Oriental Review

Why Putin Is Driving Washington Nuts

Forget the past (Saddam, Osama, Gaddafi) and the present (Assad, Ahmadinejad). A bet can be made over a bottle of Petrus 1989 (the problem is waiting the next six years to collect); for the foreseeable future, Washington’s top bogeyman – and also for its rogue North Atlantic Treaty Organization partners and assorted media shills – [...]

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Smashing Greater Central Asia (III)

Part I Part II Representatives from all of the secret agencies of the Stans, except for Turkmenistan, have come together in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan to identify a common threat in Central Asia, emanating from a non-existent terrorist underground (SEE: Secret services say about the presence in Central Asia, domestic extremist underground). This consensus on a common [...]

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What Do Bear and Tiger Have In Common? (II)

Part 1 After the furious Albazino conflict Russia and China have existed «back to back» for quite a time without almost any relations with each other. Nevertheless, since the 19th century there has been a certain coincidence of histories of two continental superpowers, which was tightly intertwined with the synchronous nature of the tides of [...]

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What Do Bear and Tiger Have In Common? (I)

Since the collapse of the USSR America has towered above the world like a lone tower. This strategic landscape looks uncommon and unnatural. Geopolitics is looks hard for a counterpoise that will get done with a challenge of the unipolar world. At that, analysts most frequently turn their eyes to the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO). [...]

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The Shanghai Cooperation Organisation`s Impact on the Region (II)

In my last article I had stated that the main interest of the countries of the region in the deliberations of the SCO summit would be the manner in which they handled the question of the granting of membership to the four countries-Pakistan, India, Iran and Mongolia – which now have observer status and the [...]

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Obama’s Drawdown Speech: SCO Faces the Afghan Challenge

The United States President Barack Obama’s drawdown speech will not stand out in the volume of his selected works as an outstanding piece of oratory. The rhetorical flourish of “On the Way Forward in Afghanistan” was definitely below par. On the other hand, Obama knew the occasion is not one of celebration but of having [...]

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The Shanghai Cooperation Organisation`s Impact on the Region

On June 15th the Shanghai Cooperation organisation will have its Summit meeting in Astana marking the 10th Anniversary of its founding.This organisation that brings together the two major powers of the region – China and Russia – had its origin in a Chinese initiative to enhance cooperation between the newly independent Central Asian states of [...]

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Warming Ties With Russia

President Asif Ali Zardari made history. His three-day official visit to the Russian Federation on 12-14 May, first after 1974 from Pakistan side, is an important step toward re-directing the contours of Pakistan’s foreign policy that is now more enmeshed with resource diplomacy such as energy needs. Pakistan is just laying next-door neighbor to a [...]

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Russia In The Mirror Of World Policy

By Tatyana Tallerova (Russia) Last year Russia not only managed to establish and consolidate its positions at the international arena, but also set the foundation for the further growth of the state authority in 2011. The most important event was the creation of the Customs Eurasian Economic Union of Russia, Byelorussia and Kazakhstan. Thus the [...]

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Who Will Stop Civil War in Afghanistan?

During the last weeks Afghanistan is smoothly getting back to international focus. There were so many interesting events scarcely covered by the mainstream media around Afghan affairs. We will try to scrutinize the situation, analyze real motives of the key players and elaborate a forecast on what will happen next in that long-suffering land. First [...]

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The Modern World: New Realities. Part 3.

Vyacheslav NIKONOV (Russia) Part 1, Part 2 5. But how does Russia position itself in this new global reality? The strategy proposed first by Gorbachev and then by Yeltsin was that Russia should become part of the Western system. Gorbachev proceeded from the concept of a “common European home;” Yeltsin in the 1990s said that [...]

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The Modern World: New Realities. Part 2.

Vyacheslav NIKONOV (Russia) Part 1 2. Another aspect of the modern world is the fact that it quite clearly has resumed the militarization of international relations. After the collapse of the USSR and the end of the bipolar confrontation, military spending actually decreased, and it happened everywhere—not just in the Russian Federation where it dropped [...]

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