From policy reports and academic studies, to computer games and television mini-series, Central Asia is routinely portrayed as overwhelmingly dangerous. Does it matter that serious analyses dovetail with fictional accounts? John Heathershaw and Nick Megoran argue that it does, because it indicates
Europe’s last dictator struggles for his survival. Europe should help the process along by applying targeted sanctions
On the eve of the EU-Russia Summit in Nizhny Novgorod, all eyes are fixed on new political dimensions to the bilateral relationship. Yet the picture being formed is incoherent and indistinct, representative more of political conjecture and systemic instability than it is of conscious policy positi
Post-Soviet Georgia is no stranger to drama or revolution, and after a short interregnum, the country once again finds itself in a febrile mood. Sergei Markedonov analyses the background to the present unrest.
The campaign to give Soviet Jews the right to leave their country brought two diasporas and a world superpower together in an unlikely alliance. Yet while it was a brilliantly fought battle, it could hardly be described as a total triumph for human rights, writes Oliver Bullough.
In an interview with journalist Olena Tregub, political scientist Andreas Umland argues that Ukrainian integration into the European mainstream is of crucial importance, both for Ukraine and the EU. In his view, alignment with Europe should become Ukraine’s top priority.
Writing last week on openDemocracy, John Keane suggested we need new words to describe the Arab Spring. Stephen Wheatcroft came across similar calls twenty years ago when analysing the fall of the Soviet regime. Then and now, there was a simple description for the events: democratic revolutions in
Despite its position out on Europe’s eastern flank, Belarus has historically and culturally been at the heart of European civilisation. Sooner or later, its time will come to rejoin the family of democratic nations, writes Uladzimir Arlou
The re-opening of the investigation into the 2000 murder of journalist Georgiy Gongadze is motivated more by President Yanukovych’s wish to cut a positive figure in the West and solve domestic problems than by a desire for justice. Ordinary Ukrainians, meanwhile, are more likely to regard it as pa
Wikileaks has finally settled the controversy over who attacked whom first in the Russo-Georgian war of August 2008, with papers firmly pointing to a miscalculation by Georgia and its superpower friend. For Hans Mouritzen, however, such historical details are dwarfed by a more significant subseque
Having spent six years preparing for a lucrative deal supplying arms to Iraq, Ukraine seems to be about to breach the first part of the contract. Anna Babinets suspects external forces may be at play...
The similarities between the Egyptian and Russian regime are striking, says Grigorii Golosov. Arguably, Mubarak’s was the more liberal one.
