What Does China Really Want?

Chinese Go players What Does China Really Want? By Adam Minter, Bloomberg, Jun 5, 2013 For those Chinese paying attention to Xi Jinping’s four-country tour of the Americas this week, one question stands out: Why would their president want to spend two informal days, more or less one-on-one with U.S. President Barack Obama in the middle of the […]

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Europe’ s Blinkered Russian Policy

Europe’ s Blinkered Russian Policy by: Judy Dempsey, Carnegie Europe,  June 3, 2013 How blind the EU can be. Despite worrying changes in Russia and Eastern Europe over the last six months, the EU’s policy toward both regions remains the same. If the EU took its foreign relations seriously, the two developments should jolt it into adopting a very […]

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The emergence of Siberian nationalism

Konstantin Eryomenko, one of the key figures behind the movement calling for people to declare their nationality as “Siberian” in the national census. Photo taken in Novosibirsk, the largest city in Siberia. (Photo: Yoshinori Toyomane). In the background, the black and green flag of Siberia. In the land of the Cossaks, a dream of independence […]

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Russia, U.S. Back Syria Diplomatic Solution

Russia’s President Vladimir Putin (left) and U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry arrive for their meeting in Moscow on May 7 – Reuters – RFE/RL Read also: «Statement by EU High Representative, Catherine Ashton, on the joint agreement by the US Secretary of State J. Kerry and Russian Foreign Minister S. Lavrov to work towards […]

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Tajikistan: Is Moscow Getting Ready to Punish Dushanbe?

Tajikistan’s President Emomali Rakhmon, right, and Russian President Vladimir Putin Tajikistan: Is Moscow Getting Ready to Punish Dushanbe? Eurasianet.org, April 30, 2013 Russian politicians and state-controlled media outlets have been taking lots of potshots at Tajikistan lately. Some observers believe the barrage of verbal darts may be a precursor to retaliatory measures by the Kremlin […]

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What’s behind the conflict on the Korean Peninsula?

South Korean soldiers stand guard in fog at the truce village of Panmunjom in the demilitarized zone dividing North and South Korea (AFP Photo / Jung Yeon-Je) What’s behind the conflict on the Korean Peninsula? Alexei Fenenko, Valdai, April 19, 2013 This spring has been marked by an unprecedented escalation of tensions on the Korean […]

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Repairing U.S.-Russia Relations

Repairing U.S.-Russia Relations Interviewee: Jack F. Matlock, Jr., Former U.S. Ambassador to Russia Interviewer: Bernard Gwertzman, Consulting Editor – Council on Foreign Relations April 18, 2013 Diplomatic relations between Washington and Moscow have chilled markedly over the past year, beset most recently by U.S. legislation known as the Magnitsky Act, which imposed sanctions on a list of […]

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Central Asians Working in Russia Hurt Their Own Countries

Central Asians Working in Russia Hurt Their Own Countries, Experts Say Paul Goble, Window on Eurasia, April 7, 2013 Staunton, April 7 – Russians often complain that migrant workers from Central Asia and the Caucasus are harming the Russian Federation, but a new study by the International Organization for Migration (IOM) that the massive flow […]

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Did Putin Sink Cyprus?

Did Putin Sink Cyprus? By BEN JUDAH, Istanbul, The Opinion Pages – NYT, April 2, 2013 THE blue-glass skyscrapers of Moscow City — fragments of Russia’s boom-time dream — are visible from the Kremlin walls, within which there was once hope that those towers could supplant the West’s financial centers. When the sun sets behind them, […]

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Russian start-ups: Twym

Twym developer Filipp Kontsarenko has presented his project on i-Conference event in Moscow. Source: Digital October Yandex team creates Twitter-Yandex Money hybrid April 1, 2013 Tatyana Makarova, special to RBTH The brainchild of Yandex developers, Twym, is a robot that allows users to transfer money via Twitter. Users register on twym.ru through their Twitter account, link […]

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Russian Troops To Afghanistan?

Russian Troops To Afghanistan? Kremlin Confirms The Rumor The Inquisitr, April 1, 2013 “Russian troops to Afghanistan?” is the latest rumor being spread over the internet. But now the Russian Kremlin is confirming the truth of these rumors, saying they are sending Russian troops to Afghanistan to establish maintenance bases after NATO winds down operations […]

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The Messages Of Russia’s Military Exercise In The Black Sea

Russian President Vladimir Putin watches a military exercise in Anapa, a Russian Black Sea resort. Read also: China and Russia conduct ‘surprise’ military exercises The Messages Of Russia’s Military Exercise In The Black Sea – Analysis By Habibe Özdal, Journal of Turkish Weekly, April 1, 2013 Putin, Russia’s president, ordered for a military exercise in the Black […]

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Russia stages massive surprise war games on Black Sea

A ship of the Russian Black Sea Fleet during large-scale military exercises Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered while flying back from the South African Republic to Moscow. (Screen shot of a video of Zvezda TV channel). (RIA Novosti). Via RT Russia stages massive surprise war games on Black Sea RT, 28 March, 2013 The Russian […]

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The Cyprus takeaway: More phony crises to come

20 March: Cyprus’s finance minister Michalis Saris arrives at the Russian finance ministry, to meet his Russian counterpart Anton Siluanov The Cyprus takeaway: More phony crises to come By Ian Bremmer (Ian Bremmer blog / Reuters), March 27, 2013 Now that the crisis in Cyprus has passed, we can finally admit the obvious: The “crisis” […]

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The drone mania

When the Whole World Has Drones The precedents the U.S. has set for robotic warfare may have fearsome consequences as other countries catch up This article appeared in print as Standard Deviation Kristin Roberts, National Journal, 22 March, 2013 [An interview with the author] A slim aircraft glided through Israeli airspace, maintaining low altitude and taking a […]

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Work with Moscow in Central Asia

A scene from «Baikonur» (2011), the movie (dir. Veit Helmer) Work with Moscow in Central Asia Jeffrey Mankoff March 21, 2013 When Uzbek security forces killed hundreds of protestors in the city of Andijon in May 2005, both Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and a bipartisan group of senators called for an international investigation, while […]

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Xi’s visits can help ease West’s anxiety

Russian President Vladimir Putin, right, and Chinese President Xi Jinping shaking hands during their meeting in the Grand Kremlin Palace in Moscow. Photograph: Alexander Zemlianichenko/AP – Picture desk live: the best news pictures of the day (The Guardian) Xi’s visits can help ease West’s anxiety By David Gosset (China Daily), MaRch 21, 2013 The insight […]

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El rescate de Chipre (5)

«Turkey said it will declare a border on the continental shelf if the island of Cyprus proceeds with offshore oil and gas drilling activities» (september, 2011) Source: gCaptain Turkey may challenge Cypriot use of gas reserves in bailout Cyprus Mail, March 21, 2013 TURKEY could challenge any move by Cyprus to speed up offshore natural gas exploration […]

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