Electioneering – The New York Times casts skepticism on revelations Monday that Ukrainian and Russian intelligence services have thwarted an assassination attempt on Vladimir Putin. “The report came less than a week before the …
Central Asia
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Must-Reads From Around the World: February 22, 2012
Tribute to a Legend – Intense shelling Wednesday claimed the lives of American journalist Marie Colvin and French photojournalist Remi Ochlik. Colvin, 56, a long-time correspondent for the Sunday Times of London, was the only …
Must-Reads from Around the World
Paradise Lost – Minivan News, an independent news source for the Maldives, has the latest on riots by supporters of former president Mohamed Nasheed, who resigned Tuesday in what increasingly looks like a military coup. The …
Must Reads from Around the World: Feb. 7, 2012
Syrian Situation – Global Post reports on Syrian Christians’ reluctance to join the uprising against President Bashar Assad. “Syria’s Christians, a fellow minority, believe they need the ruling Assad regime for protection,” …
Is Kazakhstan Experiencing Its Own ‘Arab Spring’ Moment?
An unusual thing happened over the weekend in Almaty, the former capital of Kazakhstan and the vast Central Asian country’s major commercial city: roughly 500 people gathered in a protest. They called for democratic change in a …
Sarkozy Considers Withdrawal from Afghanistan After Death of French Soldiers
Is the outraged French response to the shooting death of four of its forces in Afghanistan by a suspected Afghan soldier Friday a sign that Paris may speed the pull out of its troops from the NATO-led operation? Or is the …
The Bonn Conference: Can Afghanistan Be Saved Without Pakistan On Board?
It’s rarely a good sign these days when a summit gets referenced by the city that hosts it: Kyoto is now synonymous with the international community’s failures dealing with climate change; Oslo has become another watchword for …
“The Spring That Never Blossomed”: The Plight of Azerbaijan’s Dissidents
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These are heady days for the powers-that-be in the oil-rich Republic of Azerbaijan. The former Soviet satrap on the Caspian Sea recently was elected as a non-permanent member of the U.N. Security Council. Better yet, its capital Baku will be hosting 2012’s …
Why Kyrgyzstan’s Presidential Election Matters
From the farce of Borat to the ignorance of Herman Cain, the politics and people of Central Asia get short shrift in the U.S. But deride the ‘Stans at your peril. The old crossroads of the Silk Road now rest upon 21st century geo-political faultlines, etched by the competing strategic interests of Russia, China, and the U.S. …
Russia’s Putin Visits Beijing: Friendly Neighbors or Strategic Competitors?
Regular readers of stories from China’s state-run Xinhua News Agency know that relations between China and nearly every country whose leader visits Beijing merit a positive appraisal. “Malawi treasures its friendship with China and is grateful for China’s selfless support for Malawi’s national development,” gushed one …
Should the U.S. Deem Pakistan a State Sponsor of Terrorism?
It seems not a week goes by without more accusations heaped upon Pakistan’s controversial military intelligence agency, the ISI. The shadowy agency, seen by many as an enabler and tacit ally of militant extremists and terrorist groups in South Asia, had just been in headlines following a Taliban assault on the U.S. embassy and …
Turkish P.M. Erdogan: We Cannot Deny Our Ottoman Past
Our interview with Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, published earlier this week on Global Spin, dwelled mostly on the growing shadow cast by the charismatic premier across the face of Mideast geo-politics. One question edited out of the earlier transcript raised the legacy of the Ottoman Empire, whose dominion once …