The Crimea: Europe's Next Flashpoint?
This occasional report by Taras Kuzio examines Russian-Ukraine relations and the future of the Crimea as well as the port of Sevastopol, a key strategic naval base for the Russian navy.
Russian LNG - The Future Geopolitical Battleground
This occasional report addresses the historical shift in the global natural gas industry away from overland pipeline deliveries and toward liquefied natural gas, as well as Russia's move toward becoming a leader in the emerging LNG market.
Breaking News:
Leader of the Caucasus Emirate Vows to Stop Attacks Against Russian Civilians
February 3, 2012 04:46 PM
On February 2, the leader of the North Caucasus rebels Doku Umarov made an astonishing statement in support of the growing movement in Russia against Vladimir Putin. In a dramatic departure from the previously circulated views, the head of the Caucasus Emirate called on the rebels to stop attacks against Russian civilians. In a short video recording posted on the rebels’ primary website Kavkazcenter, Umarov spoke against a wintery background, presumably in the North Caucasus mountains, flanked b...
Post-Nabucco Era in Caspian Pipeline Business and Politics
February 3, 2012
For more than a decade, Nabucco was the only pipeline project (and lately, the frontrunner project) for transporting Caspian gas to EU territory. Nabucco relied exclusively on Azerbaijani gas for the pipeline’s first stage (the...
Trans-Anatolia Gas Project and Its Rivals in Comparative Perspective
February 3, 2012
The Azerbaijan-Turkey project, Trans-Anatolia Gas Pipeline (TAGP; Turkish acronym TANAP), announced as recently as December 26, emerges as the optimal solution for transporting Azerbaijani gas to Europe, potentially opening the...
Insurgency-Related Incidents Reported in Chechnya, Dagestan and Kabardino-Balkaria
February 3, 2012
In a video posted yesterday (February 2) to the rebel Kavkaz-Center website, Doku Umarov, the “emir” of the Caucasus Emirate, ordered his forces to refrain from attacks on Russian civilians in connection with the fact that, as...
Uzbekistan’s Quest for Aral Sea Oil May Weaken Kazakhstan’s Position in the Caspian
February 2, 2012
As a part of its incessant attempts to consolidate its presence in the energy sector of Central Asia, on January 17, the board of executives of the Russian company, Lukoil, endorsed the purchase by its daughter company, Lukoil...
TURKEY
Breaking News:
Post-Nabucco Era in Caspian Pipeline Business and Politics
February 3, 2012 04:51 PM
For more than a decade, Nabucco was the only pipeline project (and lately, the frontrunner project) for transporting Caspian gas to EU territory. Nabucco relied exclusively on Azerbaijani gas for the pipeline’s first stage (the hopes to add gas volumes from northern Iraq proved unrealistic in any usable time-frame). The European Commission worked hard to align the financing and gas supply guarantees for Nabucco, a strategic project on three counts: its design capacity (31 billion cubic meters [b...
UKRAINE
Breaking News:
Ukraine’s Former Security Chief and Media Tycoon Khoroshkovsky Appointed as Finance Minister
January 30, 2012 12:44 PM
On January 18, Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych appointed Valery Khoroshkovsky as the Finance Minister and relieved him of his duties as chief of the Ukrainian Security Service (SBU). Khoroshkovsky replaced Fedir Yaroshenko who resigned earlier that day. Unlike his predecessor, who is a post-Soviet media-shy bureaucrat and a protégé of Prime Minister Mykola Azarov, Khoroshkovsky is an ambitious public politician who, despite his relatively young age (43) has a long and controversial record ...
KYRGYZSTAN
Breaking News:
Kyrgyz and Tajik Migrants in Moscow Speak Out
January 27, 2012 04:16 PM
On January 16, labor migrants from Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and other countries joined an anti-fascist rally in Moscow to commemorate the memory of the slain human rights activists Stanislav Markelov and Anastasiya Baburova. Both fought against racial and national discrimination, and were killed three years ago by an unknown gunman (http://kloop.kg, January 20). This event is significant for two reasons.First, labor migrants from Central Asia have so far abstained from participating in political g...
BELARUS
Breaking News:
Who Is Losing Belarus?
February 1, 2012 04:47 PM
“With the decline of America’s global preeminence, weaker countries will be more susceptible to the assertive influence of major regional powers,” writes Zbigniew Brzezinski in his recent Foreign Policy essay (http://www.foreignpolicy.com/articles/2012/01/03/8_geopolitically_endangered_species?page=full). With this in mind, Brzezinski included Belarus in his list of eight “geopolitically endangered species” as Belarus faces a threat of annexation by Russia. While the threat in question cannot be...
GEORGIA
Breaking News:
Georgian Dream: Ivanishvili Enlists Allies for His Political Project
January 24, 2012 12:17 PM
Bidzina Ivanishvili, the billionaire seeking political power in Georgia, is recruiting political allies to his proprietary Georgian Dream movement, ahead of parliamentary elections. A newcomer to politics, Ivanishvili started out by dismissing all of the numerous factions in the extra-parliamentary opposition as useless (he admitted to have financed some of them since 2007). He also rejects the Christian-Democrat parliamentary opposition, which has set an unusual Georgian example of rational neg...
RUSSIA
Breaking News:
Leader of the Caucasus Emirate Vows to Stop Attacks Against Russian Civilians
February 3, 2012 04:46 PM
On February 2, the leader of the North Caucasus rebels Doku Umarov made an astonishing statement in support of the growing movement in Russia against Vladimir Putin. In a dramatic departure from the previously circulated views, the head of the Caucasus Emirate called on the rebels to stop attacks against Russian civilians. In a short video recording posted on the rebels’ primary website Kavkazcenter, Umarov spoke against a wintery background, presumably in the North Caucasus mountains, flanked b...
Vladimir Socor is a senior fellow of The Jamestown Foundation and regular writer for Eurasia Daily Monitor.
Publications
Eurasia Daily Monitor
Global Terrorism Analysis
China Brief
North Caucasus Analysis
Militant Leadership Monitor
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Breaking News:
Unmasking Terror Volume III: A Global Review of Terrorist Activities
September 19, 2007 10:33 AM
Unmasking Terror Volume III: A Global Review of Terrorist Activities brings together over 50 experts on terrorism, intelligence and security.
