Category: Former Soviet Space
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The US – Forgetting their New European Allies
Introduction The Economist earlier last month did an update on America’s relationship in Central Europe, the area earlier hailed by Sec. of Defense Donald Rumsfeld as part of the “New Europe.” While I applaud his speech as brillent tactical manuverings (Reminding France/Germany that they’re other Europeans beside themselves), it seems like besides building military bases […]
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Russia-Ukraine Gas Update: Role of Dmitry Medvedev
Complimentaring StrategyUnit’s post on the Russia-Ukraine Gas sega, StratFor’s Peter Zeihan has an interesting perspective on the possible role and orientation of Dimitri Mendevev, Putin’s newly selected Prime Minister, and his in the Ukraine-Russian Gas issue. StratFor’s article is interesting because it takes account to the role of Mendevev, whereas Jamestown Foundation, Eurasianet et al […]
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Russia, Ukraine, and Natural Gas: Russia Misguided Pipeline Politics?
Updated December 03, 2006 —————– Introduction With the breakdown in price negotiations during recent days, Russian state-owned Gazprom choose to cut the gas deliveries to Ukraine, the main conduit for exports to the rest of Europe. This is a critical situation because, as mentioned by Bloomberg, “State-run Gazprom supplies about a quarter of gas consumed […]
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Turkey Weekend Reading: James Fellows’s Article, Kazakhstan v. Iran, China Military Bases
Howdy All Y’All…Happy Thanksgiving Day. Here’s quick Weekend Reading…just in case you need a break from all that turkey and gravy. By the way, I’ve been doing some light posting this past two weeks, but I’ll start going back to the normal beat of things soon. OxBlog on Jame’s Fellow’s “Why Iraq Has No Army” […]
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Cossack’s Revival. Tool of the Imperial State and Ethnic Cleansing?
Weekend Reading on the Cossack Revival Since the fall fo the Soviet Union and more prominently under President Putin, there has been a great revival (See Radio Free Europe’s Piece) of the Cossack culture and increasing political clout including a movement to reassert their role as a security/military instrument of the state. And already it […]
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Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan, they play the Great Game too
Summary In November 10, General John Abizaid, Chief of U.S. Central Command visted Kazakhstan (America’s best friend) and stated that US presence in Central Asia is in no way part of “a repeat of great games of the 18th and 19th centuries”. Indeed, he is right, this is definately not Arthur Conolly’s “Great Game”. In […]
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Nalchik Raid – Old Struggle, Old Tactics against Russia
Jamestown Foundation’s Chechnya Weekly issue places the Nalchik Raid and the greater conflict in the Caucasus in Russia’s past imperial history. For anyone familiar with Russian history, this is not exactly news, but it helps bring some barring that Chechnya Conflict in and the Nalchik Raid is nothing new and should be expected. Here’s what […]
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Russia and Peak Oil
Still on light posting mode…but I think this should be noted in contrast to the Oil Drum’s recent discussion I noted on Saudi Oil. From Reuters: Russian oil output could peak at more than 510 million tonnes annually in 2010, or 10.2 million barrels per day (bpd), Russian Energy Minister Victor Khristenko said on Monday. […]
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China, Russia tries quasi-NATO? Dugin’s Eursia or Primakov Doctrine?
I was just about to follow-up on my previous Russia and Eurasia post when CS Monitor (CSM) today published “Russia, China looking to form ‘NATO of the East’?” and opens with this foreboding paragraph: Russia and China could take a step closer to forming a Eurasian military confederacy to rival NATO at a Moscow meeting […]
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Guerilla War in Kabardino-Balkaria , Another Chechnya Erupts
Jamestown Foundation’s Eurasia Monitor and RFE/RL has a good roundup of the Nalchik raid. All of them supporting StrategyPage’s position of another guerilla war coming to Russia Key quote from a Russian legislator: “It was more like a mutiny, an attempt to seize power in the city, and we should label it properly.” Ilyukhin added […]