Syria has entered a “hurting stalemate” that may last months rather than years. The regime is unable to suppress the revolt, but the opposition seems equally unable to demonstrate effective operational control over an increasingly messy situation on the ground.
China’s impact on the U.S. economy and its rising global power gives China a significant role in the Republican primaries for the 2012 U.S. presidential elections.
While the project of “grand Eurasian alliance” between Russia and China currently appears unworkable, the Sino-Russian strategic partnership is a major boon for both countries and acts as one of the pillars of peace and stability in Asia.
Recent violence in Zhanaozen in December has forced Kazakhstan's authorities to rethink political, economic, and social policies. Only time will tell if the changes will have their desired effect, but it is the country's population that will make the ultimate judgment.
If Georgian President Saakashvili can leave the scene gracefully when his term ends and allow a more pluralistic politics to emerge in Georgia after him, he will set a good example to the rest of the former Soviet Union, Russia included.
Vladimir Putin and the Kremlin seem to have staked their futures on Putin’s victory in the first round of the presidential elections and are working to remove any possible opponents who might be able to appeal to Putin’s electoral base.
Uzbekistan, like other Central Asian states, shifts its foreign policy efforts between Moscow and Washington depending on circumstances. It seems that now Uzbekistan is pressing for an increased American military presence in the country.
The Arab League's observer missions in Syria are unlikely to succeed, but they will continue for the rest of the year as external military intervention is highly unlikely
The European Union’s embargo on Iranian oil supplies is unlikely to be effective in forcing Iran to restart negotiations on its on-going nuclear program.
The Kremlin is trying to present President Dmitry Medvedev's new bill as a way of bringing back direct gubernatorial elections, but in fact governors will still remain beholden to the president, not the people.
Russia faces serious economic challenges, including a demographic crisis, corruption, weak enforcement of property rights, and over-reliance on hydrocarbons. A combination of structural political and economic reforms is required to save the country from stagnation.
Vladimir Putin’s article in the Izvestia daily demonstrates both his anxiety over the recent protests and his inability to recognize how significantly Russian society is changing.
The ruling class emerged victorious from the recent parliamentary elections in Kazakhstan. But the overconfidence of Kazakh leaders means that all economic, social, and political issues, including the question of power transition, remain unresolved. The leadership may soon face a political storm.
The Pakistani military leadership is likely looking to ensure that its voice is heard in the governing of the country, not to take full control of Pakistan.
While Iran has the right to develop nuclear energy, the international community has reason to worry that Iran’s nuclear program is developing technologies that would enable Tehran to build nuclear weapons.
With recent financial headlines echoing those just before the bankruptcy of Lehman Brothers, European and U.S. policymakers must take urgent steps to reduce risk and prepare for bad times ahead.
Mostafa Ahmadi Roshan, department supervisor at the Natanz uranium enrichment facility, was killed in a car bomb explosion in Tehran that Iranian officials have already accused both the United States and Israel in playing a part in.
After more than a decade in power without political competition, Vladimir Putin has lost the ability to adapt to rapidly changing conditions and has become less effective and less popular.
The cumulative impact of the nuclear developments that occurred in 2012, from the disaster in Fukushima to Iran's continuing nuclear program, will make the world's nuclear future more uncertain.
The election of a young reformer to the presidency in the breakaway region of Transnistria is a triumph for democracy, but it does not signal an irrevocable turn towards the West.
Absent a good education environment, there is little room for the Arab world’s youth to turn into responsible citizens who can consolidate and stimulate social transformation to bring about more prosperous and free societies.
An increasing trade deficit with China, coupled with Chinese purchases of large tracts of Latin American farmland, could cause strain between China and Latin American nations.
The obvious and often painful mismatch between aspiration and reality in European foreign policy has plagued discourse on European integration during the last decade.
President Obama has praised Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili for his track record of reform and reaffirmed U.S. support for Georgia’s future membership in NATO, but he also hinted that Saakashvili should step down once his term ends.
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