After remaining vacant for nine months, the post of Public Defender (Ombudsman) will be filled by a representative of the NGO community. President Mikheil Saakashvili made this decision on July 6 during a meeting in his office with a group of leading Georgian NGOs. The... MORE

The World Bank and Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development have just released their latest reports on the state of the Russian economy. Both reports are surprisingly bullish about Russia's long-term prospects. Surprising, that is, given the daily stream of news about the bankrupting of... MORE

Ten years ago this month, Leonid Kuchma defeated the incumbent, Leonid Kravchuk, in the second round of Ukraine's second presidential election. Kravchuk had won in the first round of the December 1991 first presidential election, which coincided with the referendum on state independence. This week... MORE

In the first years of independence, ethnic Kazakhs barely made up 40% of the population of Kazakhstan. In a bid to regulate the ethnic balance, particularly in the heavily Russian-populated northern regions of the country, the government is encouraging oralmans ("returnees," i.e. ethnic Kazakhs returning... MORE

Trade and economic relations between Afghanistan and Pakistan seem to be improving, despite the recent history of mutual suspicion between the Northern Alliance-dominated government in Kabul and Islamabad's past support of the Taliban regime, which U.S. forces and the Northern Alliance toppled in December 2001.... MORE

Russian observers continue to discuss the July 9 murder of American journalist Paul Klebnikov, editor of the Russian edition of Forbes magazine. Gazeta.ru wrote that the list of Russia's 100 leading tycoons along with estimates of their wealth published in the magazine in May broke... MORE

On July 10 Paul Klebnikov, the chief editor of the Russian edition of Forbes magazine, was shot at point-blank range by a hired killer in Moscow. Almost one year earlier, on July 3, 2003, another journalist, Yuri Shchekochikhin, deputy editor of the Russian newspaper Novaya... MORE

After several days of a violent war of words and escalating tension, the threat of an armed conflict in the secessionist region of South Ossetia appears to have passed. Before his departure for a three-day official visit to London on Monday, Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili... MORE

On July 8 the Ossetian militia captured 47 Georgian servicemen and publicly humiliated them by forcing them to their knees before Russian TV cameras, roiling tensions between Tskhinvali and Tbilisi. When Ossetia released most of the captive on July 9, the highly explosive situation was... MORE

The answer to this question, based on recent and ongoing developments in Ukraine, is "no." Opinion polls taken in Ukraine have consistently shown that two-thirds to three-quarters of Ukrainians do not believe this year's elections will be free and fair. Even President Leonid Kuchma has... MORE