Azerbaijan may soon become a regional Islamic financing center and play a significant role in boosting cooperation in Islamic banking with Persian Gulf and Central Asian countries. READ MORE

On the New Year eve the Russian media started escalating the issue of Baltic countries’ future and their place in the region. The forecasts concerning future of the three Baltic States are far from promising. Yet most importantly, the efforts are made to withdraw Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia from the general European context by suggesting Eastern values to these countries. READ MORE

Russian Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Rogozin on Friday proposed setting up a government body responsible for consolidating efforts aimed at the creation of an effective aerospace defense network in the country. READ MORE

At their summit on Monday, 26 European Union members are set to adopt a new treaty on budget discipline. The fiscal pact is aimed at cutting debt. Is it a breakthrough or just a sideshow? READ MORE

Erdogan should have followed a rational and strategic approach regarding the French bill on Armenian genocide. Instead, he acts like a small kid in the sandbox, writes Michael Kambeck from European Friends of Armenia. READ MORE

Socio-Economic Modernization as Main Vector of Development of Kazakhstan. READ MORE

Although the newly-elected Kyrgyz President, Almazbek Atambayev, received significant Kremlin support in the run up to last year’s elections, Turkey was his first formal destination as the head of state. During a meeting with the Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan Atambayev invited Turkey, along with Russia and “other states,” to participate in restructuring the US Transit Center at Manas after US and NATO troops leave in 2014. READ MORE

On the 16th of December 2011 in the town of Zhanaozen in Mangystau province during the celebration of the Independence day of the Republic of Kazakhstan on the Central square a group of former (previously fired) workers of the «OzenMunaiGaz» oil producing enterprise with the support of the hooligan youngsters started mass insurgencies leading to debacles, looting, setting fire and violence against civilians and police officers. READ MORE

With the possibility of a clash between the United States and Iran over Tehran's nuclear program looming on the horizon, one cannot help but wonder: Is it worth it for Iran, now grappling with increasingly onerous sanctions, to continue its pursuit of a nuclear capacity, albeit an ambiguous one? READ MORE

For the tenth time during his presidency, Dmitry Medvedev met with the presidents of Armenia and Azerbaijan to settle the frozen conflict in the Nagorno-Karabakh region. The meeting, which took place yesterday in Sochi, once again failed to secure a breakthrough in the negotiations. As Russia turns inward to focus on recent political protests and Medvedev plans a speedy exit from the limelight, there is still no end in sight to what he has called possibly the only conflict in the post-Soviet space that can be settled today. READ MORE