The European Commission's annual progress report on Turkish membership says Ankara has improved its handling of human rights issues and the Kurdish minority. But it says that a lot more work needs to be done for it to become an EU member. The report is being met with little enthusiasm in Turkey as doubts over its bid to become a member continues to grow. READ MORE

Kazakhstan can give an impulse to the OSCE restructuring and balancing the three baskets of the Organization during its Presidency in OSCE in 2010, claimed the Head of the Foreign Policy Studies Department of Kazakhstan Institute for Strategic Studies at the President of the Republic of Kazakhstan Bulat Auelbayev. READ MORE

Authorities in Tiraspol are watching the political deadlock in Chisinau with barely concealed satisfaction. Moldova’s political and constitutional crisis since April has further deepened the freeze on both tracks of negotiations on the Transnistria conflict: the international 5+2 format and the bilateral right bank – left bank dialogue. Tiraspol is in a position to argue irrefutably that negotiations can only resume after Moldova resolves its internal crisis and elects a head of state. READ MORE

German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier said he was "delighted" that the Polish had signed the EU's reform treaty, describing Warsaw's move as the "penultimate step" toward the treaty's implementation. READ MORE

Even the experienced political observers – those who monitor every step and word of Alexander Lukashenko – remain in the state of shock after he spoke to Russian journalists in Minsk. READ MORE

An unexpected initiative of Moscow doesn't promote WTO joining for Russia, Kazakhstan and Belarus. The participants of the Customs Union received two variants of WTO joining: together and separately. READ MORE

The agreement between Turkey and Armenia to re-establish ties has sparked controversy on both sides of the border. The deal also received heavy criticism from Azerbaijan over unsolved Armenian-Azeri territorial disputes. READ MORE

The Turkish government's possible purchase of missile defense systems from the United States, as part of an ongoing tender, has sparked a new debate on Ankara's new regional policies and its domestic arms procurement projects. On September 9, the Defense Security Cooperation Agency (DSCA) notified the U.S. Congress of a possible sale to Turkey of 13 Patriot fire units, various Patriot missiles including the advanced capability (PAC-3) missiles, and other related support equipment. Raytheon Corporation and Lockheed-Martin are the principal contractors and if they are awarded the tender, the project is estimated to cost $7.8 billion. READ MORE

Diplomatic Adviser Arnold Pranckevicius dwells on priorities of the new staff of the European Parliament. READ MORE

Lithuania should be a priority within interrelations of the Parliament and the Administration of Kaliningrad region, as considers the Head of Foundation “Regional Policy” Solomon Ginzburg. He thinks that the Administration of Kaliningrad region pays little attention to Lithuania, meanwhile at unofficial level “RUR and LTL” vote for cooperation. READ MORE