Tthe Deputy Secretary General Ambassador Alexander Vershbow visited Jordan for bilateral talks in the framework of the Mediterranean Dialogue partnership and met with the Minister of Foreign Affairs H.E. Mr. Nasser Judeh, with H.R.H. Prince Faisal Bin Al Hussain and with the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Lt.Gen. Mashal Mohammad Al-Zaben. READ MORE

Maltese government gives former diplomat, deputy head of Kazakh secret service, residence status despite police objections over Interpol alert. READ MORE

China is currently making a series of attempts to strengthen its position in Central Asia. Its primary aim is to radically change the balance of power in the Shanghai Cooperation Organization through the use of economic levers. China made the following key proposals during preparations for the organization’s last summit: creation of the SCO Development Bank based on Chinese capital; formation of an “SCO account,” also based on Chinese money, or rather a fund for supporting projects to develop the organization; and, establishment of a single free trade zone for participating countries. READ MORE

Turkey made the startling announcement that it had lost contact with one of its F-4 military jets near the country's southern border with Syria, and that it had launched search-and-rescue efforts for the plane's two pilots. READ MORE

Kazakhstan and Lithuania mark the 20th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations.

All these years, Astana and Vilnius have maintained a regular dialogue at various levels, which promotes the development of constructive relations and mutually beneficial cooperation in various fields. READ MORE

Ministers have called for furthering regional cooperation and European Union membership by 2020. READ MORE

Tension at the Armenian-Azerbaijani border and in the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict zone is growing. Frequent sabotage actions are increasing tension. Firing at the Armenian-Azerbaijani border continues. Both sides have officially confirmed the death of four Armenian soldiers and five Azerbaijani at the contact line. Later, Armenian intelligence reported that as a result of the respond by the Armenian troops that the number of victims in the Azeri armed forces had reached seven dead, which was refuted by Baku. READ MORE

On May 22, during the NATO Summit in Chicago, Kyrgyzstan’s Foreign Minister Ruslan Kazakbaev and NATO Deputy Secretary General Alexander Vershbow signed an agreement on ground transport routes for the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF), allowing the country to actively support the complex drawdown of Alliance forces from Afghanistan. Kyrgyzstan’s foreign ministry believes that the new accord with NATO is not only in the interest of stabilizing Afghanistan, but will also contribute to the future security of Central Asia. READ MORE

The main recent event, connected with the project of construction of new Visaginas NPP in Lithuania, can be considered that the Commission of Lithuanian Parliament on Nuclear Energy unexpectedly hasn’t approved a bill on nuclear power plant. READ MORE

Prime Minister David Cameron and German Chancellor Angela Merkel agreed on Thursday that the EU's fiscal pact was not a sufficient step in itself to resolve the crippling eurozone debt crisis. READ MORE

On May 20, Tomislav Nikolic was elected president of Serbia in a second-round runoff against incumbent Boris Tadic. Tadic, who sought a third term, and his Democratic party, have been described as victims of Serbian populist opposition to European Union financial austerity. Nikolic, candidate of the Serbian Progressive Party (SPS), calls for Serbia to join the EU but favors economic coordination with Russia instead of Western Europe. Tadic now seeks the prime minister’s post. READ MORE

Putin's return to the presidency was not unexpected; he was never really unseated as Russia's leader, even during Dmitri Medvedev's presidency. But it comes as an anti-incumbent trend is developing in Europe, most recently demonstrated when socialist challenger Francois Hollande defeated Nicolas Sarkozy in France's presidential elections. In response to these changes, Putin will have to adjust Russia's approach in Europe. READ MORE

The speech of the President of the Republic of Kazakhstan Nursultan Nazarbayev at the opening of the IV Congress of the Leaders of World and Traditional Religions READ MORE

Mohamed Merah’s killing spree in and around Toulouse in March, like the 2004 Madrid train bombings and the 2005 suicide attacks in London’s Underground, has highlighted once again the dilemmas that Europe faces with regard to its growing Muslim minority. No social-integration model has proven to be free of flaws. But is the picture really so bleak as those who despair of an emerging “Eurabia” would have us believe? READ MORE

Late last week, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton began her tour of Denmark, Norway, Sweden, Armenia, Georgia, Azerbaijan and Turkey. In Scandinavia, she was to address several forums on climate change and green energy. While in Sweden, she also planned to discuss Internet freedom, Afghanistan and the Middle East. But it is in the mountains of the Caucasus and Turkey where Hillary will face the red meat of geopolitics: bloody ethnic conflicts over turf; religiously motivated massacres; and threshold nuclear states with global reach. READ MORE

President of Poland Bronislav Komorovsky considers it necessary to conduct pragmatic policy towards Ukrainian authorities to bring Ukraine nearer to the EU integration, not to push away to Russian integration. READ MORE

Azerbaijani Ministry of National Security (MNS) prevented an attempt of terror-provocative actions on the eve of “Eurovision” Song Contest held in Baku, reported MNS to the agency “Interfax-Azerbaijan”. READ MORE

The Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs misunderstood or misinterpreted the statements made by U.S. Ambassador to Russia Michael McFaul at the meeting with a group of the Higher School of Economics in Moscow, said Victoria Nuland, Spokesperson of U.S. Department of State, at the daily press briefing in Washington on May 29. READ MORE

The fight against terrorism is high on NATO’s agenda. Both the Strategic Concept¹ and the Lisbon Summit Declaration² make clear that terrorism poses a real and serious threat to the security and safety of the Alliance and its members. NATO will continue to fight this scourge, individually and collectively, in accordance with international law and the principles of the UN Charter. NATO’s new Policy Guidelines for Alliance work on counter-terrorism focus on improved threat awareness, adequate capabilities and enhanced engagement with partner countries and other international actors. READ MORE

The Danish Minister of Justice, Morten Bødskov, chairs the Justice and Home Affairs Council meeting and he has chosen to put the fight against terrorism on the top of the agenda. READ MORE

In early 2003, during Vladimir Putin’s first term as president, Russia found itself in a political alliance with the West for the first time since World War I. Siding with Paris and Berlin, Moscow resolutely opposed the U.S. invasion of Iraq. Many analysts considered this triangle to be the onset of a new European political geometry, but it did not lead to anything serious. READ MORE