OSCE Police Advisory Team In Kyrgyzstan Has To Start Its Mission This Year, Lithuania’s Foreign Minister Says
During his visit to New York, Lithuania’s Foreign Minister Audronius Ažubalis urged Kyrgyzstan to enable the police advisory team of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) to start its duties in Kyrgyzstan already this year. READ MORE
Uzbek Reactions to Holbrooke Visit and US Regional Interests
The US Special Representative for Afghanistan and Pakistan, Richard Holbrooke, visited Uzbekistan as part of a tour of several Central Asian states during February 17-21. At that time, Holbrooke held talks with Uzbek President, Islam Karimov, regarding the US-led offensive in Afghanistan and related international efforts to promote regional security. READ MORE
Azerbaijan Arranges “Zurich-2” – Operation
Turkish State Minister Ali Babacan made an intriguing declaration in Brussels: "I was one of the authors of Zurich protocols signed with Armenia and there we reached a clear agreement that the Parties will discuss within historic committees the issues over the events of 1915. And we were ready to any results of these commissions activity". By this Babajan underlined, that Azerbaijan and other states were informed in details about Armenian-Turkish negotiations in Zurich: "I’ll say more, after we agreed with Armenia in Munich to sign protocols, I went not to Ankara, but to Baku, where I specified the position of Turkey on these issues to the President Ilham Aliyev". READ MORE
New Russian Military Doctrine Opposes NATO Enlargement
After several delays, the long-awaited new Russian military doctrine was finally approved by President Dmitry Medvedev on February 5. The document did not include the rumored lowering of the nuclear threshold, despite recent public comments on the issue to the contrary made by the Secretary and Deputy Secretary respectively of the Security Council, Nikolai Patrushev and Yuri Baluyevskiy. READ MORE
Obama's Afghanistan Speech And Strategy
Foreign policy and political experts assess the president's speech. Below are responses from Frederick W. Kagan, Kimberly Kagan, Matthew Dowd, Meghan O'Sullivan, Gilles Dorronsoro, Douglas E. Schoen, Andrew J. Bacevich, Ed Rogers and Dennis Kucinich. READ MORE
Expert: EU-US Relations Ripe For Lisbon Treaty Upgrade
Ron Asmus is currently executive director of the Brussels-based Transatlantic Center. He is also responsible for strategic planning at the German Marshall Fund of the US. READ MORE
George Krol About US Relations With Central Asia Republics
George Krol, Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for South and Central Asian Affairs with VOA TV Uzbek Service – Navbahor Imamova. READ MORE
Uzbekistan Challenges Regional Electricity Supplies Network
Kyrgyzstan’s growing list of troubles has recently been further complicated by yet another predicament. Tashkent has announced that Uzbekistan is likely to leave the Central Asian power supply cascade in the coming months. According to Tashkent’s official interpretation, Uzbekistan can now provide its population with enough locally generated electricity and does not need to be part of the network created during the Soviet period. This means that Kyrgyzstan’s south and parts of Tajikistan will experience severe electricity shortages due to the break in regional cycles. READ MORE
RFE/RL Interview: U.S. Vice President Joe Biden
In an exclusive interview, U.S. Vice President Joe Biden spoke with RFE/RL correspondents Brian Whitmore and Abubakar Siddique about the U.S. administration's policy on Russia, the Caucasus, Afghanistan, Pakistan, and Iran. Biden assured Central and Eastern Europeans of the United States' commitment to the region, and said that the United States will not ignore concerns about democracy in dealing with Iran on its nuclear program. READ MORE
Ankara Courts EU Over Nabucco Gas Supplies
Turkey wants to help the EU to realise the Nabucco pipeline project by acting as a broker for securing natural gas supplies from Iraq and Qatar as well as Iran at a later stage, the country's foreign minister, Ahmet Davutoglu. READ MORE
