In the latest round of high-level personnel changes in the People’s Liberation Army (PLA), more appointments of key posts appear to be going to younger and more professionally trained military officers. These changes, which involve top positions in the PLA’s four general headquarters, major regional... MORE

Two French citizens, Antoine de Léocour and Vincent Delory, were kidnapped on January 7 from a restaurant in the residential area of Plateu in Niger's capital, Niamey (L’Express, January 9). De Léocour had worked for several years in the country and was there to marry... MORE

Iraq’s director-general for anti-terrorism and organized crime operations, Major General Diya Husayn Sahi, recently told al-Arabiya TV that Iraqi citizen Taimur Abd al-Wahhab al-Abdali was given explosives training in the Iraqi city of Mosul for three months before his failed suicide bombing in Sweden last... MORE

According to independent sources, who summarized their findings based on reports that have been officially published in the media by Russian authorities, Ingushetia had the second largest number of victims of violence in the North Caucasus in 2010, an unfortunate outcome similar to what happened... MORE

The Domodedovo airport bombing on January 24, that left 35 dead, including the alleged suicide bomber and more than 100 injured – Russians and foreigners – has overshadowed other important political events: the final ratification of the START III arms control treaty by both houses... MORE

The most important development concerning the North Caucasus in 2010 did not occur there or even on the streets of Moscow. Rather, it took place in the minds of an increasing number of Russians who have concluded that the costs – economic, political and human... MORE

Seven months after the violence in Osh, much uncertainty prevails about what caused the bloodshed and who were its main perpetrators. Instead, rumors fill the gaps, with some in Kyrgyzstan fearing a renewal of violence and others quietly blaming either ethnic Uzbeks or ethnic Kyrgyz... MORE

“Paris is well-worth a [Catholic] mass” (“Paris vaut-bien une messe”), King Henri IV, a Protestant, remarked when told that his attendance at a Catholic Church service was the price for his acceptance by the Parisians. That remark is recorded as the epitome of crass political... MORE

On January 24, an explosive device detonated in the arrivals area of Moscow’s Domodedovo international airport. A suicide bomber with an explosive device equivalent to 5-7 kilograms of TNT allegedly caused the blast. At least 35 people died in the attack and over 100 persons... MORE

Predictably, the Russian top brass declared the fall 2010 draft as a “success,” despite clear signs that it failed to meet its target. On January 20, Colonel-General Vasily Smirnov, the Deputy Chief of the General Staff and Chief of the Main Organizational and Mobilization Directorate... MORE