The Bear and the Dragon Strengthen Economic Ties
It appears that the highly publicized stand-off between China and Japan over the detention of a Chinese boat captain is over. Both sides are requesting what they believe to be fair financial compensation, but for the most part their spat seems to have been quelled. A far more interesting and longer term issue is the [...]
Spy Crisis Raises Questions About U.S. Policy
The recent Russian spy drama has finally come to an end after a prisoner swap in Vienna. Strangely, both sides scrambled to downplay the crisis. When the drama first began, Vladimir Putin strongly criticized the U.S., saying the police were “out of control.” However, he later downplayed the situation, saying, “I really expect that the [...]
Energy Dispute a Reminder About Classic Geopolitics
Beginning around 20 June and ending 24 June, Europe went through a mini natural gas crisis. Russian natural gas giant Gazprom reduced supplies into Belarus by 60% in response to Belarus’ unpaid bill of $192 million. Belarus at first refused to pay and later even offered payment in the form of tradable goods instead of [...]
More Ethnic Unrest in Kyrgyzstan
Several months ago, this column reported on the political coup in the central Asian country of Kyrgyzstan. At the time, we illustrated the strategic importance of this country not only to America but also to Russia and neighboring Uzbekistan. American strategic interest is centered on our air base there, used for keeping supplies flowing to [...]
Kyrgyzstan Revolution Indicator That Russia Is Still a Player
On Wednesday, April 7, 2010, the government of Kyrgyzstan was overthrown after a series of protests became violent and led to the president of the country, Kurmanbek Bakiyev leaving the country. The Prime Minister resigned and turned power over to the country’s former Foreign Minister, Roza Otunbayeva. Kyrgyzstan is a small, mountainous country located on [...]
