The violent descent of parts of Kyrgyzstan into communal conflict since the overthrow of its president in April 2010 leaves a security vacuum whose dangerous effects could be felt across central Asia, says Vicken Cheterian.
In the third of a series on drugs in Russia's regions, Oleg Pavlov reports from the Republic of Tatarstan, 400 miles east of Moscow. While the situation there is certainly not as desperate as it was ten years ago, even government officials suggest as many as 2% of the population are addicted.
If you want to understand what has motivated the uprising of Kyrgyzstan’s poor, you need look no further than the package of neo-liberal economic reforms imposed on the country by the International Monetary Fund, World Bank and World Trade Organisation, comments Balihar Sanghera
The Oryol Region in central Russia has been fairly successful in dealing with its drug problems, but the approaches need coordinating, says Elena Godlevskaya, and not everyone has an interest in improving the situation
Violence escalates in southernKyrgyzstan, killing 114. Israel launches flotilla inquiry. 15 killed, 45 wounded in Baghdad blast. Colombian military officials rescued after 12 years. All this and more, in today's security update.
The US Secretary of Defence voices disappointment over Turkey. A terrorist strike hits Kandahar. Scores are dead in Kyrgyzstan clashes. A bomb attack hits an Algerian police barracks. All this and more, in today’s security briefing…
Throwing money at a problem doesn’t always solve it. Allocations for drug control have been increased on Sakhalin, but the addiction statistics remain uncomfortably high. Sometimes ordinary people could do more to help, says Kseniya Semyonova
A recently published book about President Berdymukhamedov of Turkmenistan confirms that the cult of personality is alive and well in the republic. After 15 years of independence Maria Yanovskaya could be forgiven for being surprised at the book’s excessively rapturous tone… but she is not.
The recent local elections in Georgia were deemed “free and fair”, but the opposition remains fragmented. Parliament is the proper forum for moving towards mature democracy, says Denis MacShane, but the world should not forget Georgia and its troubled relationship with its northern neighbour, Russ
Does President Saakashvili really deserve international plaudits for his party’s decisive victory in Georgia’s elections on 30 May 2010? What Jakub Parusinski saw himself, and heard from fellow election monitors, suggests that procedural violations and deliberate fraud were more widespread and org
On May 18, the Ukrainian Security Services paid a strange visit to Borys Gudziak, rector of the Ukrainian Catholic University in Lviv. Their goal, it seems, was to ensure his students would not take to the streets to protest against the new President when he arrived in town the following day. Gudz
The meeting of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation could hail a realignment of power politics in Asia, argues Ángel Gómez-de-Ágreda
