Uzbekistan’s parliament has passed legislation to enact a new strategic document that rules out the possibility of hosting foreign military bases, reports NBCA of IWPR. READ MORE

As the world moves into the second decade of the 21st century, a new power rivalry is taking shape between India and China, Asia's two behemoths in terms of territory, population and richness of civilization. India's recent successful launch of a long-range missile able to hit Beijing and Shanghai with nuclear weapons is the latest sign of this development. READ MORE

Japan marked the 67th anniversary of the world's first atomic bomb attack with a ceremony Monday that was attended by a grandson of Harry Truman, the U.S. president who ordered the bomb dropped on the city of Hiroshima. READ MORE

Opening of customs hub expected in August, fulfilling a proposal made by Russia in March. READ MORE

In 2016, China’s share of the global economy will be larger than America’s in purchasing-price-parity terms. This is an earth-shaking development; in 1980, when the United States accounted for 25% of world output, China’s share of the global economy was only 2.2%. And yet, after 30 years of geopolitical competence, the Chinese seem to be on the verge of losing it just when they need it most. READ MORE

A few years ago the subject of NATO’s role in regional policy in South Caucasus was one of the key within estimations and declarations of many politician, experts and reporters involved into the region. The August Russian-Georgian war of 2008, world financial-economic crisis, “Arab spring” and return of “classic” geopolitics into the region have changed the priority of perception of the North Atlantic Alliance in South Caucasus. NATO is already perceived by South Caucasian countries not the way as it was in the first part of 2000. In its turn Brussels also already not that ambitiously targets at South Caucasus. READ MORE

Belarus has expelled Sweden’s ambassador over his actions to support democracy, Sweden’s Foreign Minister Carl Bildt said on Friday, as the European Union’s foreign policy chief said the bloc would consider responding with “appropriate” measures. READ MORE

The United States would like to extend its agreement with Kyrgyzstan on the use of Manas airport for the delivery of goods to Afghanistan after 2014, CA-NEWS reports. However, Washington does not exclude the possibility that it will have to look for another hub in one of the neighbouring countries, assistant U.S. Secretary of State for South and Central Asia, Robert Blake said at a congressional hearing on Tuesday, ITAR-TASS reported. READ MORE

Twenty years ago, in July 1992, NATO started taking on a limited crisis-management role in support of international efforts to end the conflict in the former Yugoslavia. Within a few years, the Alliance was called upon to play a more robust role: it deployed its first ever peace-support operation to Bosnia and Herzegovina in 1995 and later intervened to end the crisis in Kosovo in 1999. NATO’s involvement in stabilising the Western Balkans has played a key role in the transformation of the Alliance after the end of the Cold War. READ MORE

On 26 June the Lithuanian Seimas approved draft National Security Strategy. “This is a much more realistic Strategy: the evaluation of Lithuania’s security environment in the current Strategy is rather “euphoric”, whereas in the new draft this evaluation is more careful", said Rasa Juknevičienė, the minister of national defense while presenting a draft Strategy to the Seimas. READ MORE