The Crimean Parliament voted today 79-8 to press the Ukrainian government to recognize the independence of Abkhazia and South Ossetia. It seems highly unlikely that the Ukrainian government will act on the call given the collapse of its coalition government and the...
Much has been said in the past week about Admiral Michael Mullen's talk of a "new, more comprehensive" strategy in Afghanistan before the House Armed Services Committee, and while the focus of this strategy has been the US escalation in Pakistan, The Independent has...
United States Secretary of Defense Robert Gates has issued his "sincere condolences and personal regrets" for the large number of Afghan civilians recently killed by the US and its allies in air strikes. Gates pledged that NATO forces would do more in the future to...
Ukraine's Parliament is expected to declare its coalition government dissolved tomorrow, after a split between the factions of President Viktor Yushchenko and Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko. Unless a new coalition is formed within the next 30 days, which at this...
In a high profile visit to Tbilisi, NATO Secretary General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer reiterated the alliance's backing for Georgia in the aftermath of its brief August war with Russia. The NATO visit is seen as an important step towards Georgia's eventual membership in...
The Pentagon is sending a team to Georgia to assess the state of its military in the wake of last month's brief war with Russia, a move likely to exacerbate tensions with Russia even further. Though the team is only authorized to determine Georgia's military...
Afghan President Hamid Karzai, while very supportive of a change in US strategy which would involve increased strikes on militants in Pakistan, a strategy he says he has pushed for years, said today that he opposes a long-term presence of foreign troops within...
Yesterday, Admiral Mullen announce his new "comprehensive strategy" for the war in Afghanistan, the centerpiece of which is ratcheting up attacks in neighboring Pakistan. The American intelligence community has warned the administration against such attacks, saying...
The European Union has issued an official statement, and in it they have declared that they recognize Ukraine as "a European country". While this comes as hardly a surprise to anyone with access to a globe, the relevant message of this statement was clear: that...
Russian troops will leave Georgian territory and return to Abkhazia and South Ossetia by October 11, in a deal that came after hours of negotiations with French President Nicolas Sarkozy. Under the terms of the agreement, the European Union would deploy 200 monitors...
