Armed conflict between Burma’s armed forces (known as the Tatmadaw) and the Kokang militia (known as the Myanmar National Democratic Alliance Army, MNDAA), along the Sino-Burmese border in late August brought into sharp focus the complex and sometimes testy relationship between Burma (Myanmar) and the... MORE

Lieutenant General Abdul Hadi Khalid was the Afghan First Deputy Minister of the Interior for Security from May 2006 to late June 2008.  Specializing in counter-narcotics, border policing and internal security, he announced the largest drug seizure in history (The Scotsman, June 12, 2008; Daily... MORE

Abdul Aziz al-Hakim, the head of the Supreme Council of Iraq (ISCI), died on August 26 at a hospital in Tehran, where he had been receiving treatment for lung cancer since May 2007 (Fars News Agency, August 27, Kayhan, August 27; September 2). His death... MORE

As the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) government has been working on a comprehensive plan to resolve the Kurdish issue, the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) has broken its self-declared unilateral ceasefire and resumed its terrorist attacks. In two days, PKK attacks claimed ten Turkish... MORE

As Russian President Dmitry Medvedev finally had to admit, the situation in the North Caucasus is slowly changing for the worse and not for the better (Prime-Tass, August 19). Medvedev's admission stands in stark contrast to the public position of Prime Minister Vladimir Putin, who... MORE

The Arctic Sea, a Malta registered ship with a Russian crew, carrying a cargo of timber worth 2 million Euros from Finland to Algeria, was apparently hijacked on July 24 in the Baltic Sea off the coast of Sweden, and disappeared for several weeks. It... MORE

In less than one year, China and India will celebrate six decades of bilateral relations capped by festivities in their respective country. This period, however, has been marked by a border war in 1962 that precipitated a long phase of antagonism and hostility between the... MORE

The Hu Jintao administration appears to be pulling out all the stops for the October 1 celebration of the 60th anniversary of the founding of the People's Republic of China (PRC). The country’s National Day will be inaugurated by a keynote speech by Paramount Leader... MORE

Following Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin’s visit to the occupied Georgian province of Abkhazia in late August 2008, the Kremlin appears to be intensifying its military preparations in the South Caucasus.On September 4, Georgian newspapers and TV channels reported that “the Russian occupation forces have... MORE

Lengthy leaflets attacking Islamists in Dagestan and their supporters began to appear in Makhachkala during the first week of September and have alarmed human rights activists and journalists in the republic. The authors of the leaflet state that they have a list of 250 people... MORE