OSCE Foreign Ministers meeting in Almaty reached consensus on holding a summit in Astana this year and reinforcing OSCE assistance to Kyrgyzstan, said the OSCE Chairperson-in-Office, Kazakhstan's Secretary of State and Foreign Minister Kanat Saudabayev. READ MORE

The OSCE failed to agree on sending an international police force to Kyrgyzstan in the wake of June's ethnic clashes between that may have killed 2,000 people. A decision on the matter is expected next week. READ MORE

The European Union's foreign policy chief, Catherine Ashton, and Iran's top nuclear negotiator, Saeed Jalili, are currently involved in a diplomatic dance over resuming talks on Tehran's nuclear program. If the talks do indeed come to fruition, Ashton could assume the negotiating role previously played by her predecessor, Javier Solana. While Solana's diplomatic efforts ultimately did not bear fruit (.pdf), the circumstances that hampered his attempts to resolve the Iranian nuclear standoff -- namely, the lack of U.S. participation and Iranian perceptions that the country had little to gain by talking with Europe -- have since improved and could be capitalized on by Ashton. READ MORE

Transatlantic Taskforce on Development Blog Series. READ MORE

The enhanced Eastern vector of Ukrainian policy yet more likely misleads, rather then gives a direct reply – where does Ukraine go? READ MORE