Turkey looks to minimise its ties to Israel after the IDF raid on the peace flotilla. In Afghanistan the peace jirga endorses President Karzai’s peace plan. The Japanese Prime Minister resigns after failing to shift US bases from Okinawa. All this and more, in today’s security update…
Alyaksandr Lukashenka's support is waning — both domestically and from Russia — and he now looks the the most vulnerable he has done for years. Yet the opposition's failure to unite behind a single candidate still seems set to hand him victory in the upcoming presidential election.
Six months on from the controversial prison death of lawyer Sergei Magnitsky, Oliver Carroll spoke to key witness and former employer Jamison Firestone. Part one of two.
Documenting a great historical tragedy unknown to most, Oliver Bullough's new book is a fascinating and groundbreaking work. Thomas de Waal reviews "Let Our Fame Be Great"
The death in custody of Sergei Magnitsky in November shocked the world and mobilised President Medvedev into a promise of reform. Yet, as a second death tragically illustrates, the system has remained essentially unchanged: brutal, dependent and secretive.
During Viktor Yushchenko’s five years in power, Ukraine did not start facing up to its totalitarian history. Since President Yanukovich came to power, that task has become almost impossible.
Two years ago, on 7 May 2008, Dmitri Medvedev was sworn in as president, re-placing Vladimir Putin. At this mid-point of his term in office, Dmitri Travin assesses his record so far and finds no cause for cheer.
Unfairly savaged by Russian populists, Russia’s radical reformer was a brilliant technocrat, a rigorous academic, and a good man. Marek Dabrowski remembers his friend Yegor Gaidar.
Though political infighting continues to hinder reform, Ukraine’s new president is equally unlikely to drop the European rhetoric and defer to Moscow, writes Mykola Riabchuk. For the time being at least, Ukraine's leadership will continue to "muddle through"
Kyrgyzstan’s violence underscores the instability of those former Soviet governments which are burdened by authoritarian and corrupt rule. To varying degrees, every Central Asian country faces serious threats at home and from the war in neighboring Afghanistan. They need help. The West and Russia
With the death of Vladislav Ardzinba, Abkhazia’s first president, a period of post-Soviet upheaval passes further into history. Sergei Markedonov considers Ardzinba’s achievements in the wider context of the Caucasus
Viktor Yushchenko has left his successor a ticking time bomb. His name is Stepan Bandera. Should Yanukovych strip him of the official status of hero, which he has been accorded?
