Historical, cultural, and linguistic links between Afghanistan and Iran have always encouraged close ties between the two countries. Frequent and close contacts continued between the two states until the Taliban came to power, ruling from 1996 to 2001. When the Taliban regime was deposed by... MORE

When Viktor Yanukovych was appointed Ukraine's prime minister in November 2002, he immediately became the heir-apparent for the 2004 presidential election. He was duly made the pro-presidential candidate when the campaign season formally opened on July 4. Initially, his inevitability was not considered significant, because... MORE

Tbilisi and the leaders of South Ossetia nearly came to blows this week, as Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili continued his campaign to rein-in separatist republics. South Ossetian paramilitary groups had sealed off the main routes in and out of their capital, Tskhinvali, last month, but... MORE

On July 2 two members of the Islamic extremist organization Hizb-ut-Tahrir (Islamic Party of Liberation) were given two-year prison terms by authorities in Pavlodar, Northern Kazakhstan. Security forces had detained Arman Hamzin (age 29) and Ruslan Ghinatulin (22) two months ago for distributing Hizb-ut-Tahrir leaflets... MORE

In an interview published by two separatist websites on July 5-6, Chechen separatist president Aslan Maskhadov reiterated that he is ready for negotiations with the federal authorities, while claiming that his forces have the means to fight on for years, should the Kremlin choose to... MORE

The Russian Federal Security Service (FSB), already with a powerful say in the shape and planning of counter-terrorist operations in Chechnya, has disclosed serious concerns about remarks made by Chechen rebel commander Shamil Basayev on Al-Jazeera television. The FSB believes that future militant attacks may... MORE

One day after the Ukrainian presidential elections officially started on July 3, four major candidates filed their papers with the Central Election Commission. The oligarchic regional clans and political parties of the pro-presidential camp have united behind Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovych. His own Party of... MORE

At the June 28-29 NATO summit in Istanbul, both Afghanistan President Hamid Karzai and U.S. President George W. Bush appealed for NATO to immediately deploy more NATO troops in Afghanistan to boost security for the upcoming September elections. The requests largely fell on deaf ears.... MORE

The Yukos affair began on July 2, 2003, with the arrest of director Platon Lebedev. Exactly one year later, Russian police marked the anniversary with a dramatic raid on the company's downtown Moscow headquarters. At 2:00 p.m. on Saturday July 3, some 50 police and... MORE

At its Istanbul summit last month, the 26-member Atlantic Alliance announced its newfound interest in the strategic regions of the Caucasus and Central Asia. Although the unveiled measures aimed at engaging the region have turned out to be relatively modest, NATO's designs appear to have... MORE