The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has once again come to the rescue of Russia as it teeters on the edge of a precipice of financial meltdown. On July 22, the 24-member IMF executive board approved a US$11.2 billion rescue package to help Russia...
Displaying characteristic arrogance and imperial over-reach, the US not only sent its troops for exercises into Uzbekistan but also got such arch-rivals as Armenia, Azerbaijan and Turkey to join in what were billed as Nato’s "Partnership for Peace" programme.
Aware that verbal bluster, for which the Russians are notorious, could easily degenerate into a full-scale war with the Chechens, political leaders in Moscow quickly distanced themselves from remarks by interior minister Anatoly Kulikov.
When the first Russian troops landed in Afghanistan 18 years ago, few would have imagined that the rag-tag bands of Afghan mujahideen would last too long.
Aware that their survival depends on unity, the Mountain Peoples of the Caucasus have frequently attempted to achieve this goal in the face of persistent threats from Russia as well as other regimes in the region.
The US government and its western allies - clearly frustrated by Radovan Karadzic’s continued grip on power in the so-called Serb Republic (the part of Bosnia reserved for the Serbs) despite indictment for war crimes, and loss of the presidency more than a year ago...
After four years of civil war which has left more than 100,000 dead, and the economy in shambles, the people of Tajikistan have had enough.
Following the April 23 treaty between Russia, China, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan in Moscow, perhaps Harvard professor Samuel Huntington should go back to the drawing board and revise his ‘clash of civilizations’ theory.
Chechen determination to achieve full independence from Russia was emphasized on February 1 when Aslan Maskhadov, president of the Chechen Republic of Ichkeria, laughed off suggestions that he would take a seat in the Upper House of the Russian parliament.
The Russians have proved, yet again, that they cannot be trusted. The peace agreement signed between Russian president Boris Yeltsin and Chechen leader Zelimkhan Yandarbiyev in Moscow on May 27 and whose details were worked out in Nazran, the capital of Ingushetia, over several days...
China has succeeded in securing the full support of its Central Asian and Russian neighbours to contain the growing tide of Islamic revivalism in its north-western autonomous region of Xinjiang...
On April 21, Chechen leader Dzokhar Dudayev - a formidable leader with mythical qualities - passed into history as one of the most courageous Muslim leaders of the twentieth century.
