The Barack Obama administration is making an extraordinary bid with the United States Congress to get the seven-year old embargo on military aid to Uzbekistan lifted poste-haste this month. READ MORE

The meeting of Russian President Dmitry Medvedev and German Chancellor Angela Merkel in Hannover on 19 July was an important event for further development of the Nord Stream pipeline project and first of all concerning Russia’s proposal to consider the construction of the third line on the Nord Stream pipeline. However, Angela Merkel said that Germany would not need “a third, fourth or fifth branches of Gazprom’s pipeline”, and it became clear that she didn’t support Moscow’s ambitions to expand the Nord Stream.  Moreover, according to Merkel, Gazprom should reduce gas price in order to attract European consumers. READ MORE

The question that has obsessed Moscow for so long has been answered: Vladimir Putin is to replace Dmitry Medvedev as president next spring, returning to the post he gave up four years ago. READ MORE

India may not have got the airbase it planned in Tajikistan. But hospital and research initiatives offer a chance of influence – without upsetting Russia. READ MORE

High tensions reached a new level at the Kosovo-Serbia border after Serbian authorities refused to allow three trucks carrying cement from Kosovo to enter Serbia despite the reopening of one of the two contentious border crossings. READ MORE

October 30, 2011 presidential elections in Kyrgyzstan have drawn over 80 candidates into much anticipated race that has been a subject of political debate in and around the country for quite some time in the republic. Aside from a several dozen of "wannabe" candidates only a few bare chances of getting through the process of a real deal campaigning nationwide. But regional experts and analysts including a number of domestic political figures say there is a likelihood of drastic change towards authoritarian model of the state rather than parliamentarian republic that came after coup in April 2010. What makes situation in Kyrgyzstan unique is that this is the only country in Central Asia with a record of trying to establish a multi vector political system in the region where such form of statehood is not welcome. READ MORE

The OSCE Chairperson-in-Office, Lithuanian Foreign Minister Audronius Ažubalis, and OSCE Secretary General Lamberto Zannier met the Council of Europe’s Chairperson of the Committee of Ministers, Ukraine’s Minister for Foreign Affairs Kostyantyn Gryshchenko, and Council of Europe Secretary General Thorbjorn Jagland in New York . READ MORE

Statement Summarу. READ MORE

Welcomed with great applause, US President Barack Obama addressed the UN General Assembly in New York. His speech focused on the pursuit of peace in an imperfect world and the Palestinian bid for statehood. READ MORE

President Gül and his German counterpart, Wulff, met on Sunday evening to converse over tea with Turkish residents of Kreuzberg, a district known as Berlin's Turkish Town. Europeans should first of all let Turkey finish its European Union membership process successfully, instead of holding debates over whether Turkey should become a full member or not, Turkey's President Abdullah Gül said on Monday in Berlin, while ruling out formulas such as a “privileged partnership” as an alternative to full membership. READ MORE