The last Dmitry to rule in the Kremlin, way back in 1605, savored absolute authority for less than a year before running afoul of Moscow's power brokers. Suspected of trying to convert Russia to Roman Catholicism, he was denounced as the "False Dmitry," assassinated, his body burned and his ashes shot out of a cannon pointed toward Poland. Russia's new Dmitry, Mr.
During the run-up to the NATO summit in Bucharest, expert attention has tended to focus on the differences between Russia and members of the Atlantic alliance, specifically on Kosovo's independence, a Central European anti-missile shield and Georgia's and Ukraine's gravitation toward Brussels. But there is one important area where interests are converging -- in Afghanistan.
With the "multi-vector" mindset taking hold in the Commonwealth of Independent States, Russia is feeling pressure to rethink how it can retain its dominating influence among formerly Soviet states.
Turkmenistan's budding economic partnership with China has the potential to dramatically reshuffle Central Asia's energy equation. Russia, which has been able to dictate prices due to its stranglehold on regional gas exports, stands to be the big loser if the Turkmen-Chinese partnership develops as envisioned.
As Georgia tries to re-establish control over the upper Kodori Gorge in the breakaway territory of Abkhazia, Moscow is warning that Tbilisi's "police operation" could lead to a an armed clash in the region.
Russia says it has the right to take preventive action as Georgian forces continue carrying out their "police operation" against rebellious Kodori Gorge militia chieftain, Emzar Kvitsiani.
While officials in Tbilisi have touted as decisive the Georgian parliament's call for the removal of Russian peacekeepers from the breakaway regions of South Ossetia and Abkhazia, the Kremlin sees the decision as inconsequential.
United Nations-mediated talks on the future of Kosovo present Russia with a potential opportunity to radically alter the geopolitical balance in the Caucasus. If the former Yugoslav province gains independence, Russian leaders have indicated that they might try to use the development as a precedent to secure the separation of Abkhazia and South Ossetia from Georgia.
