09/29/14 10/3/14

The Russian government decided this week to cancel its

participation in the Future Leaders Exchange (FLEX)
Program, which sends high school students from countries
of the former Soviet Union to the U.S. for an academic year.
The stated reason for the cancellation is based on the
experience of a recent student who developed ties to a
homosexual couple and sought asylum in the U.S. at the end
of the trip. The FLEX Program was founded in 1992 and
has brought 23,000 students to the U.S. since its inception.
RFE/RL Guardian
On Wednesday, President Erdogan criticized the U.S.-led
coalition strikes on ISIS as a short-term reaction, urging the
West to find a long-term solution to the crises in Syria and
Iraq. Erdogan said that an effective struggle against ISIS
will remain a priority for Turkey, as will the immediate
removal of the administration in Damascus. The comments
come as the Turkish parliament debates authorizing the
military to strike ISIS.
Washington Post BBC
Fighting between Ukrainian forces and pro-Russian
separatists in the city of Donetsk has increased in the past
week despite a cease-fire agreement signed in early
September. The rebel offensive has centered on the
government-held airport, which is considered strategically
significant. Additionally, a Swiss employee of the Red
Cross was killed when a shell exploded near the Red Cross
offices in Donetsk.
Moscow Times BBC
Georgian President Margvelashvili met with Turkish
President Erdogan on Sunday during the World Economic
Forum special meeting in Istanbul. The two discussed
increased cooperation between the two countries, regional
security issues, and joint Turkish-Georgian-Azerbaijani
projects. Georgian Prime Minister Garibashvili had met
with President Erdogan a week earlier at the UN General
Assembly meeting in New York.
InterPressNews Civil.ge
This week, Armenian political opposition groups came
together and announced the start of a nationwide campaign
for regime change. Among the opposition demands are
suspension of the recently adopted pension reforms and
amendments to the electoral code. A joint rally has been
scheduled for October 10. This is the third time in three
years such a campaign has been staged.
Armenia Now RFE/RL
Russian Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Rogozin announced
on Wednesday that Russia would not tolerate meddling in
the Transdniester region of Moldova, and that Russia would
protect its citizens in the area. He warned people who
dont think like [Russia] to not create trouble on the
Transdniestrian border because, Protection of the Russian
people is a direct responsibility of the Russian state.
Russia has maintained thousands of troops in the disputed
region since the civil war in 1991.
TASS Global Post
Euronews RBTH.com
Jailed Azerbaijan human rights activist Anar Mammadi has
been awarded the Vaclav Havel Human rights prize by the
Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE).
Mammadi who is sentenced five and a half year prison term
in Azerbaijan is a founder of the Baku-based Election
Monitoring and Democracy Studies Center. The decision
came as surprise as Councils Committee of Ministers is
chairs by Azerbaijan at the moment.

Eurasia.Net The Guardian
President of Belarus Alexander Lukashenko has recently
announced that he is ready to send peacekeepers to Ukraine
to help resolve the Ukrainian conflict. In his interview with
EuronewsLukashenko claimed that he proposed a peace
plan months ago however it was rejected by all parties.
There is mistrust between the warring parties. I would be
putting my own armed forces in harm's way to separate the
conflicting parties, - he declared.


Ali Shamkhani, Secretary of Irans Supreme National
Security Council, announced plans to give Lebanon a
military grant to assist the country in its fight against
Islamist extremist groups. Shamkhani said that further
details would be announced during an upcoming visit from
the Lebanese defense minister. The Lebanese army has been
battling Islamist militants near the border with Syria for the
past two months and suffered significant losses during an
attack launched from within Syria in early August.

Washington Post Deutsche Welle
Tajikistans chief mufti Saidmukarram Abdulkodirzoda
issued a fatwa stating that criticism of the Rakhmon regime
is a great sin and warning Muslims against "cooperation
with destabilizing media outlets". The fatwa was announced
during Friday prayers on September 26 and has drawn
criticism from NGOs and independent journalists in
Tajikistan.
Business Standard RFE/RL
At the 4th Caspian Summit in Astrakhan on Monday,
President Berdymuhammedov discussed the construction of
an undersea pipeline to transport natural gas from
Turkmenistan to Europe, a project that both Moscow and
Tehran oppose. He announced that, Turkmenistan is firmly
convinced that the construction of these pipelines is the
sovereign right of the governments through whose section
of the seafloor they pass.
The Diplomat AKI Press
Turquoise Hill Resources, majority owned by global
mining corporation Rio Tinto, announced on Thursday that
the company was stuck in negotiations with the Mongolian
government to resolve outstanding tax issues. Last month,
Mongolian officials stated that the two sides had agreed to
a resolution of the tax issues to expand the Oyu Tolgoi
gold and copper mines. However, Turquoise Hill contends
that a resolution has still yet to be reached despite progress.
Market Watch Daily Mail
Human Rights Watch published a lengthy report on the state
of political prisoners in Uzbekistan last Friday. The
organization accused the Karimov regime of unspeakable
abuses, including torture and inhumane prison conditions.
The report estimated that 10,000-12,000 political prisoners
are currently in jail. It also detailed the cases of 34 current
prisoners and 10 former prisoners. The Uzbek government
claims that there are no political prisoners in the country.
On Tuesday, Kyrgyz security forces arrested seven women,
aged 20 to 25, accused of being members of the banned
Hizb ut-Tahrir pan-Islamic political organization. The
arrests were made in the Nooken district of Jalalabad
province. A Kyrgyz police spokesman claimed that
evidence collected shows the women also recruited heavily
via online resources. Kyrgyzstan brands the group as
extremist due to its stated goal of establishing a caliphate.
RFE/RL TASS
BBC The Guardian
On Tuesday, the United States and Afghanistan signed a long-
awaited security deal that will allow U.S. troops to stay in
Afghanistan beyond the final 2014 withdrawal date. Known
as the Bilateral Security Agreement, the deal will allow
approximately 10,000 U.S. troops and 2,000 NATO troops to
remain at nine separate bases throughout the country. The
agreement has been in the works since 2001 but received little
support from ex-President Karzai.
New York Times Washington Post
Russian President Vladimir Putin visited Kazakhstan on
Tuesday to emphasize the need for closer cooperation
between the two countries. The visit came after the
alarming statement by Putin earlier in August questioning
countrys statehood and claiming that Kazakhstan wants to
remain part of the big Russian World. During his recent
meeting with President Nursultan Nazarbayev, Putin said
that Russia and Kazakhstand are connected historically.

The Week
ABC News
of-cease-fire-deal?utm_medium=RSS&utm_campaign=world
In her inauguration speech to the lower house of Parliament
on Wednesday, Polish Prime Minister Ewa Kopacz stated her
intention to pursue closer relations with the United States and
declared that her government will make every effort to
ensure that the United States increases its military presence in
Poland. This announcement comes as the U.S. begins the
deployment of 700 soldiers and 20 M1A1 Abrams tanks
across Poland and the Baltic states.
Romania Insider Business Review
On Wednesday, Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico
announced that Russian gas supplies had decreased by 50%
without warning. He said that Slovakia will still be able to
fulfill its commitments to supply reverse flow gas to
Ukraine and meet the needs of domestic customers.
However, he also criticized Russia for playing with gas
supplies as an instrument of political posturing and called
on the E.U. for help in dealing with Moscow.
EU Observer TASS
After meeting with representatives of American oil
companies during his visit in the United States, Romanian
energy minister Razvan Nicolescu announced that the
American company Stratum Energy will invest $150
million in Romania next year. The company discovered
conventional gas deposits in Moinesti two years ago and
aims to become the third-largest gas producer in Romania
by developing this deposit.

Radio.cz Prague Post Breibart
The Guardian
The 12th national Saeima elections will be held this
Saturday, October 4. In anticipation of the elections, some
voting stations have opened earlier this week to
accommodate those who might be busy or traveling on
Election Day. Already, 120-person lines have formed at
some early voting locations. A grand total of 1,052 voting
stations will be open internationally on Saturday, with 99 of
those locations operating abroad.
Baltic Times LETA
RT Washington Times
BBC
Wall Street Journal Politics.hu
Reuters
Tallinn arrested two former Soviet security officials
crossing into Estonia. Two Russian men reportedly
identified as former KGB are being held on charges of
resisting arrest and illegally entering Estonia. Incident
follows Russian border guards detaining Estonian security
official Kohver on suspicion of espionage who is now
awaiting trial in Russia.

The Czech Foreign Ministry has expressed its regrets over
contradictory reports regarding the situation of ethnic
Czechs in Ukraine. Ministry declared that it was always in
contact with Czech community in Ukraine to provide
assistance in needed. MFA made the statement after over
70 Czech families residing in Ukraine have asked Czech
President Milo Zeman for repatriation to the country.
The EU has expressed its concern over the detention of
Lithuanian fishing vessel by the Russian Federation. The
EU urged Russia to free the vessel immediately. We are
concerned by the forced apprehension of the Lithuanian
fishing vessel Spokesperson said. Russia has explained
that the vessel, Jros Vilkas, was illegally fishing for crabs
the claim has been denied by Lithuania.

PM Viktor Orban ordered interior minister to use all legal
means to prevent the conference planned by U.S. based
National Policy Institute from happening. Conference was
banned on the grounds of extremism and racism. National
Policy Institute that is based in Whitefish; Montana can be
described as white nationalist think tank. Based on reports
the conference included Russian political Scientists
Alexander Dugin.



Fifteen people died in a blast at an explosives plant in
northwestern Bulgaria on Wednesday. In his public
comments about the incident, President Plevneliev stated
that the accident was caused by failures to comply with
government regulations on handling explosive material. The
cabinet announced that October 3 would be a national day
of mourning, and the countrys two largest political parties
announced that they had cancelled final campaign events
before the October 5 parliamentary elections.
Sofia Globe Novinite
Kosovo has nominated a film for an Oscar for the first time
since the country declared independence in 2008. The film,
"Three Windows and a Hanging", directed by Isa Qosja,
was nominated for the Best Foreign Film category of the
Academy Awards. "Three Windows and a Hanging" tells
the story of a village that struggles to come to terms with
the rape of women villagers during the 1998-99 Kosovo
war.
CTV News Yahoo! News
Serbia held its first gay pride parade in four years in Belgrade
amid tight security. After marchers were attacked in 2010,
officials had banned the parade due to security concerns. The
parade took place without major incident, although it was
protested by Serbian Orthodox Church officials and activists.
Prime Minister Vucic said that he had no intention of joining
the march, but several members of his cabinet turned out in
support of the event.
Reuters BBC
On Wednesday, the Croatian National Conservation Institute
announced that it had found a rare, well-preserved German
WWII Stuka bomber in Croatias central Adriatic Sea, seven
decades after it was shot down. The wreckage was
discovered close to the island of Zirje. Now only two
bombers of the Junkers Ju 87, or Stuka, dive bombers have
been preserved despite over 5,700 having been produced over
the course of the war.
Gulf News Telegraph
On Monday, the World Bank approved a recovery package
of $150 million to finance Albanias energy sector. The
package will focus on improving the power supply system
and the sectors financial sustainability. The World Bank
approved the funds in the midst of ongoing financial crises
in the Albanian energy sector, including a deficit of $550
million and heavy technical losses.
OTP Bank, Hungarys largest lender, offered to buy
Slovenian state-owned Nova KBM bank for 300 million
euros on Tuesday. Its bid was the top non-binding offer.
Nova KBM is Slovenias second-largest lender, considered
stable and rid of bad loans and the baggage of Slovenias
early banking crisis. Last year, the government spent 3.2
billion euros to rescue the banking industry. This sale is part
of Slovenias ongoing efforts to recover part of the cash.
Reuters Bloomberg
World Bank
Global Post
Balkan Insight
South East Times
Focus MIC
Vasko Naumovski, new Ambassador to the U.S. and newly
designated negotiator for the conflict between Macedonia
and Greece, presented his new agenda to Parliament on
Wednesday. According to Naumovski, there will be at least
one more round of name negotiations between Skopje and
Athens before the end of the year.
Montenegrin parliament is taking steps to respond to the
reports of Balkan Muslims fighting in the Middle East.
Those fighting in Iraq and Syria will be sentenced up to
five years. According to media reports and the national
security agency, a few hundred members of the Wahhabi
movement are living in Montenegro, believed to be
financed by various Islamic charities.



This week, closing arguments are being heard at the U.N.
International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia,
where Bosnian Serb leader Radovan Karadzic is charged
with 11 crimes during the Bosnia war, including genocide.
War crimes prosecutors have called Karadzic the driving
force behind the persecution of non-Serbs in the 1990s.
Prosecutors request Karadzic to receive a sentence of life
imprisonment.
BBC LA Times