Latest Eurasia Daily Monitor Articles
MOSCOW FORCING LUFTHANSA TO SWITCH FROM KAZAKHSTAN TO SIBERIAN HUB
Russia’s Transport Ministry has threatened to close Russia’s air space to Lufthansa’s cargo flights to East Asian countries, unless Lufthansa Cargo establishes a Russian ground-based hub for its East Asia business. The Russian ministry warned its German counterpart that Lufthansa Cargo’s overflight authorization could be... MORE
UZBEK REGIME OPTS FOR SHORT-TERM STABILITY OVER POLITICAL REFORM
On November 6 Uzbekistan’s President Islam Karimov announced his decision to enter the upcoming presidential elections on December 23. Karimov’s choice to seek another term provides a short-term solution to the fears of potentially ruthless competition for state power among local politicians and business elites.... MORE
YUSHCHENKO WANTS TRANSPARENT ENERGY DEALS WITH MOSCOW
Russia’s top officials are loudly complaining about Kyiv’s tactics in a bitter dispute over Ukraine’s Kremenchug refinery, pledging to defend the interests of the Russian shareholders there. The incident is just the latest irritant in an already uneasy energy relationship between the two neighbors. “I... MORE
ANKARA WILLING TO RISK U.S. SANCTIONS FOR CHEAP IRANIAN ELECTRICITY
Iran and Turkey are broadening their energy cooperation to include electricity. According to recent statements by Turkish Minister of Energy Hilmi Guler, Ankara is determined to proceed with energy agreements signed with Tehran earlier this year. Specifically, on August 20 Turkey signed a deal with... MORE
SAAKASHVILI: DEFIANT AND READY FOR ACTION
Last Saturday evening, November 3, Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili granted me a two-hour interview in his office, which is a few minutes’ walk from parliament. Demonstrators have been protesting in front of the building, demanding his resignation. On Friday, November 2, an estimated 50,000 protesters... MORE
IS BIG BROTHER WATCHING UKRAINIANS?
The Ukrainian government has simplified the procedure allowing the special services and police to procure confidential information about citizens. Ukrainian human rights activists and Internet providers believe that the government violated the constitution by legalizing widespread surveillance, giving the secret services almost unlimited access to... MORE
AZERBAIJAN’S LEADERS FEAR SPREAD OF RADICAL ISLAM, ESPECIALLY IN MILITARY
On October 27 Azerbaijani law-enforcement agencies announced they had foiled a terrorist plot targeting the U.S. and British embassies, as well as the Baku offices of several major oil companies. The plot was discovered following a theft in a Defense Ministry military unit. Lieutenant Kamran... MORE
FORMER TURKISH COMMANDERS DISCUSS COSTS AND BENEFITS OF CROSS-BORDER OPERATION AGAINST PKK
As Turkey continues to mull its options against elements of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) based in northern Iraq, the center-right daily Milliyet has been running a series of interviews with former leading Turkish commanders evaluating the costs and benefits of a cross-border military operation... MORE
MAJORITY OF TURKISH MEDIA CLAIMS BUSH GAVE TURKEY GREEN LIGHT FOR MILITARY OPERATION
The majority of the Turkish media believe that U.S. President George W. Bush effectively gave Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan a green light for a military operation against elements of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) in northern Iraq during their November 5 meeting. Although... MORE
GEORGIAN OPPOSITION ON A FREE RIDE, part two
Billionaire businessman Badri Patarkatsishvili has turned his Imedi Television, which broadcasts across the country, into a stronghold of political opposition to the government. Along with that move in 2006, he sold a 49% stake in Imedi TV to Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp. In October 2007,... MORE