Mark John | Brussels | May 7

Reuters - Russia's deployment of extra troops in the breakaway Georgian region of Abkhazia has brought the prospect of war "very close", a minister of ex-Soviet Georgia said on Tuesday.

Separately, in comments certain to fan rising tension between Moscow and Tbilisi, the "foreign minister" of the breakaway Black Sea region was quoted as saying it was ready to hand over military control to Russia.

"We literally have to avert war," Temur Iakobashvili, a Georgian State Minister, told reporters in Brussels.

Asked how close to such a war the situation was, he replied: "Very close, because we know Russians very well."

"We know what the signals are when you see propaganda waged against Georgia. We see Russian troops entering our territories on the basis of false information," he said.

NATO deserves attention both in terms of its current activities in Afghanistan and because of the current debates revolving around NATO expansion to Ukraine and Georgia. NATO’s quest for a new identity since the end of the Cold War has rightly resulted in much debate about the utility of the Alliance in a world with contemporary threats that can no longer be defined by East and West. Several articles published recently at the Atlantic Community provide an excellent framework for anchoring discussions around NATO.

Andre Kelleners, a member of the Atlantic Community, argues that rather than sidelining Russia, NATO membership states should consult with Russia to determine a common understanding of NATO’s role. It makes sense, he contends, for Partnership-for-Peace countries to eventually join the alliance as full members, but only together with and at the same time as Russia. It is in all parties’ best interest for NATO and Russia to share the same vision.

Andreas Umland of the National Taras Shevchenko University of Kyiv, continued the debate about when and how to offer a Membership Action Plan (MAP) to Ukraine. He highlighted the February 2008 statistics which revealed that a staggering 53% of Ukraine’s population were against NATO membership and only 21% in favor. He blames NATO rather than Germany for this statistic, saying that NATO “has done too little too late in terms of explaining to Ukrainians what NATO is about. Instead, Ukraine's political and public discourse remains corrupted by Soviet legacies.”

Timo Noetzel and Benjamin Schreer of the German Institute for International and Security Affairs in Berlin focus the discussion around NATO on the difficulties which NATO is currently facing in Afghanistan and argue that the chances are high that the Alliance will fail. NATO, they contend, is both politically and militarily ill-prepared to execute the required counter-insurgency strategy in Afghanistan. An Afghan disaster might not be a death sentence for the Alliance, but would certainly have major repercussions.

Luke Harding | Dikhazurga | April 17

The Guardian - While Georgia hopes to join Nato, its rebel Abkhazia area is being wooed by Russia

The bridge over the Ingur does not feel like a place at war. There is no gunfire, merely the noisy croaking of frogs. Down on the river bank, anglers with homemade willow rods dip for trout in the swirling turquoise water.

But this tranquil spot, on what was once a coast of the Soviet Union, may be about to become a flashpoint - not just between Georgia and its breakaway province of Abkhazia, which fought a war here in 1992-93, but between Nato and the Russian Federation.

Fifteen years after driving out Georgian troops, Abkhazia is on the brink of winning recognition from Russia. Yesterday Vladimir Putin ordered his officials to strengthen economic ties and provide consular support to residents in the separatist republic.

Gleb Bryanski | Moscow | March 9

Reuters - A grid operator in Russia's volatile Caucasus region said on Saturday that police had helped it regain control over sub-stations that had been seized by armed men after the firm cut power supplies over non-payments.

The firm said up to 300 men, many armed with rifles, broke into five sub-stations this week in the southern region of Dagestan, before beating staff and switching the power back on for parts of the local capital Makhachkala.

The operator, MRSK North Caucasus, said it had resumed electricity supply after the incident but vowed to cut power again soon if the debt was not paid. Several members of staff were badly injured and treated in hospital, it said.

The firm said the city of Makhachkala, with a population of about 700,000, owes it 600 million roubles ($25.07 million) and blamed the local administration for stirring up trouble.

When Kosovo declared independence on the 17th of February, Georgia and Russia agreed on something for perhaps the first time since the Rose Revolution, their condemnation of the US for supporting Kosovo. The reason for this is simple. Since the break up of the Soviet Union, two regions of Georgia, South Ossetia and Abkhazia have strived to become independent of Georgia, and Georgia fears that support for Kosovar independence will bring legitimacy to these claims.

Just about every country that has a minority population calling for more autonomy or independence has condemned the recognition of Kosovo by the US and several major EU countries. Spain, a close ally of the US and a member of the EU was one of the more outspoken as they struggle with a long standing conflict with Basque separatists.

Hasmik Mkrtchyan | Yerevan | March 1

Reuters -

Armenian President Robert Kocharyan declared a state of emergency in the capital on Saturday and vowed to deploy troops against opposition protesters after riots in which at least one person died.

Witnesses said many people were injured in pitched battles in Yerevan's central streets, which flared up when police tried to disperse demonstrators protesting at a presidential election they say was rigged.

Kocharyan accused the protesters of shooting at unarmed police and said he would use troops to restore law and order. A Reuters correspondent saw a column of army trucks on the main road heading towards Yerevan on Saturday evening.

Govt decree after the jump

Feb 27

Stars and Stripes - Activists in Kyrgyzstan are offering a new carrot in their ongoing effort to have the U.S. air base in Bishkek closed: a song contest.

According to news reports this week, a contest for “best protest song” has begun and is offering a $200 prize for the winner.

“The final of the contest will take place at a rally in protest of the presence of the U.S. base on the territory of the Manas airport near Bishkek in late April 2008,” Igor Trofimov, whom wire services identified as a leader of the protest movement, was quoted as saying. “Surely, Kyrgyz rock and rap singers will back the idea.”

The U.S. air base in Kyrgyzstan is one of the U.S. military’s most strategic bases in Central Asia. It is also the main filtering point for troops and supplies heading into the war in Afghanistan and serves as home for refueling aircraft that service warplanes over Afghanistan.

Antoine Lambroschini | Almaty | January 14

AFP - Kazakhstan has ended a long-running conflict with a group of top Western oil majors over ownership of the Kashagan oil field, one of the world's largest new deposits, state oil company Kazmunaigas said Monday.

Kazmunaigas "is pleased to announce that agreement has now been reached with the entire Kashagan consortium," the company said in a statement.

After six months of fraught negotiations, the deal boosts Kazmunaigas' stake in the field to a level "equal to that of the largest shareholders," the statement said, without providing figures.

"With this successful end to the long and difficult negotiations which began last August, the way forward for the Kashagan Project has been found," the statement said.

Tbilisi | January 5

Russia Today - Georgia goes to polls on Saturday to vote for new president. The country's government has given assurances the vote will be free and fair, despite fraud allegations from the opposition. More than a thousand foreign observers are set to monitor the poll.

Surprising return

After a hard-fought campaign, Georgia is set to go to the polls to decide who will be its next president.

One of their potential choices is billionaire oligarch Badri Patarkatsishvili. The media mogul had earlier pulled out of the race after the government released video-tape footage allegedly showing him plotting to stage unrest in the days following the election. He was accused of using his TV channel, Imedi, to aid a coup attempt.

Margarita Antidze | Tbilisi | Dec 30

Reuters - Georgian President Mikhail Saakashvili is likely to win a new term in a snap election on January 5, but the vote will have to be squeaky clean if he is to regain his tattered reputation as a champion of democracy.

Saakashvili, who swept to power in a 2003 "Rose Revolution", dismayed his Western allies in November when he responded to massive opposition protests by sending in police with teargas and by closing down the biggest opposition television station.

He called the election months earlier than the scheduled date as part of a package of concessions to ease the stand-off with the opposition, which accuses him of ruling in an autocratic style and failing to ease poverty and unemployment.

Mark Almond |London |December 6

IHT - The recent gathering at Annapolis of most sides in the world's most intractable political dispute has focused attention on the Middle East, but another set of bitter geopolitical problems is rapidly elbowing its way into the international limelight - unrecognized states in the Balkans and the Caucasus.

The failure of the American-EU-Russian troika to resolve Kosovo's status by consensus sets in motion a declaration of independence from Serbia by its Albanian majority within weeks. That could re-ignite conflicts across the former Yugoslavia and in the disputed territories scattered around Russia's rim in the old Soviet Union. With Washington and Moscow at loggerheads as the U.S. takes sides with the Albanians and Russia with the Serbs, it is time to look beyond the local Balkan issue. As one negotiator in the troika ruefully admitted, if 120 days of negotiation couldn't reconcile the bickering parties, 1,020 would do no better. More than Kosovo is at stake.

Simon Tisdall | Nov 29

The Guardian - When Ganimat Zahidov, editor of the independent Azadlyq newspaper, arrived for work one day this month in Baku, the capital of Azerbaijan, he was accosted on the pavement by a young woman he had never seen before who started cursing and shouting at him. Moments later "an athletically built young man popped out of nowhere and began beating me", he said. "I defended myself as best I could."

Within hours, Zahidov had been arrested, charged with "hooliganism" and sentenced to two months' pre-trial detention. If found guilty, he faces five years in jail. He joined eight other Azerbaijani journalists in custody after criticising or otherwise annoying the government of President Ilham Aliyev.

Tom Parfitt | Khadzhi Aul | Nov 22

The Guardian - With separatist rebels embracing radical Islam, the republic's Moscow-backed president is busy promoting a Sufi revival

High on a hillside in eastern Chechnya, a new mosque rises serenely in a grove of pear trees, its freshly painted walls dappled with sunlight. In a cemetery nearby, workmen have just finished repairing the white cupola that stands over a simple tomb draped in green cloth. "With Allah's help and the support of our president, we are putting this sacred place in order," said Magomed Daskayev, a stout man in a green tunic who is imam of the local village, Khadzhi Aul. This ziyarat on the Ertan ridge, an hour's drive from Grozny, is one of the most hallowed spots of traditional Chechen Islam: the final resting place of the mother of Kunta Khadzhi Kishiev, a shepherd who became a Sufi sheikh.

The new mosque will provide accommodation for a stream of visiting pilgrims. And its construction is a potent symbol of the Sufi revival that is sweeping Chechnya under its impulsive, 31-year-old president, Ramzan Kadyrov. The renaissance comes as the last 700-odd rebels fighting Mr Kadyrov's pro-Moscow administration have lurched toward radical Islam.

. . . in Georgia has gotten ahead of himself lately, no?

The president of the republic of Georgia declared a state of emergency Wednesday night, after riot police officers used tear gas, rubber bullets and water cannon to clear thousands of demonstrators from the streets. The order immediately closed two television stations and banned public assembly in the capital, and would be in effect for at least 48 hours, a senior government official said by telephone. . .

The country's principal opposition news outlet, Imedi TV, went off the air as a special forces unit, armed and wearing dark masks, entered the station's offices. By then at least 365 people had reported to hospitals to treat their injuries, the country's health ministry said.

Ahh, the sweet smell of democracy, Caucasus style!

Couple of points here. First, I personally never bought the idea that Saakashvili was a small-d democrat. I know a little something, something about Georgia--having been there. And one thing about Georgian politics is that it's rough. And not conducive to democracy, even if you are a graduate of Columbia University and Bush's regional pet. Which brings me to point two: It was painfully obvious to me, after the way Bush treated Blair in the run-up and aftermath of the Iraq invasion, that anyone who hitched his star to George W. Bush was never, ever, going to get anything of real value from the US. I told the Georgians I met that much. Point blank, I said: "we're temporary. The Russians are forever. You'd better accept that because you will never be accepted in the EU--or NATO."

No one listened. But I'm not surprised. The Kool-Aid was potent back then.

Tblisi, Georgia | November 7

AP - U.S.-allied President Mikhail Saakashvili declared a state of emergency Wednesday in the capital of Georgia, where six days of demonstrations have fueled a worsening crisis.

Saakashvili has blamed Russia for fomenting the unrest in the former Soviet nation. His prime minister, Zurab Nogaideli, said in a televised statement that there had been an effort to overthrow the pro-Western government.

"An attempt to conduct a coup was made, and we had to react to that," Nogaideli said.

Misha Dzhindzhikhashvili | Nov 3

The Independent - More than 50,000 opposition supporters rallied yesterday in Georgia's capital, accusing President Mikhail Saakashvili of leading the country away from democracy. They threatened to keep the protests going until he responds to their demands.

The rally is the latest protest against Saakashvili, a stalwart US ally, who faces his worst political crisis since he was propelled to power in the 2003 uprising known as the Rose Revolution.

On mock gallows erected in front of the parliament building, protesters hung a photograph of Saakashvili on a long-stemmed rose.

Opposition leaders demanded the reversal of a decision to move back next year's parliamentary election by several months. They also called for the creation of a new elections commission with the involvement of opposition members, and changes to the election law that they say will make it more democratic.

Shaun Walker | Moscow | Sept 29

The Independent - Thousands took to the streets of the Georgian capital, Tbilisi, yesterday to demand snap elections following a series of extraordinary corruption allegations directed at President Mikhail Saakashvili by a formerly close political ally.

The largest massed demonstration since the so-called Rose Revolution, which brought Mr Saakashvili to power in 2003, was triggered by a televised tirade against the President by Irakli Okruashvili, the 33-year-old former defence minister. Mr Okruashvili, who left the government a year ago, was subsequently arrested on charges of extortion and money laundering.

Tbilisi, Georgia | August 24

AP -

Georgian officials said the site where the plane may have crashed was in the Georgian-controlled territory of Upper Abkhazia, but that it was remote and difficult to reach. BBC.

Georgian forces fired on a Russian plane flying over Georgian territory earlier this week, a government official said Friday, claiming residents nearby reported an explosion and forest fire afterward.

Russian military officials could not immediately be reached for comment on the claim, which came amid a heated dispute between the ex-Soviet neighbors over Georgian accusations of airspace violations by Russian military aircraft.

``The day before yesterday, at 22:24 hours, a Russian plane was fired at over Upper Abkhazia,'' Interior Ministry spokesman Shota Utiashvili told The Associated Press. He said authorities could not confirm the plane crashed, but that residents of the remote area reported hearing an explosion and seeing forest burning.

Georgia on Wednesday said that a Russian plane had violated its airspace in the same area a day earlier, but officials did not mentioned Wednesday's alleged intrusion until late Friday. Utiashvili said that was because they were still checking information.

C. J. Chivers | Ashgabat, Turkmenistan | July 11

New York Times - ...The reclusive nation of Turkmenistan, a land tightly managed by its sprawling intelligence apparatus and all but closed to outsiders, has become inundated with drug users in recent years, Turkmen citizens, foreign diplomats and drug control officers said.

From the clubs in the capital to the impoverished ranks of its state workers and the inmates in prisons, heroin use has permeated post-Soviet Turkmen society, creating largely unrecognized public health problems that the nation has done little to address...

. . . Just Plain Dave was correct: Azerbaijan it is. You'll recall we linked to Danger Room's poll several days ago urging voters to choose which country it was the US Army was preparing to invade in preparation for Future Combat Systems.

Dave, how'd you know? Care to share?

Baku | July 11

Turkish Weekly - “There are several options for future transit of Azerbaijani gas to Europe. Azerbaijan is based on the approach of commercial viability. At the same time, Azerbaijan will be pleased to contribute to European energy security and Azerbaijan will be pleased, maximum possible, to extend partnerships with many countries in European Union, ” Azerbaijani deputy foreign minister Araz Azimov told a special briefing following a security dialogue at the US State Department.

Ian Traynor | Brussels | May 17

The Guardian - · Russia accused of unleashing cyberwar
· Parliament, ministries, banks, media targeted
· Nato experts sent in to strengthen defences

A three-week wave of massive cyber-attacks on the small Baltic country of Estonia, the first known incidence of such an assault on a state, is causing alarm across the western alliance, with Nato urgently examining the offensive and its implications.

While Russia and Estonia are embroiled in their worst dispute since the collapse of the Soviet Union, a row that erupted at the end of last month over the Estonians' removal of the Bronze Soldier Soviet war memorial in central Tallinn, the country has been subjected to a barrage of cyber warfare, disabling the websites of government ministries, political parties, newspapers, banks, and companies.

Nato has dispatched some of its top cyber-terrorism experts to Tallinn to investigate and to help the Estonians beef up their electronic defences.

"This is an operational security issue, something we're taking very seriously," said an official at Nato headquarters in Brussels. "It goes to the heart of the alliance's modus operandi."

James Kilner | Gudermes, Russia | April 5

Reuters - Chechnya installed as president on Thursday a 30-year-old with his own militia force, praised by allies for restoring order to the Russian province but accused by rights groups of killing and abducting civilians.

Ramzan Kadyrov, whose father Akhmad was assassinated in 2004 after seven months as president, swore to uphold Chechen laws in a lavish ceremony in Gudermes, his clan stronghold 30 km (20 miles) east of the capital Grozny.

Like his father, Ramzan Kadyrov switched to Moscow's side and was elevated with the Kremlin's blessing after fighting Russia's rule over its restive Caucasian province.

"My father often said to me power is not an end in itself but is a tool to achieve something else," he told hundreds of high-profile guests in a glass pavilion at his Gudermes villa.

"And I want to achieve a peaceful Chechnya within the Russian Federation."

Geoffrey Lean | March 4

The Independent - Genetically modified potatoes developed by Monsanto, the multinational biotech company, have been fed to sick patients in an experiment. Rats that ate similar potatoes in the research suffered reductions in the weight of their hearts and prostate glands.

Dr Michael Antoniou, reader in molecular genetics at Guy's, King's and St Thomas' School of Medicine, said use of humans was "irresponsible and totally unethical, especially when already ill subjects were enrolled. These people truly were guinea pigs." Other scientists said the trials were too short, on too few people, to give meaningful results of long-term effects.

Zurab Markhiev in Jeirakh and Bella Ksalova | Arkhyz | February 23

IWPR - Local people are furious about new restrictions on the movement of people in the mountainous border zone of the North Caucasus.

As part of an overall tightening of border controls across Russia, the government is making it harder to gain access to large areas of the country’s southern border in the Caucasus.

The director of Russia’s FSB counterintelligence service Nikolai Patrushev issued an order in March 2006 officially making the Jeirakh Gorge in the mountains of Ingushetia part of Russia’s frontier zone. It is a very sensitive issue for the small autonomous republic - the district comprises one quarter of its territory and all Ingush families originate from the area that has now been declared a border zone in the mountains. Access is now restricted to the area with its historic towers.

The FSB said this decision was made so as to improve security in border areas. However, human rights activists have expressed concern that the move marks a step backwards to Soviet times.

Lack of information has deepened anxiety about the changes. In Ingushetia, there was an angry reaction to a report published last month on the only independent Ingush website, ingushetiya.ru, saying that most of the border guards in the Jeirakh gorge are ethnic Ossetians.