official websites from the past six months—in Beijing, Qingdao, Shandong, and Jiangsu among others—mention the 610 Office, an entity engaged in efforts to “carry out comprehensive investigations,” strengthen “transformation,” and prevent unwanted incidents (Pingyin.gov.cn, September 5; Jsrm.gov.cn, August 15; Laoshan.gov.cn, April 2011). A June... MORE

With the summer winding down along with the tensions in the South China Sea, China engaged the principle disputants of this round of regional tensions. China hosted Philippine President Benigno Aquino III for a five-day state visit beginning August 30. In Beijing, Chinese and Vietnamese... MORE