27.12.2007
Eurasia: News In Review
Central Asia and Eastern Europe
and their Relations with Russia
November-December, 2007The following resource is meant to give readers a quick overview of recent events within the FSU but outside of Russia. Much of the news here concerns how Russia and/or the US are affected by these generally small but politically, economically, and militarily important nations. This news review is part of SRAS's monthly "obzor" publications. For more reviews, see the newsletter for this corresponding month. To receive the free monthly newsletter and obzori by email, simply sign up. Regional Issues Colored Revolutions: High Hopes And Broken Promises
The Rose and Orange revolutions ushered in a wave of optimism that similar "colored revolutions" would soon spread Western-style democracy throughout the Soviet Union. Central Asia and Caucasus: Governments Rely on Old-Style Methods to Contain Inflation
Soaring inflation rates across the former Soviet Union are causing food price to spiral upward. Ukraine The Coming Government of Yulia Tymoshenko
Yulia Tymoshenko recent won back her post as Prime Minister. Tymoshenko Will Have to Take Up Arms Against Russia
Short on other tricks Tymoshenko keeps pulling the gas price card out of her sleeve on the eve of every New Year and it is getting tiresome. Ukraine Set To Pay Much More For Gas In 2008
Ukraine's outgoing government has agreed to a significant price hike in a deal for supplies of natural gas from Russia, sparking an immediate denunciation from the incoming prime minister, Yulia Tymoshenko. Russian Jewish Community Urges Ukraine To Give Up Attempts To Whitewash Nazism
The posthumous conferment of an Order of Hero of Ukraine to (a major in the Nazi SS), and the situation at an elite school in Kiev, where children were asked to find arguments in defence of Adolf Hitler, are “symptoms of a common and dangerous disease which is developing complications.” Russia, Ukraine - Spot the Difference
Yulia Timoshenko’s long way to her second prime minister term shows in what ways Ukraine is similar to Russia (and these features are intrinsic to Eastern Slavic politics) and where it is totally different. Kazakhstan Kazakhstan to Big Oil: Whack!
Kazakhstan's rough approach at Kashagan matches similar belly-bumping by the government against a second group, which goes by the catchy moniker Tengizchevroil. Kazakstan Steers Clear of US-Russian Arms Race
Russian missile tests on Kazak soil leave analysts divided on whether the Central Asian state will get embroiled in the arms disputes of others. Kazakhstan and the OSCE
Four years of intense diplomacy bore fruit on November 30th when the Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) awarded its rotating chairmanship in 2010 to Kazakhstan. Georgia Georgia fears 'Kosovo effect'
"President Saakashvili is trapped, all of us are trapped in a double mechanism that may have good consequences for one, but not for the other. It may not be a win-win situation -- although we should be able to look [for] and find a win-win solution. But it will not be easy." Misha's mess
Unleashing riot police on demonstrators, leaving dozens in hospital, then declaring a state of emergency, seem an inexplicable overreaction to protests that posed no threat to public order. Georgia crackdown sets back NATO ambitions
Georgia has severely damaged its chances of winning a promise of NATO membership. Georgia's Saakashvili resigns before president vote
Under the constitution, his powers now pass to Parliament Speaker Nino Burjanadze, one of his allies. Is Georgia's Opposition Ready To Take On Saakashvili?
Mikheil Saakashvili made a controversial move in approving a violent crackdown on opposition protesters and a near-total media blackout last week. But the Georgian president still looks likely to win a second term when voters cast their ballots in early presidential elections on January 5. Georgia parliament votes to lift emergency rule
Georgian lawmakers voted yesterday to lift a state of emergency imposed after violent clashes last week, a spokesman for the country's parliament said. Georgia Ready For War If Russia Recognizes Abkhazia
“If Russia recognizes Abkhazia’s independence, it will automatically mean Russia pronouncing war on Georgia.” Russia Withdraws All Troops From Georgia
A top Russian general said early Thursday that Russia has completed its withdrawal of troops that had been based in Georgia since the Soviet collapse Moldova Putin tops the vote in Moldova
If Moldovans were free to choose, they would much rather have Russia's Putin as their head of state. That is the result of the latest opinion poll from Europe's poorest country. Voronin clan named country's richest, but heir will "never return to Moldova"
Despite the wealth, the heir to the family fortune has already left the country. Speaking to a local TV channel, Ecaterina Voronin says that she will probably "never return to Moldova". Baltic States Rumor - the new anti-Estonian weapon
After various Russian-language websites – including that of the ‘Night Vigil’ campaign – published stories suggesting a devaluation of the kroon was imminent, banks have been seeing higher than usual numbers of customers asking to exchange their kroons for euros and other alternative currencies.. As It Rises, Russia Stirs Baltic Fears
The signs of Russia's resurgent influence are everywhere in Lithuania, Estonia and Latvia: in Kremlin-financed media; in the financing of local politicians and economic development… Belarus Vladimir Putin arrives in Minsk
In particular, participants are to discuss the 2008 Union State budget, the implementation of joint programs in machine-building, construction, and high technologies, joint efforts to minimize consequences of the Chernobyl disaster, and relations in the fuel and energy sphere.
« back to News archive
|
