Georgia continues to contribute to international security, despite the threats the country is currently facing. The Georgian government will send a contingent of 100 military personnel by the end of 2009 to join the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) in Afghanistan. In the near future... MORE

Since the meeting with U.S. President Barack Obama in Moscow two weeks ago, President Dmitry Medvedev has been involved in a flurry of external activities from the G8 summit in L'Aquila, Italy to the informal gathering of several neighboring presidents at the traditional horse races... MORE

Established in the aftermath of the 1979 Islamic Revolution to defend the Islamic Republic against domestic and foreign threats, Iran’s Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) has been accused of playing a decisive role in the re-election of the incumbent President, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad (Fars News Agency, June... MORE

Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM) and Afghanistan’s Taliban strongly condemned French President Sarkozy’s declaration that the burka, a sign of “enslavement” and “debasement,” is “not welcome in the territory of the French Republic” (Aujourd'hui en france, June 19; La Croix, June 19). Both groups... MORE

The wave of escalating operations by insurgents coupled with a number of high-profile murders and assassination attempts in June has pushed Russia into launching a campaign of pressure aimed at liquidating rebel fighters.Russia's campaign is manifesting itself primarily through methods and tactics employed to put... MORE

Chechen President Ramzan Kadyrov has denied charges that he was involved in the killing of Natalya Estemirova, the Memorial activist who worked in the human rights group's office in Grozny and was kidnapped and murdered on July 15. Memorial chairman Oleg Orlov told Interfax that... MORE

Reports that the Kremlin plans to open another Russian military base in Kyrgyzstan have appeared over the past week. A delegation of Russian officials led by Deputy Prime Minister Igor Sechin and Russian Defense Minister Anatoly Serdyukov arrived in Bishkek to hold meetings behind closed... MORE

U.S. Vice-President Joseph Biden's imminent visit to Georgia will be watched for indications of an American strategic re-engagement with the Black Sea-South Caucasus region. The Obama administration has not yet defined its policy in this regard and the Vice-President cannot be expected to announce any... MORE

After visiting breakaway South Ossetia on July 13 and Russian troops based deep inside Georgia, President Dmitry Medvedev traveled to Novorossiysk to inspect Russia's main deepwater Black Sea port and nearby military facilities. Medvedev visited the Black Sea fleet flagship cruiser Moskva, attended a meeting... MORE

Following U.S. President Barack Obama's reaffirmation of political support for Georgia at the Moscow summit (EDM, July 14), and anticipating U.S. Vice-President Joseph Biden's visit to Tbilisi, Russian President Dmitry Medvedev inspected the occupied South Ossetia on July 13. Medvedev made clear that the Russian... MORE