The Ukrainian constitutional court today ruled that a bill proposing greater decentralization of power in Ukraine does not contravene the constitution. The new bill, proposed by Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko earlier this month, would allow each of Ukraine’s regions greater flexibility and create a “separate law” which would be used to govern the regions currently…
In a number of moves all announced this week, the Central Bank of Kazakhstan looks to be feeling the strain of falling crude prices. The first arrangement sees the Kazakh central bank taking a 10% stake in KazMunaiGas, the state oil company using funds from the Kazakh sovereign wealth fund. This can only mean that…
EU Foreign Minister Federica Mogherini is currently in Tehran to hold talks with Iranian leadership there. The two sides will hold talks concerning how the nascent nuclear deal will be implemented, as well as on potential areas of cooperation. Iranian Foreign Minister Javad Zarif has indicated that energy, human rights and regional security concerns such…
Russia has announced via Prime Minister Dimitry Medvedev that Kiev will not be allowed to sign any additional natural gas delivery deals from Gazprom, the state gas company, saying that “we won’t extend a transit contract with Ukraine on disadvantageous terms.” The current agreement lasts through 2020, but consistent disagreements and renegotiations on payments have…
The government of Tajikistan has instructed its officials to prioritize state-controlled over independent Tajik or international media sources. As a result, in-country journalists complain, their already restricted contact with government officials has been almost entirely eliminated. The official statement released by the Tajik government instructs its officials to limit its contact with any independent journalists…
Kyrgyzstan has followed through on its threat to cancel a cooperation agreement with the US after the US awarded a human rights prize to Azimzhan Askarov, an activist currently serving a life sentence in Kyrgyz prison. Human Rights Groups have recently demanded Askarov’s release from jail, and the deal had granted US personnel connected with…
Iranian Ayatollah Ali Khamanei announced that relations between Iran and the US will not improve as a result of the nuclear accord. The remarks, given on Iranian state-controlled television, indicated that the accord comes out of a marriage of convenience and that new areas of collaboration between the two sides would not be explored. Khamanei…
Indian PM Narendra Modi is once again breaking down old barriers in foreign policy, this time with Iran. An Indian national security advisor described the accord that was reached with Iran and the P5+1 powers as the “best deal available.” India has been cautiously sending various ministers to Iran for months now, including its national…
The United Nations Security Council voted unanimously to endorse the nuclear deal brokered with Iran last week. The vote is of course not a surprise as it concerns a deal brokered by its five permanent members and Germany. However, the vote has been acclaimed as symbolically important to the process of generating political support for…
Iran has begun to explore ways to convince its rivals in the Middle East of the worth of the recently-signed nuclear deal. The pact between Iran and the West has been met with extensive criticism from countries such as Saudi Arabia that see Iran as a destabilizing force in the Middle East due to its…
