John C. K. Daly
Dr. John C. K. Daly is a Eurasian foreign affairs and defense policy expert for The Jamestown Foundation and a non-resident fellow at the Central Asia-Caucasus Institute in Washington DC.
Contact John C. K. Daly
Articles by John C. K. Daly
Kazakhstan Plans to Host Military Drills With Members of Russian-Led CSTO
Executive Summary: Astana plans to pursue a “multi-vector” diplomatic strategy for 2024, engaging more with the CSTO, NATO, and other international organizations and conducting joint military exercises with diverse partners....
Ukrainian Railway Sabotage Increasingly Unsettles Kremlin
Executive Summary: Ukrainian sabotage of Russian railways has severely disrupted Moscow’s military logistics in supplying the frontlines. Russian authorities arrested 137 individuals suspected of railway sabotage between February 2022 and...
Armenia Plans to Use Iranian Ports to Reach India
Executive Summary: Iran has granted Armenia access to its Chabahar and Bandar Abbas ports to facilitate Yerevan’s trade access to India. The proposed east-west transit route will serve as a...
NATO and EU Seek to Ease Rising Tensions in Western Balkans
On November 20, the secretary-general of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), Jens Stoltenberg, declared that the alliance wholly supports Bosnia-Herzegovina’s territorial integrity. Stoltenberg was speaking in Sarajevo, his first...
India to Build 24 Cargo Vessels for Russian Use in Caspian Trade
On October 26, Indian government-owned Goa Shipyard signed a substantial shipbuilding contract with Russia. The agreement calls for Goa to construct 24 river-sea class cargo ships for Russian clients in...
France Agrees to Send Arms to Armenia in Another Blow to Russia’s Regional Influence
In September, Azerbaijan carried out a swift military operation to reclaim full control over the Karabakh region (see EDM, September 20). Since then, Armenia has begun searching for new partners,...
Finland Establishes Itself Within NATO to Moscow’s Dismay
When Russian President Vladimir Putin began his ill-advised “special military operation” (SVO) against Ukraine in February 2022, one of his prime motivations was to prevent the former Soviet state from...
India Expands Maritime Trade Corridors With Russia
Since Russia began its “special military operation” (SVO) against Ukraine in February 2022, its stalled offensive has been accompanied by increasingly punitive Western sanctions. This trend has increased the value...
Ukraine’s Innovative Black Sea Tactics Threaten Kazakhstan’s Oil Exports
At the end of August 2023, the Security Service of Ukraine launched a drone strike against the 126th Brigade of the Russian Black Sea Fleet stationed at the Sevastopol base...
Azerbaijan Concerned by India’s Weapons Sales to Armenia
Recent events in the South Caucasus have highlighted an overlooked development in the global weapons market: the rise of India as an arms exporter. Armenia has purchased Indian armaments amid...
Russia Cancels Stealth Corvette Project After Prototype Launched
Soaring costs and unexpected technological difficulties have led the Russian Navy to cancel serial production of its Project 20386 class of new “stealth” corvettes after completion of the series prototype, the Derzkii...
Russia Planning Year-Round Navigation of Northern Sea Route in Early 2024
Western sanctions and changes in climate are impelling Moscow to realize a dream dating back three centuries to the time of Tsar Peter the Great—an all-water route from the Barents...
Uzbekistan to Receive Russian Gas via Renovated Soviet-Era Pipeline
On April 27, at the Tashkent Investment Forum, Uzbekistani Energy Minister Jurabek Mirzamakhmudov announced that Russia would begin supplying his country with natural gas via its Soviet-era pipelines (TASS, April...
Russian Restrictions Foster FDI Boom in Kazakhstan
Since Russian President Vladimir Putin began his ill-fated “special military operation” (SVO) against Ukraine, subsequent international sanctions imposed in response produced the slowly mounting hemorrhaging of foreign firms based in...
ICC’s Arrest Warrant for Putin Divides Post-Soviet Space
In the three decades since the collapse of the Soviet Union, the 14 independent states of the post-Soviet era have been forced to improvise their policies vis-à-vis the Russian Federation....
China Unveils ‘Grandiose Plan’ for Central Asia
In the three decades since the collapse of the Soviet Union, the Russian Federation and China have pursued divergent interests in post-Soviet Central Asia, as Moscow seeks to retain its...
The West’s Arctic Forge 23 Drills Unsettle Russian Military
As Russia’s assault on Ukraine gradually descends into a stalemate, the Russian government is increasingly concerned about Western responses to its aggression, particularly military exercises in formerly quiet and largely...
What Is Behind Former Turkmenistani President Gurbanguly Berdymukhamedov’s New Title?
On January 21, Turkmenistani President Serdar Berdymukhamedov issued decrees giving his predecessor and father Gurbanguly Berdymukhamedov the title of “National Leader” (Милли лидер) and appointing him chairman of the reformed...
What Does 2023 Portend for the Russian Navy?
On February 24, 2022, Russian President Vladimir Putin launched his “special military operation” against Ukraine, a brutal conflict that has highlighted the Russian military’s shortcomings in excruciating detail. The Russian...
NATO’s Concerns Mount as Russia Increases Commercial and Military Activity in Arctic
The Russian government has taken notice of environmental changes that have steadily opened the Arctic coastlines of countries in the northern hemisphere to increased maritime traffic, with the Kremlin recently...
Ukraine Launches Unprecedented Drone Attack on Russian Black Sea Fleet’s Sevastopol Headquarters
Eight months after Russian President Vladimir Putin began his unprovoked “special military operation” against Ukraine, one of the most striking emerging aspects of the conflict has been the Ukrainian Armed...
As Putin’s War Disrupts Eurasian Railways, China Investigates Alternatives
Russian President Vladimir Putin’s “special military operation” against Ukraine has severely impacted Eurasian transport logistics, particularly cargo traveling along the People’s Republic of China’s (PRC) Belt and Road Initiative (BRI)...
Russia’s New Maritime Doctrine: Desperately Needed and Long Overdue
On July 31, Russian President Vladimir Putin approved a new maritime doctrine, replacing the country’s previous Maritime Doctrine of the Russian Federation, instituted in June 2015 (Kremlin.ru, July 31). The...
Rocket Attacks on Tajikistan and Uzbekistan Undermine Taliban Security Claims
Since its seizure of power in August 2021, the Taliban has repeatedly asserted that it accomplished something the Ashraf Ghani administration could never do: provide nationwide security and eliminate regional...
Iran to Clear $1.8 Billion Gas Debt to Turkmenistan, Reopen Korpeje–Kurtkui Pipeline
Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi met with the new leader of neighboring Turkmenistan, President Serdar Berdymukhammedov, for the first time on June 15, at the 6th summit of the Caspian Sea...
Russia, China and the US Assist Tajikistan in Strengthening Its Troubled Border With Afghanistan
In the ten months since seizing power in Afghanistan, the Taliban has consistently stressed that its political control has eliminated armed unrest in the country. But undercutting the mullahcracy’s confident...
Russia Denies Recruiting Ethiopian Volunteers for Its ‘Special Military Operation’ in Ukraine
Ten weeks after Russian President Vladimir Putin began his unprovoked full-scale assault on Ukraine (launched on February 24), both combatants are beginning to experience logistical shortages, from personnel to military...
Referee and Goalkeeper of the Turkish Straits: The Relevance and Strategic Implications of the Montreux Convention for Conflict in the Black Sea
Executive Summary Since Classical times up through the violence of World War I, the issue of control of the Bosporus, Sea of Marmara and Dardanelles—the Turkish Straits, which connect the...
Putin’s War on Ukraine Throws Black Sea Commercial Shipping Into Turmoil
Russian President Vladimir Putin launched his “special military operation” against Ukraine in an early-morning TV address on February 24. Over a month later, beyond inflicting massive suffering and damage, few...
Russia Considers Developing a New Fleet in the Arctic
The Russian Ministry of Defense reportedly plans to create a new naval formation, an Arctic Fleet, to ensure the safety of Russia’s Northern Sea Route (NSR) and the Arctic littoral...
Russia’s Pacific Fleet Upgrades Kamchatka Submarine Base
Amidst growing tensions in the Western Pacific over rival Chinese and United States efforts to bolster their presence there, Russia’s military is pursuing a major upgrade of the Viliuchinsk naval...
Russia Considers Exporting S-500 Air-Defense Systems to China and India
According to Dmitry Shugaev, the head of Russia’s Federal Service for Military-Technical Cooperation (FSMTC), Russia may export its most advanced S-500 Prometheus air-defense weaponry to China and India after its...
CSTO ‘Combat Brotherhood 2021’ Exercises Send Strong Message to Afghanistan
On October 18–23, the Moscow-led Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO), which includes Afghanistan as an observer, held its Combat Brotherhood 2021 strategic military exercises, with three drills codenamed Echelon-2021, Search-2021...
Ukraine Expanding Space Program, Plans 2022 Moon Launch
Interest in privatizing space operations by Western companies such as SpaceX and Virgin Galactic has now reached the former Soviet republic of Ukraine, which, for the moment, is focused on...
Kazakhstan Surges to Third Place in Global Crypto-Currency Production, Behind China and US
While many crypto-currency advocates worldwide promote this sector as the next step in international finance, multiple governments are becoming increasingly leery because of digital currencies’ energy-intensive mining requirements, volatile price...
Kharkiv State Aviation Production Enterprise Enters Freefall
The sudden collapse of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR), in December 1991, and fracturing into 15 independent states effectively destroyed its unified, centrally planned, autarkic economy. The massive...
Sale of German Aluminum Company to Russia Raises Security Concerns
United States President Joseph Biden’s European meetings with the G7 and the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) earlier this month highlighted some of the extant policy differences between the US...
Suez Closure Brightens the Future of China’s New Silk Road
Introduction On March 23, the 240,000-ton, 1,312 feet long (399 meters) Panama-flagged MV container ship Ever Given, drawing 47 ft 7 in (14.5 meters) and carrying 20,000 containers from China’s...
Is Turkmenistan’s President Berdimuhamedov Grooming His Son to Succeed Him?
Three decades after the implosion of the Soviet Union, Kremlinology remains a useful tool for evaluating political developments in many former Soviet republics—perhaps nowhere more so than Turkmenistan, where opacity...
Ukraine to License-Build US Helicopters for Its Armed Forces
Ukraine’s efforts to politically and military integrate with the West greatly intensified after Russia’s 2014 absorption of Crimea, while the subsequent and ongoing war in Donbas against combined Russian-proxy army...
Lithuanian-Russian Radio Frequency Dispute Highlights Problems of Civilian Versus Military Applications
The ongoing expansion of wireless internet connectivity around the world has concurrently raised a host of unresolved issues about cyberspace, including access, conductivity, taxation and cyberwar, as states attempt to...
Russian Government Moves to Assert Increasing Control Over Internet
Amidst growing political dissatisfaction, the Russian government is grappling with the apparent vulnerabilities of the country’s internet. On February 1, Dmitry Medvedev, the deputy chairperson of the Security Council of...
Baku and Ankara Deny Turkish Military Bases Being Established in Azerbaijan
The Azerbaijani government has denied accounts, first published on January 8 in Haqqin.az but subsequently deleted, of three Turkish military bases allegedly being established in Azerbaijan as a consequence of...
Russia and Iraq Deepen Energy, Military Ties
As the United States hastens its drawdown of troops in Iraq before the January 20 inauguration of President-elect Joseph Biden, Russia is seeking to fill the developing geopolitical vacuum there....
Russian Naval Base in Sudan: Extending Moscow’s Influence in Middle East and North Africa
Russia is determinedly expanding its influence in Africa. On November 16, Russian President Vladimir Putin signed an order for the country to build a naval base on Sudan’s Red Sea...
Georgia Buys Israeli-Made Air-Defense System, Unsettling Moscow
Since its August 2008 war with Russia, Georgia has sought to restore and improve its air-defense capabilities. The South Caucasus republic is consequently purchasing an advanced Israeli anti-aircraft system from...
Russia’s Kavkaz 2020: International Participation and Regional Security Implications
Despite some disruptions to this year’s military training schedule caused by the COVID-19 pandemic (see EDM, April 21, 22), the Russian Armed Forces are preparing to hold their annual capstone...
Despite Illegality, Crypto-Currency Mining Flourishes in Abkhazia
The separatist Georgian region of Abkhazia is undergoing a surge in crypto-mining despite crypto-related activities being illegal there since December 2018. But in one of those apparent legalistic gray areas...
Is Turkmenistan Infected With COVID-19?
Despite its relative isolation, post-Soviet Central Asia has not been immune from the COVID-19 coronavirus. In mid-March, after the World Health Organization (WHO) recognized the illness as a global pandemic,...
Food Shortages in Turkmenistan Lead to Rationing in State Stores
Isolationist Turkmenistan, which proudly claims to be COVID-19-free, has nonetheless been affected by the pandemic (Izvestia, May 10). A recent closure of its borders due to pandemic concerns has halted...
Competition and Coronavirus Batter Russia’s Space Program
Among the Russian Federation’s most important industrial enterprises with Soviet antecedents, its space program evokes both national pride and the aura of profitability. A series of recent setbacks however, among...
Ukrainian Espionage Incident Highlights Ongoing Russian Naval Shortcomings
Russian-Ukrainian relations, increasingly tense since the 1991 collapse of the Soviet Union, plummeted to a new low after Russia’s forcible absorption of the Crimean Peninsula in March 2014 and subsequent...
Russia’s Discreet Satisfaction Over Georgia’s Anaklia Port Debacle
Since the collapse of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR) in 1991, a perpetual high priority for the Russian Federation has been to maintain or extend Moscow’s influence over...
Russia’s Unilateral Black Sea Aggression Elicits Protests From Ukraine, Georgia
Since the 1991 implosion of the Soviet Union, the Russian Federation’s relations with its immediate Black Sea neighbors—the former Soviet republics of Georgia and Ukraine—have veered from frigid to open...
Chinese Use of Marmaray Subsea Tunnel Another First for Belt and Road Initiative
On November 7, at 3:30 A.M., a westbound train from Xi’an, China, for the first time ever used Istanbul’s $4 billion Marmaray sub-Bosporus railway tunnel to dispatch goods to central...
Crimea Offers Iran Use of Its Ports for Oil Transport
Both Iran and Russia suffer from the United States’ sanctions: the former since the 1979 Islamic revolution, the latter since its 2014 illegal annexation of Crimea. But in a recent...
Russia Upgrades GLONASS Satellite Navigation System as Concerns Rise About Its Use in ‘Spoofing’ Incidents
Russia launched a GLONASS-M 758 navigation satellite into orbit on May 27. The satellite became fully operational a month later, on June 22, replacing GLONASS-M 723, “which had exceeded its...
Turkey Fumes as Greece Offers Use of Eastern Aegean Islands to NATO, US
Relations between Turkey and Greece are the most fractious of any pair of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization’s (NATO) 29 member countries. Disputes range from contested offshore hydrocarbon exploration to...
In ‘Great Game Lite,’ Russia and China Compete for Influence in Kyrgyzstan
The political vacuum that emerged across Eurasia after the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991 saw Russia’s former suzerainty over the former Soviet space contested by both the United...
After Three-Year Hiatus, Gazprom to Renew Purchases of Turkmen Gas
Under Communism, Turkmenistan’s greatest contribution to the economy of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR) was its natural gas. And following the 1991 collapse of the Soviet Union, gas...
Uzbekistan and Tajikistan Conduct First Joint Military Exercises
A notable aspect of the foreign policy of Uzbekistan’s first president, Islam Karimov, was its increasing aloofness from engaging in joint military maneuvers with post-Soviet neighbors. Notably, Karimov’s Uzbekistan twice...
Russia, Tajikistan Conduct Joint Exercise in Badakhshan, Near Border With Afghanistan
Tajikistan’s Armed Forces began a four-day joint training exercise, on July 17, with forces from Russia’s 201st military base, located on the territory of this Central Asian republic. Notably, the...
New Georgian Government Attempts Reset With Russia While Balancing Euro-Atlantic Aspirations
Georgia’s new government, led by 36-year-old Prime Minister Mamuka Bakhtadze, apparently intends to focus on improving trade and cultural contacts with Russia under its “Freedom, Rapid Development and Prosperity” program....
Turkmenistan’s Economy—Half Empty or Half Full?
It is notoriously challenging to acquire accurate socio-economic data on a country as insulated as Turkmenistan. And the difficulty is further heightened by the fact that the autocratic government in...
India and Kyrgyzstan Deepen Their Military Cooperation
On May 14, Indian and Kyrgyzstani alpine special forces troops began a two-week joint training exercise at Kyrgyzstan’s Military Base 20636. The exercise included both lectures and practical classes on...
Turkmenistan’s New Turkmenbashi International Seaport-Another Link in Expanding Eurasian Trade
Turkmenistan’s President Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedow visited the Caspian shore, on May 2, to inaugurate the Turkmenbashi International Seaport. The new $1.5 billion facility, Berdimuhamedow told attendees, is important not only for...
China and Georgia Deepen Transit Cooperation
On April 12, Georgia’s Economy Minister Dimitry Kumsishvili, along with three other high-level Georgian officials, participated in a joint People’s Bank of China–International Monetary Fund conference on China’s Belt and...
Russia’s Discounted Mi-35 Sales to Uzbekistan: A Sign of Closer Russian-Uzbek Military Ties?
On March 29, during the ArmHiTec-2018 international exhibition of arms and defense technologies in Yerevan, Armenia, the government of Uzbekistan signed an agreement with Russia to purchase more than ten...
Russia Reemerging as Weapons Supplier to Iraq
One of the most notable political developments of the past several years has been the gradual reemergence of Russia as a rising regional military and diplomatic power in the Middle...
Russia and Lebanon Drafting Agreement for Increased Military Cooperation
Since the Syrian civil war erupted nearly seven years ago, perhaps the most dramatic regional diplomatic development has been the steady reemergence of Russia as a major player in the...
Kazakhstan’s Navy to Develop Anti-Terrorism Capacities
Since the collapse of the Soviet Union, in 1991, the four new countries that emerged around the northern Caspian shore—Russia, Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan and Turkmenistan—along with their southern neighbor Iran have...
Russia and Uzbekistan Hold First Joint Military Exercise in 12 Years, Plan Further Cooperation
Following the death of Uzbekistan’s President Islam Karimov, in September 2016, his successor, Shavkat Mirziyaev, has begun cautiously reversing many of his predecessor’s nationalist policies. Among the most striking turnarounds...
Crisis Impels South Korea to Seek Russian Diplomatic Assistance
As North Korea’s accelerating missile and nuclear tests continue to intensify tensions on the Korean Peninsula, South Korea is seeking to broaden the country’s diplomatic and defense contacts beyond its...
Opposition Party’s Report on Russia’s Syria Campaign Costs Dismissed by Government
In September 2015, embattled Syrian President Bashar al-Assad officially requested Russian assistance, citing the Treaty of Friendship and Cooperation signed by Syria and the USSR in 1980, with Russian President...
Russia’s Syria Resupply Route Through the Turkish Straits: Vulnerable to Terrorist Attack?
Since Moscow’s military intervention in the Syrian civil war began in September 2015, a key element of Russian logistical support for its forces has been a maritime supply route deployed...
Russian-Chinese Joint Ventures in Russia’s Far East, Arctic
Since 2001, Russian-Chinese relations have been largely grounded in security issues, both military and economic. The former is a shared perception of an increasingly aggressive United States and, in the...
Despite Sanctions, Russia Presses Development of Arctic Energy Reserves
The director of the Russian transport ministry’s Department of Maritime and River Transportation, Vitalii Klyuyev, spoke, on March 24, at the “LNG [liquefied natural gas] Bunkering Market as an Alternative”...
Ukraine to Begin Producing M16 Assault Rifle in Joint Venture With US Firm
Ukroboronprom, the state entity responsible for Ukraine’s military-industrial complex, announced that it would begin joint production with the United States company Aeroscraft of a Ukrainian variant of the M16 assault...
Finland’s Rising Arms Exports Raise Controversy in Parliament
As the global economy continues its slow recovery from the 2008–2009 worldwide recession, armament sales appear to have been one of the few recession-proof export sectors. The greater Middle East...
Russia Deepens Middle East Military Footprint With Joint Exercises in Egypt
Over the past two years, the most significant political development in the Middle East has been Russia’s increasing political and military presence. Aside from its deepening military and political footprint...
India Alarmed by Implications of First Pakistani-Russian Joint Military Exercise
On September 24, Russia and Pakistan began their first-ever joint military exercises, “Friendship 2016.” Roughly 70 personnel from a mechanized infantry brigade based in Russia’s Southern Military District are participating...
Beset by Cash Flow Problems, Russia and Kazakhstan Consider Leasing Baikonur Cosmodrome to Other Countries
Kazakhstan’s Baikonur Cosmodrome is the oldest and largest space launch facility in the world, built in 1955 as a test range for the Soviet Union’s first intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM),...
Russia Proclaims ‘Parity’ in Arms Sales to Armenia and Azerbaijan
On the night of April 2, the Armenian-Azerbaijani line of contact around the separatist region of Karabakh erupted in the worst violence for two decades until a tenuous ceasefire ended...
Implications of Azerbaijan Moving Closer to the Shanghai Cooperation Organization
On March 14, Azerbaijan’s Foreign Minister Elmar Mammadiarov signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) granting it the status of a dialogue partner in the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO). The SCO’s...
Kazakhstan to Host Offshore Yuan Center
Many observers both inside and outside Central Asia have noticed China’s rising economic influence there, supplanting the region’s traditional hegemon, Russia. In yet another sign of China’s growing economic clout...
Kazakhstan’s Delicate Balancing Act Between Turkey and Russia
Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu visited Kazakhstan, on February 6, where he and his host government discussed bilateral cooperation on large-scale transit corridor projects (Akorda, February 6). As a “new...
Bypassing Russia, Ukraine Becomes Another “Silk Road” Terminus
Since an uprising unseated the pro-Russian regime of Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych in February 2014, relations between Kyiv and Moscow have gone from bad to worse. Responding to a recent...
Belarusian Foreign, Economic Policies Increasingly Diverge From Russia’s
Russia and Belarus have some of the closest relations in the post-Soviet space. Both are members of the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS), the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO), and...
China to Build Hongdu Light Attack Aircraft in Ukraine Next Year
When the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR) collapsed in December 1991, its integrated military-industrial complex was shattered and split up among 15 newly independent countries. Ukraine received many significant...
Russian, NATO Maritime Deployments Intensify off Syria
Despite differing political agendas in Syria’s ongoing civil war, Russia and the members of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) are now sending significant naval forces to Syria’s Mediterranean coastline....
Kazakhstan Looks to India, Iran for Access to the World’s Oceans
Since achieving independence in 1991, following the collapse of the Soviet Union, landlocked Kazakhstan has sought to end its geographical isolation by fostering relations with neighboring countries. In recent weeks,...
Belgrade, Moscow Deepen Relations as EU Offers Serbia Further European Integration
Historic ties between Russia and Serbia are deepening even as the European Union attempts to improve its own relationship with Belgrade. Since the beginning of the year, Russia has sought...
Seventy Years After the End of WWII, the Kuriles Still Roil Russian-Japanese Relations
On October 22, Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu announced that Russia plans to build a military base in the Kurile Islands, annexed by the Soviet Union from Japan at the...
Russia Forges Ahead With New Southern Rail Bypass of Ukraine
On September 21, Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev signed a decree to construct a railway line allowing trains in southern Russian to bypass Ukrainian territory. The new 75-mile double-track electrified...
China, Belarus Deepen Ties
Two countries on opposite ends of Eurasia are drawing closer, courtesy of the skein of railways slowly snaking across this massive region in the form of an evolving “Iron Silk...
Possible Introduction of Russian Peacekeeping Forces Into Karabakh Opposed by Armenia
A resolution of the “frozen conflict” between Armenia and Azerbaijan over the disputed Karabakh region—though internationally recognized as legally part of Azerbaijan—continues to slowly move forward. The question is what...
Turkmenistan Complains Gazprom Is Not Paying Its Bills
On July 8, Turkmenistan’s Ministry of Oil and Gas noted that Russian state natural gas company Gazprom had failed to pay for imports since the beginning of the year, stating,...
Russia Shutters Northern Distribution Network
On May 15, Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev issued a resolution closing the Northern Distribution Network (NDN), a network of rail and road links across Russia and the post-Soviet space...
China and Kazakhstan to Construct a Trans-Kazakhstan Railway Line From Khorgos to Aktau
Kazakhstan is onboard to help make China’s Silk Road vision a reality. Speaking in Astana on May 5, Kazakhstani President Nursultan Nazarbayev said at a plenary government meeting, “We need...
France to Refund Russia $1.2 billion for Non-Delivery of Mistral Helicopter Carriers
Russia’s March 17, 2014, annexation of Crimea plunged Russian-Western relations to their lowest level since the Cold War. Members of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) subsequently imposed sanctions on...
Uzbekistan Could Seek Foreign Assistance Against Islamic State
The increasing presence of Islamic State (IS) militants in Afghanistan has raised fears in neighboring Uzbekistan. It is no longer a question of whether IS has a presence in Afghanistan,...
Steppe Eagle- 2015 Exercise Unites CSTO and NATO forces in Kazakhstan
On April 6, the military exercise Steppe Eagle–2015 officially began with an opening ceremony at Kazakhstan’s Ilisky Training Area. Kazakhstan’s Airmobile Forces commander General-Major Daulet Ospanov remarked, “The experience gained...
Ukraine Conflict Benefits China
While Beijing officially supports Russia’s position on its annexation of Crimea, behind the scenes China is helping keep the battered Ukrainian economy afloat. On March 26, the Ukrainian government and...
Amid Rising Regional Tensions, Turkmenistan Reevaluates Neutrality Policy
For the last two decades, Turkmenistan has adhered to a foreign policy of strict neutrality. But the drawdown, in neighboring Afghanistan, of the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) mission has...
Islamic State Loots Archaeological Sites for Cash
By late 2013, more than 90 percent of Syria’s cultural sites lay in regions affected by fighting and civil unrest, leaving them open to plunder. In addition, regions of Iraq...
Russia Seeks to Boost Arms Exports in 2015, Despite Western Sanctions
On January 27, Russian President Vladimir Putin held a meeting of the Commission for Military Technology Cooperation with Foreign States. Putin opened his remarks by stating that he wanted “to...
Sweden Grapples with Rising Extremism
Placid constitutional monarchy Sweden used to be perceived as largely immune from Islamist terrorism; even Osama bin Laden, in a videotaped speech in November 2004, said: “Before I begin, I...
War in Eastern Ukraine Causing Coal Shortages, Electrical Blackouts
The unrest and ongoing fighting in eastern Ukraine seriously impacts coal supplies and thermal power electricity generation in the rest of the country. On December 28, Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko...
Operation Inherent Resolve: The War against Islamic State’s Oil Network
U.S. airstrikes launched on August 23 signaled the start of Operation Inherent Resolve. This is intended to eliminate the Islamic State terrorist group and the threat it poses to Iraq,...
Austria’s Rising Star in Islamic State: A Portrait of Viennese Muhammad Mahmoud
Europe is belatedly waking up to the fact that its immigrant community is producing Islamic militants. While the popular image is one of covert, stealthy activity, nine years ago Austrian...
Russia’s New Passport Regulations Impose Additional Hardships on Tajik Migrant Workers
According to a new Russian law, beginning on January 1, 2015, citizens of Tajikistan wishing to enter Russia will no longer be able to use their domestic passports, but will...
Spain Grapples with Growing Islamic State Threat
A recent report by the UN Security Council estimated that 15,000 people from over 80 countries have so far travelled to Syria and Iraq to fight alongside the Islamic State...
Conflict Forces Coal-Rich Ukraine to Import More Coal to Ease Shortfalls
On October 22, Ukrainian Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk delivered the grim news to his constituents that, by the end of the year, Ukraine will be short four million tons of...
Caspian Summit Increases Russia’s Regional Power
On September 29, the presidents of the Caspian littoral states—Russia, Kazakhstan, Iran, Azerbaijan and Turkmenistan—attended the fourth Caspian Summit, held in Astrakhan (TASS, kremlin.ru, September 29). This year’s meeting of...
The Islamic State’s Oil Network
The Islamic State, previously the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS), has been a key focus of global attention for the past several months, becoming the number one terrorist...
Turkmenistan Becoming Regional Railway Hub
Buoyed by its rising hydrocarbon revenues, Turkmenistan is using some of that income to reduce its geographical isolation by upgrading and expanding its railway network while linking it to those...
Russia, NATO Continue to Hold Countervailing Military Exercises in and Around Ukraine
In the wake of worsening Russian-Western relations over Ukraine, the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) is holding Rapid Trident military exercises, on September 16–26, in Ukraine near Lviv. According to...
Ginbot 7 and Andergachew Tsege: Ethiopian Opposition Leader and Quasi-Terrorist
On July 8, the Ethiopian National Intelligence and Security Service (NISS) and Federal Police Joint Anti-Terrorism Taskforce announced the arrest of Andergachew Tsege, the secretary-general of terrorist group Ginbot 7...
Ukraine Claims Energy Losses for Crimean Annexation Reach $300 Billion
On July 28, Ukraine’s Energy and Coal Industry Minister Yuriy Prodan remarked that Russia’s March 18 unilateral annexation of Crimea has caused massive energy asset losses to Ukraine (uapress.info, July...
A Brief Sketch of Khalid Mahsud: Mastermind Behind the Attack on Pakistan’s Mehran Airbase
Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif told a session of the National Assembly on January 29 that his government would pursue peace negotiations with Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) militants in spite of...
Mozambique’s RENAMO Conducts Low-Level Insurgency While Running for Election
Mozambique has been slowly descending into a political-military crisis since April 2013, as the ruling Frente de Libertação de Moçambique (FRELIMO – Mozambique Liberation Front) party has unsuccessfully attempted to...
Russia Lifts Arms Embargo to Sell Helicopters to Pakistan
On June 2, the head of the Russian state technology corporation Rostec, Sergei Chemezov, commented that Russia has lifted its embargo on supplies of weapons and military hardware to Pakistan,...
Russian Oil to Feature in Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan Pipeline—Circumventing Possible Sanctions?
In a surprising turnaround of previous policy, Russia’s Lukoil announced on May 16 that its oil will soon be delivered to Europe via the 1,093-mile-long, 1.2 million-barrel-per-day Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan (BTC) oil...
Hot Issue: After Crimea: The Future of the Black Sea Fleet
Executive Summary Russia’s March 17 annexation of Crimea capped nearly two decades of increasingly fractious Russian-Ukrainian relations, punctuated by rising tensions over Russia’s lease of Sevastopol and natural gas transit...
Kazakhstan Nervously Contemplates Possible Impact of Sanctions Against Russia
As the United States and the European Union continue to further step up sanctions against Russia for its annexation of Crimea and its subsequent fractious relations with Ukraine (ITAR-TASS, May...
Peru’s Shining Path in Decline as Its MOVADEF Political Arm Broadens Appeal
During Operativo Perseo 2014, a joint effort of the National Police of Peru and the Peruvian Armed Forces, 28 members of Shining Path’s political wing, the Movimiento por Amnistía y...
Russia Convinces ‘Caspian Five’ to Bar Foreign Militaries From the Caspian
Russia’s March 17 annexation of Crimea dramatically shifted the Black Sea’s naval balance of power, as Russia appropriated most of the Ukrainian navy’s vessels and equipment, and absorbed Sevastopol. The...
The New People’s Army of the Philippines’ Husband and Wife Duo: A Profile of Wilma and Benito Tiamzon
On March 22 a joint operation between the Philippine military, federal and local police in Barangay Aloguinsan, Carcar City, resulted in the arrest of seven members of the Communist Party...
China’s Penetration of the Canadian Energy Market
China’s relentless global search for energy supplies has taken it from Central Asia to Sudan. But China imports oil from politically unstable nations such as inflation-ravaged Venezuela; Iran, constricted by...
Is the End in Sight for Colombia’s FARC Insurgency?
Colombia’s Marxist Fuerzas Armadas Revolucionarias de Colombia (FARC) began its armed struggle in 1964. Fifty years later, FARC representatives and Colombian government officials are negotiating in Havana in peace talks...
Will Western Sanctions Damage Russia’s Global Nuclear Energy Business?
As the West prepares economic sanctions against Russia for its actions in Ukraine, the head of the government-owned State Atomic Energy Corporation (Rosatom) nuclear complex, Sergei Kirienko, said that Russia’s...
Ukrainian-Russian Dispute Moves Into Cyberspace
Rising tensions between Russia and Ukraine have spilled into cyberspace, although it remains unclear whether government entities or lone wolf patriotic hackers are responsible. In a highly embarrassing incident, Russian...
Russia’s Pacific Fleet Receives New Ships, Missions
Long the most neglected of the Russian Federation’s four fleets, the Pacific Fleet is receiving new equipment and participating in more international exercises as the administration of President Vladimir Putin...
India Unsettled by Proposed China-Pakistan Economic Corridor Through Kashmir
On February 26, Pakistani officials announced a step forward in China’s plans to construct a transportation corridor through Kashmir to the Pakistani port of Gwadar. Gwadar Port Authority chairman Dostain...
Counterterrorism or Neo-Colonialism? The French Army in Africa
France has sent troops in the past year to two former African colonies, Mali and the Central African Republic (CAR). In Mali, the concern was an Islamist terrorist assault on...
Despite Proclaimed Neutrality, Turkmenistan Increases Border Defenses
In 1995, Turkmenistan proclaimed a policy of international diplomatic neutrality, and on December 12 of that year, the United Nations General Assembly unanimously adopted the Resolution on the Permanent Neutrality...
China and Kyrgyzstan Discuss Rail Projects
China is increasingly interested in railway construction in the former Soviet Central Asian states as a land alternative to maritime transit for shipping high-value, low-volume products such as electronics to...
Kazakhstan, Israel Deepen Military Ties
On January 20, in Tel Aviv, Kazakhstan’s Defense Minister Adilbek Dzhaksybekov signed a military cooperation agreement with Israeli Defense Minister Moshe Ya’alon formalizing military and defense industrial ties. It was...
Republic of Cyprus to House Russian Aircraft, Naval Ships
The eastern Mediterranean, which has seen an intermittent Russian naval presence for more than two centuries, will again see Russian military assets deployed there as a new Russian-Cypriot agreement takes...
Will Kazakhstan Become a Full Partner in the Baku-Tbilisi-Kars Railway?
On December 11, 2013, Kazakhstan’s ambassador to Azerbaijan, Amangeldy Zhumabaev, told a press conference that his country was interested in transporting its goods along the Baku-Tbilisi-Kars railway currently under construction—particularly...
Kumtor Gold Mine Nationalism Issue Roils Kyrgyz Politics
Since the December 1991 implosion of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR), mineral extraction issues have risen to the forefront of post-Soviet Caucasian and Central Asian states, as newly...
Pakistani Political Turmoil over Drone Strikes Complicates ISAF Afghan Supply Efforts
If all goes as planned, then next year the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) will begin withdrawing from Afghanistan, completing its departure by the end of 2014. Logistical elements have...
Hot Issue: The Rise of Turkey: The Mediterranean’s New Regional Naval Power
Turkey’s Navy in Throes of Massive Expansion The Mediterranean, history’s first naval battleground, is seeing the rise of a new regional naval power – Turkey. In a demonstration of its...
Russia to Double Aircraft at Kant Airfield in Kyrgyzstan
According to General-Lieutenant Viktor Sevostianov, the commander of air forces in the Central Military District, which controls the Kant airbase in Kyrgyzstan, Russia plans to double the number of its...
Turkey’s Undersea Marmaray Railway Tunnel Unites Europe, Asia
Inaugurated on October 29, 2013, the 90th anniversary of the founding of the Republic of Turkey, Istanbul’s undersea Marmaray railway tunnel is the world’s first connecting two continents and is...
Saudi Arabian Oil Facilities: The Achilles Heel of the Western Economy
On February 24, 2006, the world’s largest oil refinery, the Abqaiq oil facility in Saudi Arabia, fell victim to a major attack by al-Qaeda. The strategic attack on Saudi Arabia’s...
Brazilian and Russian Military Cooperation Deepens
According to Russia's Economic Development Ministry, Russia is negotiating to supply helicopters to the Forca Aerea Brasileira (Brazilian Air Force, or FAB). The Ministry noted in a statement, "In order...
Greece and Turkey Spar over Offshore Oil Exploration
While Turkey and Greece historically agree on very little, one thing that they have in common is a deficit of easily useable energy resources. The U.S. government's Energy Information Agency...
Turkey and EU in Trade Row over Boron
In Turkey's convoluted "long march" toward European Union membership, Ankara has exhibited immense patience during the accession process, which began 21 years ago, when on April 14, 1987, Turkey applied...
Russia Dominates Tajikistan’s Energy Sector
In the new "Great Game" between the West and Russia over the vast energy reserves of Central Asia, Tajikistan has always stood apart, owing to its geographical isolation, degraded economy,...
Turkey Supports Pakistan in Opposing U.S. Cross-Border Strikes
Many analysts have commented on Turkey's increasingly innovative and confident foreign policy initiatives, most recently its Caucasian Stability and Cooperation Platform to defuse tension in a region recently torn by...
GROWING AZERI DEFENSE BUDGET BUILDUP—IN EARNEST OR FOR SHOW?
Last August the long-frozen conflict between Georgia and Russia suddenly defrosted, erupting in a bitter, five-day military clash. Now a sudden rise in defense spending by Azerbaijan may be a...
TURKEY PURSUES ITS OWN FOREIGN POLICY LINE
If there is one constant of Turkish foreign policy, it is that Ankara puts the nation’s interests first and foremost, which occasionally discomfits neighboring countries and allies, who believe that...
MONGOLIA DEEPENS TIES WITH VIETNAM
As the triangular three-way new "Great Game" among Russia, the United States, and now China continues throughout Eurasia, an interesting byproduct is the bilateral relations developing between potential “client” states...
KAZAKHSTAN WITHDRAWS TROOPS FROM IRAQ
The strategic seismic shockwave unleashed throughout the former Soviet Union by the August military confrontation between Georgia and Russia continues to reverberate throughout the Caucasus and Central Asia, as national...
TURKEY COURTS CENTRAL ASIA
In the aftermath of the Georgian-Russian confrontation, Ankara sees an opportunity to expand its trade relations with Central Asia, particularly the rising petro-states of Kazakhstan and Turkmenistan. Seeking to capitalize...
IRAN GAINS FROM GEORGIAN CONFRONTATION
In the aftermath of the August Georgian-Russian confrontation, a new Caspian geopolitical reality is slowly emerging from the fog of war. The clash highlighted the vulnerability of Western-funded and built...
TURKEY COMPLETES A MAJOR STEP IN THE MARMARAY PROJECT
Turkish engineers swelled with pride when the first Bogazici Koprusu (Bosporus Bridge) opened in 1973, spanning Istanbul's historic channel between Asia and Europe. When opened, it was the longest suspension...
TURKMENISTAN BUILDS ON ITS RELATIONSHIP WITH LATVIA
Since the death of "Turkmenbashi" President for life Saparmurat Niyazov on December 21, 2006, Western governments and energy companies have been falling over themselves to be in on the development...
ERDOGAN GOES TO TURKMENISTAN
The military confrontation between Georgia and Russia in August highlighted the West's misconception that the Caspian energy transit through the Caucasian nation is a totally secure means of bypassing Russia...
REFORM OF THE MINING LAW COULD BE A BOON TO THE MONGOLIAN ECONOMY
While Western companies, particularly energy ones, have taken a pummeling recently in the former Soviet space, one country remains a possible el Dorado for foreign investment. Mining companies eyeing Mongolia...
TURKEY ACTS AS CAUCASIAN PEACEMAKER
The armed military confrontation between Russia and Georgia over South Ossetia and Abkhazia in August has produced major shockwaves throughout the Caucasus and beyond. Amid the suffering, the military clash...
RUSSIAN NAVY DEPLOYMENTS APPARENTLY INTENDED TO ANNOY U.S.
While most military analysts observing last month’s confrontation between Georgia and Russia over South Ossetia and Abkhazia tended to focus on the ground clashes, the naval significance of the encounter...
TURKEY COURTS AFRICA
As American, European, and Asian governments and markets nervously contemplate the economic chaos of the past month, Turkey is quietly pressing forward with plans to increase its presence in the...
BRITISH PETROLEUM AND ITS WOES WITH THE CPC
To paraphrase Queen Elizabeth, BP has had an "annus horribilis" in Eurasia. Its joint venture in Russia, BP-TNK, has been under attack by its Russian partners; and last month an...
AZERBAIJAN EXPANDS COMMITMENT TO NATO TROOPS IN AFGHANISTAN
Last month's confrontation between Russia and Georgia over South Ossetia and Abkhazia had an immediate impact on Georgia's neighbor Azerbaijan, highlighting the vulnerability of its oil exports to hostile military...
WALL STREET CHAOS AFFECTS TURKEY
The reverberations from the bankruptcy of Lehman Brothers investment bank after its shares dropped more than 80 percent before the September 15 opening bell on the New York Stock Exchange...
RUSSIA AND OPEC–A MARRIAGE OF CONVENIENCE OR SOMETHING WORSE?
While most American analysts are concentrating on Hurricane Ike and its potentially destructive path through the Gulf of Mexico with its offshore platforms and coastal refineries, other are fascinated by...
NAVAL IMPLICATIONS OF THE SOUTH OSSETIAN CRISIS
Last month’s confrontation between Russia and Georgia over South Ossetia had a maritime dimension that continues to expand. Russia deployed elements of its Black Sea fleet to Georgia’s coast during...
MONGOLIA’S POLITICAL LEADERS COMPROMISE, RESUME COOPERATION
On June 29 Mongolia held its fifth round of parliamentary elections for the Ulsyn Ikh Khural (State Great Hural, or Parliament) since the country abandoned Communism in 1990 and held...
MONTREUX CONVENTION HAMPERS HUMANITARIAN AID TO GEORGIA
Last month's confrontation between Russia and Georgia over South Ossetia has cast a media spotlight on a previously obscure 72-year-old treaty, earlier the purview of historians and specialists, the Montreux...
Terrorism and Piracy: The Dual Threat to Maritime Shipping
In the global war on terror, international attention has largely been focused on terrestrial operations, but the sea remains a fertile ground for attack. As in many terror attacks in...
TURKMEN WIND POWER
Since the death of Turkmenistan’s “president for life” Saparmurat “Turkmenbashi” Niyazov on December 21, 2006, energy companies from both East and West have been falling over themselves to get a...
TURKEY AND THE PROBLEMS WITH THE BTC
With Western eyes fixed on the clash between Russia and Georgia over the disputed enclaves of South Ossetia and Abkhazia, the conflict is affecting neighboring countries’ oil shipments, particularly Azerbaijan...
HIZB UT-TAHRIR AND U.S. ALLIES IN CENTRAL ASIA
As Tashkent and Washington move to repair relations that were downgraded after divergent interpretations of the tragic events in Andijan on May 12, 2005, the U.S. is seeking to reengage...
MONGOLIA AND SOUTH KOREA EXPAND COMMERCIAL AND DEFENSE RELATIONS
During the 20th century, Mongolia’s fate was inextricably bound to that of its giant neighbors Russia and China, but since the collapse of Communism there in 1990, Ulaan Baatar has...
LUKOIL AND TURKEY
As Europe frets over the political implications of Gazprom’s increasing presence in the EU market, another Russian energy company has quietly made an inroad into hydrocarbon-starved Turkey. On July LUKoil’s...
CENTRAL ASIA’S WATER PROBLEMS SOAR DURING LONG SUMMER
One of Eurasia’s most intractable legacies dating from the 1991 implosion of Communism is how Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan transited their economies to national sovereignty after being constituent...
DROUGHT FORCES CYPRUS TO CONSIDER TURKISH AND GREEK AID
The issue of Cyprus and its reunification has bedeviled Turkish-Greek relations since 1974 and cast a persistent pall over Turkish efforts to join the European Union, especially since the Republic...
ISRAELI-KAZAKH COOPERATION GROWS
Since 1991 Kazakhstan has pursued a multilayered foreign policy, juggling its evolving foreign initiatives from hydrocarbons to military cooperation with its former Communist master Russia through growing relationships with China...
TURKEY PONDERS RUSSIAN MISSILE OFFER
As Turkey moves to upgrade its weapons systems, Ankara is considering all options and possible suppliers, including Moscow. The value of such runs into billions of dollars, generating intense competition,...
SAUDI-RUSSIAN MILITARY COOPERATION
A simple, one-sentence Russian language news item published by Russia's Interfax on July 14 seemingly signals yet another tectonic shift in the Middle East's volatile mixture of oil, religion and...
TURKEY’S GAP PROJECT: A MIXED BLESSING FOR COUNTRY AND ITS NEIGHBORS
Stressing how political and economic policies are interrelated, Turkish Foreign Minister Ali Babacan said on July 15 that economic goals were as important as political objectives (Anadolu Ajansi, July 15)....
MONGOLIA HOLDS KHAN QUEST MILITARY EXERCISE
Since Mongolia abandoned Communism in 1990, it has sought to maintain its independence, sandwiched as it is between the two giant neighbors, Russia and China, by discreetly reaching out to...
Nigeria’s Navy Struggles with Attacks on Offshore Oil Facilities
Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND) militants reportedly attacked Royal Dutch Shell’s Bonga platform and its attendant Floating, Production, Storage and Offloading (FPSO) vessel 75 miles off...
MONGOLIA RIOTS
Suspicions of a fraudulent election, combined with rampant inflation, low living standards and perceptions of widespread corruption have combined to create a perfect storm of protest in Mongolia’s capital Ulan...
IRAN AND TURKEY ENERGY TIES DEEPEN
The United States has maintained various sanctions against Iran since 1979, implemented in aftermath of the seizure of the U.S. embassy in Tehran. As relations worsen between the U.S. and...
TURKMEN FAMILIES RELOCATED FROM BORDER AREA
Since the death of Turkmenistan’s “President for Life,” Turkmenbashi (“father of the Turkmen”) Saparmurat Niyazov of an apparent heart attack on December 21, 2005, his successor, Gurbanguly Berdimukhamedov, has dismantled...
TANKERS, PIPELINES AND THE TURKISH STRAITS
One of the most dramatic stories in a world facing record-high energy prices has been the relentless rise of Azeri, Kazakh and Russian Caspian oil exports from southern Russia since...
TURKEY TO TAKE PART IN IRAQI OIL EXTRACTION
Along with five other nations, Turkey’s Turkiye Petrolleri Anonim Ortakligi (Turkish Petroleum Corporation--TPAO) has been included among state-owned countries that will be granted the right to extract oil in Iraq,...
TRADE AND TRANSIT COOPERATION INCREASING BETWEEN UZBEKISTAN AND IRAN
In the midst of the evolving new “Great Game” between the U.S. and Russia for control of Central Asia and its energy and mineralogical riches, an interesting but largely overlooked...
TURKISH GENERAL PILLORIED BY THE FUNDAMENTALIST PRESS
Since the founding of the Republic of Turkey 85 years ago, the Turkish Armed Forces (Turk Silahli Kuvvetleri--TSK) has seen itself as the guardian of the nation’s secular Kemalist traditions....
CENTRAL ASIAN WATER AND RUSSIA
They say that you can’t kill a good idea--or apparently a bad one, either. Moscow mayor and Putin silovik Yuriy Luzhkov has revived one of the USSR’s last and most...
THE RISE OF AZERI SEAPOWER
The Caspian’s legal status has been in limbo since the 1991 collapse of the USSR. The Caspian is the world’s largest enclosed body of water, with a surface area of...
DOES TURKISH-RUSSIAN AGRICULTURAL DISPUTE HAVE UNDERLYING CAUSES?
From Cold War enemies on opposite sides, Turkey and Russia have developed flourishing trade ties since 1991, so much so that last year bilateral trade exceeded $20 billion. Now a...
WASHINGTON AND MOSCOW VIE FOR TURKMENISTAN’S SUPPLIES
Since 1991 the Kremlin and Washington have sparred over the hydrocarbon riches of the Caspian, the world's greatest untapped regional deposits. While Azerbaijan is now firmly in the Western orbit,...
COMMUNICATIONS SATELLITE EMBODIES TURKEY’S GROWING TECHNOLOGICAL SOPHISTICATION
According to Turkey's Transportation Minister Binali Yildirim, if all goes well, Turkey’s new generation communication satellite Turksat 3A will be launched on June 12 from French Guiana into geosynchronous orbit....
AFGHAN-TURKMEN RELATIONS IMPROVE
Last month’s meeting between Afghan President Hamid Karzai and Turkmen President Gurbanguly Berdimukhamedov was more than a mere photo opportunity. The implications of deeper Afghan-Turkmen bilateral ties could have a...
AKKUYU AND TURKISH NUCLEAR POWER
In an era of record-high oil prices, Turkey, which imports 90 percent of its energy needs, is considering any and all options, including nuclear. The country’s energy requirements are pitting...
RUSSIA DOMINATES MONGOLIA IN THE NEW “GREAT GAME”
In the new “Great Game,” the U.S. and more lately China, jostle with a resurgent Russia for control of Central Asia’s vast energy and mineral resources. In no country is...
TURKEY EYES DEEPER ROLE IN SOUTHERN IRAQ
Of all Iraq’s neighbors, Turkey has the most intricate foreign policy toward the beleaguered nation, attempting to balance its concerns about the Kurdish PKK militants in northern Iraq with its...
LITHUANIA AND KAZAKHSTAN PLAN COOPERATION PROJECTS
On May 13 Lithuanian Prime Minister Gediminas Kirkilas met with Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev and subsequently told reporters that Lithuania was seeking to deepen its energy cooperation and bilateral trade...
TALKS ON NORTHERN CYPRUS RESUME
The issue of northern Cyprus has roiled Ankara’s foreign policy ever since July 20, 1974, when Turkey invaded the northern region of the island in “Operation Atilla,” a combined land,...
AZERBAIJAN JOINS THE MIDDLE EAST
Azerbaijan's massive hydrocarbon resources have begun to attract the attention of an increasing number of energy-poor nations in the Middle East, including Israel and Jordan. While the logistical problems involved...
POSSIBLE RAPPROCHEMENT BETWEEN ARMENIA AND TURKEY
Among the “frozen conflicts” left over from the implosion of the USSR in December 1991, the economic implications of Armenia’s 1988 to 1994 conflict with Azerbaijan over Nagorno-Karabakh are perhaps...
TAJIKISTAN COMES IN FROM THE COLD
Of all the post-Soviet Central Asian “Stans,” Tajikistan has had the roughest path toward stability and prosperity. The year after the USSR collapsed in December 1991, Tajikistan descended into a...
TURKEY HOLDS JOINT AIR FORCE EXERCISES WITH PAKISTAN
While American and European airspace is crisscrossed with commercial aircraft, Eurasia's airspace is increasingly resounding to the roar of military aircraft. Last week the Commonwealth of Independent States held its...
TURKMENISTAN DOUBLES NATURAL GAS PRICES TO IRAN
Nearly four months after a pricing dispute shut down Turkmen natural gas deliveries to Iran, the pipelines are again open. The bad news for Tehran is that the new price...
RUSSIA AND ITS ALLIES CONDUCT EURASIAN AIR DEFENSE DRILL
NATO’s eastwards expansion plan, articulated earlier this month at a summit in Bucharest, has firmed up Kremlin opposition to the alliance’s interest in former Soviet republics, particularly Georgia and the...
TURKEY SEEKS TO INCREASE TRADE WITH LATIN AMERICA
Until a decade ago, Turkey’s interest in the Western hemisphere was focused almost exclusively on its relationship with the United States. Over the past 10 years, however, Ankara has grown...
MONGOLIAN PRIME MINISTER MEETS WITH RUSSIANS; DISCUSSES FOOD SHORTAGES
While the Mongolian People’s Republic shed its socialist Communist political straitjacket in 1990, the Mongolian “ulus” (nation) has remained divided by geography as a part of the new “Great Game,”...
KAZAKHSTAN AND MONGOLIA BROADEN RELATIONS
Since 1991 Kazakhstan has become one of the world’s rising petro-states. If current development plans are implemented, Kazakhstan’s current 1.3 million barrels per day (BPD) output will rise to 2.7...
TURKEY BROADENS REGIONAL SECURITY DIALOGUE
On April 15 an Iranian delegation arrived in Turkey to finalize a security convention that has been in the planning stages for the last two to three years and for...
NATO WEIGHS PROTECTION OF KAZAKH OIL FACILITIES
NATO's 26 member states held their 59th annual gathering from April 2 to 4 in Bucharest. Its ambitious agenda was headed by proposals to expand the alliance. NATO eventually decided...
VENEZUELA BUYS RUSSIAN ARMS
Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, Washington’s favorite Latin American bete noir after Fidel Castro, unsettled Washington again last year by negotiating a $1 billion deal with Moscow to purchase a number...
IRAN AND TURKEY COOPERATE ON ELECTRICITY
In a move certain to raise hackles in Washington, Iran and Turkey have agreed to connect their electrical power grids. According to an amendment to the Electricity Market Law submitted...
CENTRAL ASIAN LEADERS SIGNAL SUPPORT FOR NATO CORRIDOR TO AFGHANISTAN
NATO's 59th annual gathering is a glittering affair with an ambitious agenda. According to the media group on NATO, security leaders from NATO's 26 member states were joined by representatives...
BASBUG IN INDIA
As Turkey broadens its military and economic contacts eastwards, it is now deepening its ties with a growing Asian superpower, India. On March 31 Turkish Land Forces Commander Gen. Ilker...
KYRGYZSTAN REVEALS MORE RUSSIAN MILITARY FACILITIES
It is hardly a secret that Russia has been unhappy with the U.S. military presence in Central Asia, which was established in the wake of the 9/11 terrorist attacks. The...
TURKEY RISKS LOSING INTERNATIONAL FUNDS FOR ILISU DAM
When covering Turkey’s complex relationship with its Kurdish minority, Western media outlets have tended to focus on the military activities in southeastern Anatolia against the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK). The...
GAZPROM MAKES INROADS INTO SOUTH AMERICA
On March 17 Gazprom International Business Department head Stanislav Tsygankov signed an agreement on natural gas exploration in Bolivia with Santos Ramirez, president of the Bolivian state-owned petroleum company Yacimientos...
BLOWBACK FROM IRAQ INCURSION SPARKS POLITICAL DEBATE IN ANKARA?
Turkey’s February 21-29 military incursion into northern Iraq is roiling Turkish domestic politics. Both right-wing and left-wing parties accuse the government of Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan and the Turkish...
TURKEY AND PAKISTAN PARTICIPATE IN NATO NAVAL EXERCISE
While the spotlight has recently focused on Turkey’s army and air force as a result of their recent operations against militants from the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) in northern Iraq,...
TURKISH MILITARY, GOVERNMENT PRESENT COMMON FRONT ON IRAQ INCURSIONS
Perhaps the most significant, if overlooked, component of the recent Turkish military incursion into northern Iraq was the common goal of the Turkish Armed Forces (TSK) high command and Ankara...
TASHKENT QUIETLY ALLOWS U.S. TO RETURN TO UZBEKISTAN
More than two years after being forced to evacuate its facility at Karshi-Khanabad (K-2), the U.S. Air Force once again has access to Uzbek air assets, as Tashkent has agreed...
TURKEY WIDENS TRADE TIES WITH IRAN
Since March 2003 U.S.-Turkish relations have been strained over Iraq. Now Washington has an additional cause for disquiet, as Turkish-Iranian economic relations go from strength to strength, further weakening Washington’s...
Feeding the Dragon: China’s Quest for African Minerals
While much of the attention on China’s emergence onto the global economic stage as an industrial powerhouse has focused on the accumulation of its massive trade surpluses, most Western observers...
PAN-TURKISM TAKES STEP FORWARD IN EURASIA
Since the 1991 collapse of the USSR, the former Soviet republics, now independent nations, have regrouped in a variety of political and economic configurations. These include the Commonwealth of Independent...
THE KOSOVA CONUNDRUM FOR TURKEY AND EURASIA
Since Kosova unilaterally declared independence on February 17, its action has caused a fissure in international reactions. Thirty states have now recognized Kosova’s independence, including the United States, Great Britain,...
RUSSIA, AFGHANISTAN AND THE DRUG TRADE
Alarmed by the rise of opium cultivation in Afghanistan, Russia’s Federal Drug Enforcement Service has opened a permanent office in Kabul, Afghanistan. Federal Drug Enforcement Service Director Alexei Milovanov said...
TURKISH GENERAL STAFF ANNOUNCES “DETERRENT OPERATION” IN NORTHERN IRAQ
Turkey’s cross-border incursion into northern Iraq, which began late on February 21 after eight hours of air and artillery strikes, has been accompanied by an equally aggressive PR campaign. Ankara...
TURKEY RECOGNIZES KOSOVA OVER RUSSIAN PROTESTS
Yesterday, February 19, Turkish Foreign Minister Ali Babacan began a two-day official visit to Russia. The trip comes on the heels of Ankara’s recognition of Kosova’s declaration of independence, made...
NATO EXPANSION IN THE BALKANS
While the issue of Ukraine’s possible entry into NATO is currently filling the European press, Macedonia is also facing the issue of accession. U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice met...
ANKARA REASSURES NEIGHBORS ON WATER SHARING
While Turkey may become a foreign oil resource sometime in the future, decades of investment in hydroelectric power are now paying off, and the country is in the extraordinary position...
MOSCOW LOSES BRAZIL SUBMARINE DEAL TO PARIS
In 2007 Russia became the world's second-largest arms exporter, exceeded only by the United States. As Moscow seeks out new markets, it is increasingly eyeing prospects in what Washington regards...
TURKEY PLANS TO COMBAT ARMENIAN GENOCIDE ISSUE AT THE HAGUE
The tragic events in eastern Anatolia in 1915 continue to roil not only Turkish-Armenian relations, but the international community and Turkish-American relations as well. For more than 25 years, Yerevan...
U.S.-TURKISH MILITARY COOPERATION DEEPENS AFTER ROUGH PATCH
The United States seems finally to have abandoned its hesitant attitude on supporting Turkey’s fight against the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), but Ankara is increasingly driving the agenda. On Sunday,...
BISHKEK EXPLORES OIL PROSPECTS
The relentless race to develop Central Asia’s energy reserves has now reached mountainous Kyrgyzstan. But as in Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, and Turkmenistan, it seems that Russia has largely beat out its...
TURKEY EMERGES AS MEDIATOR IN TURKMENISTAN-AZERBAIJAN DISPUTE
Turkey’s assiduous efforts to turn itself into a regional energy transport hub and to secure its own energy supplies have led it to attempt to mediate a diplomatic dispute between...
CAN TURKMENISTAN MEET ITS FUTURE GAS EXPORT DEMANDS?
By any measure, 2008 is shaping up to be an extraordinary year for Turkmen President Gurbanguly Berdimukhamedov. In power for only 13 months following the sudden death of President Saparmurat...
THE REBIRTH OF PAN-TURKISM?
As the USSR recedes further into history, the post-Soviet Turkic nations of the Caucasus and Central Asia are rediscovering their linguistic and cultural affinities with Turkey, and activists are promoting...
RUSSIA WANTS TO SELL GREECE WEAPONS AS WELL AS GAS
Following the defeat of German General Erwin Rommel’s vaunted Afrika Corps in North Africa in 1943, British Prime Minister Winston Churchill pressed for a subsequent Allied invasion of either Italy,...
TURKMENISTAN, NATURAL GAS, AND THE WEST
What a difference a year makes. One of the final diplomatic triumphs of Turkmen leader Saparmurat Niyazov before his death last December was to renegotiate Turkmenistan's exclusive natural gas contracts...
NAZARBAYEV HINTS AT LARGER STATE SHARE IN KASHAGAN
One of Vladimir Putin’s most notable accomplishments since he assumed the presidency of the Russian Federation on December 31, 1999, has been his relentless effort to downsize the Western presence...
RUSSIA HOPES TO ENTER CASPIAN MARKET WITH NEW KASHAGAN DEAL
In the covert “great game” currently playing out between Russia and the United States to control the hydrocarbon assets of the Caspian, a glittering new prize has appeared on the...
UKRAINE, RUSSIA FACE OFF OVER CLEANING UP OIL SPILL IN SEA OF AZOV
On November 11 a powerful storm arose in the northeastern Black Sea. By the end of it, Russia and Ukraine faced serious environmental damage from an oil spill and a...
Premier Wen’s Eurasia Tour: Beijing and Moscow’s Divergent Views on Central Asia
On November 2, the sixth annual meeting of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) Council of Heads of Government began in Tashkent, Uzbekistan. The six member states include Kazakhastan, China, Kyrgyzstan,...
Premier Wen’s Eurasia Tour: Beijing and Moscow’s Divergent Views on Central Asia
On November 2, the sixth annual meeting of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) Council of Heads of Government began in Tashkent, Uzbekistan. The six member states include Kazakhastan, China, Kyrgyzstan,...
KAZAKHSTAN MOVES FURTHER AWAY FROM RUSSIAN DOMINATION
Chinese Prime Minister Wen Jiabao recently concluded a whirlwind tour of Central Asia following the sixth Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) summit, held in Tashkent on November 2. While there, Wen...
BEIJING RAISES STAKES IN TURKMEN GAS GAME
On October 31, oil trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange soared to a record-high $95.08 a barrel for December delivery before settling to $94.53. As the Western energy market...
OIC COULD MEDIATE BETWEEN TURKEY AND KURDS IN IRAQ
Amid the escalating tension between Ankara and Baghdad over the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) staging guerrilla attacks into Turkey from their bases in northern Iraq, one international organization might prove...
UPROAR OVER ANDIJAN FADES AS EU WARMS TO TASHKENT
On October 17 European Union foreign ministers agreed to lift travel restrictions against Uzbek Defense Minister Ruslan Mirzayev, National Security chief Rustam Inoyatov, and six others, saying it was "with...
HOUSE GENOCIDE VOTE COULD DAMAGE U.S. INTERESTS IN SOUTH CAUCASUS
On October 10 the U.S. House of Representatives Foreign Affairs Committee voted 27–21 to pass a non-binding resolution that labeled the deaths of Armenians during World War One as “genocide.”...
WILL ASHGABAT ABANDON NEUTRALITY?
While Western powers compete to entice Turkmenistan’s new leadership to share access to the country’s munificent hydrocarbon resources, Moscow is pursing a longer-term goal by attempting to modify the country’s...
ECONOMIC REALITIES DISCOURAGE BAIKONUR CLOSURE
The Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan has just finished a series of anti-terror exercises staged by Russia's National Anti-Terror Committee and the Federal Security Service (FSB), codenamed “Baikonur-Anti-Terror 2007” (Itar-Tass, September...
OIL POOR, WATER RICH TAJIKISTAN AND KYRGYZSTAN DRAW CLOSER TOGETHER
While Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan are relatively poor in hydrocarbons compared with the petro-rich former Soviet republics of Kazakhstan and Azerbaijan, they both possess abundant quantities of an even more valuable...
POSSIBLE FOOD UNREST IN CENTRAL ASIA
Harvest yields below projected levels combined with rising prices have analysts watching events in Central Asia, wondering if increased food prices might trigger civic protests. Poor weather has combined with...
ANKARA MOVES TO REDUCE DEPENDENCE ON ENERGY IMPORTS
The good news in Ankara is that Turkey has one of the most dynamic economies of the Middle East, with an extraordinary GNP growth rate estimated at 6.7% for the...
TURKEY MOVES TO POSITION ITSELF AS A STRATEGIC TRANSIT CORRIDOR FOR CASPIAN HYDROCARBONS
On July 14 Turkey signed a Memorandum of Understanding with Iran related to gas and oil transit and joint energy investments. Turkish Energy Minister Hilmi Guler and a team of...
ASHGABAT MOVES TO IMPROVE TURKMENISTAN’S HUMAN RIGHTS RECORD
Since succeeding Turkmen “president for life” Saparmurat Niyazov on December 22, 2006, Gurbanguly Berdimukhamedov has swiftly moved to consolidate power and improve Turkmenistan’s international image with an assuredness that has...
NIYAZOV’S SECURITY CHIEF ARRESTED, HUNT BEGINS FOR STOLEN FUNDS
The December 21, 2006, death of Turkmenistan’s self proclaimed president-for-life Saparmurat Niyazov set off an intense round of speculation about both the succession process and who might gain access to...
NEW GAS PIPELINE TO LINK AZERBAIJAN AND ITALY, VIA TURKEY
Since the 1991 collapse of the USSR, resource-poor but strategically vital Turkey has sought to position itself as a major transit hub for burgeoning Caspian energy exports. For 15 years...
SCO TO HOST “PEACE MISSION 2007” ANTI-TERRORIST DRILL IN AUGUST
Military analysts will be closely watching next month’s Shanghai Cooperation Organization anti-terrorist exercise, "Peace Mission 2007.” The drill will be the SCO’s largest joint exercise in its six-year history. Contingents...
AS UKRAINE LOOKS TOWARD NATO, MOSCOW’S MARITIME INTERESTS SHIFT EASTWARD
Legendary Russian General Alexander Suvorov founded Russia’s Black Sea naval base at Sevastopol in 1783. Since the collapse of communism in 1991, Russia’s presence in the Crimean peninsula has increasingly...
UKRAINIAN DEFENSE MINISTER SLASHES EXPENSES WITH EYE TOWARD NATO
When the USSR collapsed in 1991, both Russia and Ukraine claimed the Black Sea Fleet and the historic port of Sevastopol with Ukraine. Eventually an agreement was reached to divide...
FOR SERBS IN KOSOVO, NATO GOES FROM VILLAIN TO PROTECTOR
In one of history’s more recent ironies, during a June 27 meeting with NATO Secretary-General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer, Serbian Foreign Minister Vuk Jeremic asked NATO to protect minority Serbs...
RIVAL CASPIAN CANAL PROJECTS COMPETE FOR INVESTORS
Azerbaijan, one of the rising Caspian energy exporters, has dismissed a Russian proposition to renovate the Volga-Don Canal (Itar-Tass, June 19). Baku apparently favors a Kazakh proposal for a “Eurasia...
ASTANA RECONSIDERS RUSSIAN USE OF BAIKONUR
Oil-rich Kazakhstan is taking a new look at its Soviet-era space facility at Baikonur, reconsidering Russian use of the facility as well as evaluating ways to develop it as an...
TURKMENISTAN BACK IN FORMER USSR’S ORBIT
With the unexpected death of Turkmen-President-for-Life Saparmurat Niyazov on December 21, 2006, many Western governments believed that a new era of openness and access to the country’s natural gas deposits,...
TURKEY EXPANDS ROLE IN KOSOVO AS BUSH PREPARES TO VISIT ALBANIA
Today, June 5, Turkish NATO forces in Kosovo assume a one-year command of NATO’s Multinational Task Force South (MNTF-S), one of NATO’s five regional commands of Kosovo Force (KFOR), responsible...
INDIA: A NEW PLAYER IN CENTRAL ASIA?
As Washington's relations with Kyrgyzstan go from bad to worse, especially since the December 6, 2006, shooting of Kyrgyz national Alexander Ivanov at the U.S. air base at Manas, a...
BERDIMUKHAMEDOV MOVES TO ELIMINATE RIVALS AFTER FOREIGN POLICY VICTORIES
Central Asia watchers were surprised by the May 16 announcement from Ashgabat that the chairman of Turkmenistan’s National Security Council, General Akmurad Redzhepov, was being transferred to “other,” unspecified duties....
TASHKENT EXPLORES OPTIONS TO EXPLOIT ENERGY RESOURCES
China’s relentless pursuit of energy options has now extended to Central Asia. On May 7 the leader of China’s top state planning body Ma Kai signed an energy-export agreement with...
Sino-Turkish Relations Beyond the Silk Road
Some fifty years ago, Chinese and Turkish troops actually fought one another on the battlefield; Turkey was the sole Muslim nation to send troops to South Korea under the United...
Sino-Turkish Relations Beyond the Silk Road
Some fifty years ago, Chinese and Turkish troops actually fought one another on the battlefield; Turkey was the sole Muslim nation to send troops to South Korea under the United...
U.S. AIR BASE AT MANAS AT RISK OVER SHOOTING SUSPECT?
On December 6, 2006, U.S. soldier Zachary Hatfield shot and killed 42-year-old Kyrgyz citizen Alexander Ivanov, a fuel truck driver, at the entry gate to the Manas airbase outside the...
MOSCOW MOVES TO RAISE PROFILE IN CENTRAL ASIA
Earlier this month the Collective Security Treaty Organization held the third element of its “Rubezh” (Frontier) command staff exercise in Tajikistan. The CSTO was established after the collapse of the...
Spain Alarmed by Recent Terrorist Attacks in North Africa
A year ago, the major concern in the Spanish Moroccan enclaves of Ceuta and Melilla was controlling illegal immigrants, as swarms of Africans attempted to flock into the two cities...
U.S.-TURKISH INTERESTS COLLIDE IN IRAQ, BUT MESH IN AFGHANISTAN AND KOSOVO
Turkey and the United States are increasingly at odds over the entwined issues of the Kurdistan Worker’ Party (PKK) mounting hit-and-run guerrilla operations from northern Iraq into southeastern Turkey and...
TURKEY CALLS FOR CROSS-BORDER OPERATIONS AGAINST KURDS
Washington’s ongoing reluctance to rein in militant Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) activity in northern Iraq is raising the real possibility of a Turkish military incursion into northern Kurdish Iraq, which...
Fears That New Chinese Warhead Could Seep into Iraq
Two months ago, Chinese arms company Xinshidai (New Era) displayed its latest weapons products at the International Defense Exhibition arms show in Abu Dhabi, seeking to establish its own niche...
A NEW DAY FOR TURKMEN ENERGY
Even before the late Turkmen President Saparmurat Niyazov was buried last December, foreign government delegations were scrambling to meet with his successor, Gurbanguly Berdimukhamedov, either to get reassurance that earlier...
TURKMENISTAN REJOINS THE GLOBAL COMMUNITY
Following the death of Turkmen President Saparmurat Niyazov on December 21, his successor, Gurbanguly Berdimukhamedov, is carefully opening his country’s Internet access to the outside world. Under Niyazov, Turkmenistan had...
Uzbek Fighters in Pakistan Reportedly Return to Afghanistan
Since the fighting between local militants and foreign guerrillas began in South Waziristan's capital of Wana and its suburban areas on March 18, more than 160 people have been killed...
EU MISSING OPPORTUNITY TO USE TURKEY AS RELIABLE ENERGY CORRIDOR
Amid great fanfare, Russian President Vladimir Putin, Greek Prime Minister Costas Karamanlis, and Bulgarian Prime Minister Sergei Stanishev assembled in Athens on March 15 to initial an agreement on a...
MOSCOW AND ROME INTENSIFY ECONOMIC RELATIONS
On March 13 Russian President Vladimir Putin and Italian Prime Minister Romano Prodi began two days of talks in the Chigi Palace in the Italian Adriatic port of Bari. According...
INTERNATIONAL COMMUNITY CONDEMNS, RUSSIA SUPPORTS, LATEST ABKHAZ ELECTION
On March 4 residents of Abkhazia held parliamentary elections. According to officials in this separatist region of Georgia, 130,000 registered voters (a 47.25% turnout) chose among 108 candidates vying for...
ENERGY EXPLORATION ISSUES THREATEN TURKEY’S EU PROSPECTS
Tensions in Cyprus flared last week following a February 28 announcement of formal invitations to apply for licenses to prospect for oil and natural gas in 11 offshore blocs, totaling...
RUSSIA SEES GREAT OPPORTUNITIES IN 2007 FOR STATE ARMAMENTS FIRM ROSOBORONEKSPORT
Russian President Vladimir Putin, having successfully centralized the country's energy companies, is now pursuing similar structural reforms in the country's armaments industry, seeing great opportunities for expanding exports worldwide in...
Kyrgyzstan’s Manas Airbase: A Key Asset in the War on Terrorism
The collapse of communism in the USSR in 1991 and the September 11 terrorist attacks in the United States a decade later offered the Pentagon basing possibilities impossible even to...
Sino-Turkish Relations Beyond the Silk Road
Some fifty years ago, Chinese and Turkish troops actually fought one another on the battlefield; Turkey was the sole Muslim nation to send troops to South Korea under the United...
Sino-Turkish Relations Beyond the Silk Road
Some fifty years ago, Chinese and Turkish troops actually fought one another on the battlefield; Turkey was the sole Muslim nation to send troops to South Korea under the United...
POTENTIAL GAS CUSTOMERS LINE UP TO WELCOME NEW TURKMEN LEADER
Gurbanguly Berdimukhamedov was inaugurated as Turkmenistan’s new president at the Ruhiyev palace in Ashgabat on February 14. Reporters noted that 2,487 members of the Halk Maslahaty (People’s Council) and foreign...
TURKMEN ELECTION PROVIDES OPPORTUNITY FOR INTERNATIONAL CONDEMNATION OF AUTHORITARIAN REGIME
As foreign observers gear up to monitor Sunday’s presidential elections in Turkmenistan, the first since the collapse of the USSR in 1991, more adventurous foreigners can catch a bus from...
PUTIN ORDERS FSB TO SAFEGUARD ELECTIONS AND ECONOMIC ASSETS
This week Russian President Vladimir Putin broadened the role of the Federal Security Service (FSB). At the FSB’s annual board meeting on January 31, he instructed the agency to provide...
TURKMEN POLITICAL PRISONERS DEMAND RELEASE AFTER NIYAZOV’S DEATH
Turkmen President Saparmurat Niyazov’s unexpected death on December 21, 2006, triggered a wave of uncertainty both inside Turkmenistan and internationally. The “light of the Turkmen” had established an extravagant personality...
WARSAW BLOCKS EU-RUSSIAN NEGOTIATIONS ON COOPERATION PACT
The press has recently focused on Russia’s relations with the European Union over natural gas issues. But Moscow has been playing diplomatic hardball with former Warsaw Pact member Poland over...
RUSSIA’S ENERGY CONUNDRUM — LONG TERM BENEFIT OR SHORT TERM GAIN?
The recent Belarus-Russian row over oil transit masks a deeper problem. The end consumer, the European Union, is now heavily reliant on Russian energy imports, for better or worse, and...
MOSCOW LAUNCHES MAJOR ANTI-CORRUPTION DRIVE
Moscow is slowly realizing that rampant corruption is sapping the country’s economic vitality and tarnishing its image among potential Western investors. This week United Russia’s Mikhail Grishankov, chair of the...
Nigeria Continues to Slide Toward Instability
The ongoing unrest in Nigeria's volatile delta region is having an inflationary impact on oil prices, with no resolution to the crisis in sight. The turmoil in the delta, the...
Saudi Oil Facilities: Al-Qaeda’s Next Target?
At a time of record-high oil prices, analysts are beginning to consider the implications of possible terrorist attacks on Middle Eastern oil facilities. The crown jewel of these facilities is...
The Madrid Bombings: Spain as a “Jihad” Highway to Western Europe
In 711 A.D., Arab armies under Tariq ibn Ziyad crossed the Straits of Gibraltar, conquering Spain and sweeping northwards into France. The Madrid bombings seem to indicate that Muslim fundamentalists...
The Threat to Iraqi Oil
Attacks on Iraqi oil pipelines throughout this week bring into sharp focus the difficulties faced by coalition forces who had planned to use oil revenues to help fund the war...
UZBEKISTAN DROPS GUUAM FROM ITS ECLECTIC FOREIGN POLICY MENU
On May 5, officials in Tashkent announced that Uzbekistan would shortly withdraw from GUUAM, the augmented Georgia-Ukraine-Azerbaijan-Moldova (GUAM) alliance formed in 1997. Uzbekistan's foreign policy has always been a mixture...
Who’s Who at Guantanamo Bay
America's slippery road into international legal limbo began on November 13, 2001 – the day Northern Alliance troops captured Kabul from Taliban forces. That same day, George W. Bush issued...
Viktor Bout: From International Outlaw to Valued Partner
Viktor Vasilevich Bout, one of the world's most notorious arms merchants with proven links to the Taliban, has become a valued partner of the U.S. as it grapples with the...
Libya and al-Qaeda: A Complex Relationship
The United States, until recently, had a tendency to see Libya's Muammar Qadhafi and Osama bin Laden as ideological soul mates. While bin Laden aspired to cleanse Arabia and the...
How And Why: The 9-11 Attacks On America
As America looks back on the devastating terrorist attacks of 11 September 2001, the biggest unanswered question is "why?" In the immediate aftermath of the violence Al-Qaida never addressed the...
Saudi “Black Gold:” Will Terrorism Deny The West Its Fix?
The al-Qaida terror attacks in Saudi Arabia have thus far spared the country's oil infrastructure, being concentrated in the capital, Riyadh. A bombing in that city on May 12 killed...
Terror In The Holy City: Analyzing The Al-qaida Attacks In Mecca
The deaths of two suspected al-Qaida militants who blew themselves up in Mecca to avoid arrest has highlighted what the Saudis for years have denied; that al-Qaida has a significant...
SINO-KYRGYZ RELATIONS AFTER THE TULIP REVOLUTION
Of all the countries in Central Asia, post-revolution Kyrgyzstan seems to be the most likely candidate for closer bilateral ties with China. When Kyrgyz President Askar Akayev abruptly fled Bishkek...
LIBYA AND AL-QAEDA: A COMPLEX RELATIONSHIP
The United States, until recently, had a tendency to see Libya's Muammar Qadhafi and Osama bin Laden as ideological soul mates. While bin Laden aspired to cleanse Arabia and the...
Energy Concerns and China’s Unresolved Territorial Disputes
While much of the world is fixated on China's booming economic growth and its ravenous appetite for energy, untidy diplomatic loose ends in the form of territorial disputes with neighbors...
Viktor Bout: From International Outlaw to Valued Partner
Viktor Vasilevich Bout, one of the world's most notorious arms merchants with proven links to the Taliban, has become a valued partner of the U.S. as it grapples with the...
WHO’S WHO AT GUANTANAMO BAY
America's slippery road into international legal limbo began on November 13, 2001 – the day Northern Alliance troops captured Kabul from Taliban forces. That same day, George W. Bush issued...
The Threat To Iraqi Oil
Attacks on Iraqi oil pipelines throughout this week bring into sharp focus the difficulties faced by coalition forces who had planned to use oil revenues to help fund the war...
Kazakhstan Inks Oil Pipeline Agreement With China
It seems a marriage made in heaven. Growing energy giant Kazakhstan has tapped into China, the world's biggest market and a booming economy. Kazakhstan and China signed an agreement on...
Turkmenistan Pushes For New Offshore Oil Development
Potentially one of the richest of the former Soviet republics, with natural gas estimated as high as 3.7 trillion yards, Turkmenistan has been unable to exploit its energy reserves because...
The Dragon’s Drive For Caspian Oil
China's insatiable energy thirst is causing it to undertake a global search for energy supplies to sustain its booming economy. Beijing has injected itself into the complex Caspian chess match...
The Madrid Bombings: Spain As A “jihad” Highway To Western Europe
In 711 A.D., Arab armies under Tariq ibn Ziyad crossed the Straits of Gibraltar, conquering Spain and sweeping northwards into France. The Madrid bombings seem to indicate that Muslim fundamentalists...
Can The Dragon Swim? The Naval Balance In The Taiwan Strait
Relations between Taiwan and China, strained at the best of times, are hitting new lows over President Chen Shui-bian's stated intention to hold a referendum in March on the status...
How And Why – The 9-11 Attacks On America
As America looks back on the devastating terrorist attacks of 11 September 2001, the biggest unanswered question is "why?" In the immediate aftermath of the violence Al-Qaida never addressed the...
China And Japan Race For Russian Crude
As the situation in the Middle East continues to deteriorate, from car bombings in Riyadh to pipeline attacks in Iraq, two Asian energy-deprived superpowers are nervously eyeing the developing chaos...
Saudi “black Gold:” Will Terrorism Deny The West Its Fix?
The al-Qaida terror attacks in Saudi Arabia have thus far spared the country's oil infrastructure, being concentrated in the capital, Riyadh. A bombing in that city on May 12 killed...
Terror In The Holy City: Analyzing The Al-qaida Attacks In Mecca
The deaths of two suspected al-Qaida militants who blew themselves up in Mecca to avoid arrest has highlighted what the Saudis for years have denied; that al-Qaida has a significant...
Al Qaeda And Maritime Terrorism, Part I
Fears of atomic smuggling in ships date back to the very dawn of the atomic age. On August 2, 1939, Albert Einstein wrote a letter to President Franklin Roosevelt informing...
The Latin Connection
In the aftermath of the devastating September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks against the United States, international attention swiftly focused on a most unlikely place in the Western hemisphere--la Triple Frontera,...
The Latin Connection
In the aftermath of the devastating September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks against the United States, international attention swiftly focused on a most unlikely place in the Western hemisphere--la Triple Frontera,...
Al Qaeda And Maritime Terrorism, Part I
Fears of atomic smuggling in ships date back to the very dawn of the atomic age. On August 2, 1939, Albert Einstein wrote a letter to President Franklin Roosevelt informing...