Units of the fabled French Foreign Legion are fighting in Afghanistan, operating under NATO command. More than 700 men from dozens of countries comprise the Legion's contingent.
The Georgian-Russian conflict lasted for five days in August, 2008. But along the ceasefire line today both sides remain on a war-footing.
An abundance of checkpoints, defensive positions, and fortifications have sprouted up all along the ceasefire line. In some places, the no-man's land separating Georgian and Russian forces is only about a hundred yards wide.
The Georgian-Russian conflict lasted for five days in August, 2008. But along the ceasefire line today both sides remain on a war-footing.
An abundance of checkpoints, defensive positions, and fortifications have sprouted up all along the ceasefire line. In some places, the no-man's land separating Georgian and Russian forces is only about a hundred yards wide.
The Kintsvisi monastery is a place where the past manages to keep the present at bay. The monks who reside at this sanctuary, situated in the heavily wooded mountains of Georgia's Shida Kartli region, live according to the same basic guidelines that were in place at the time of its founding more than a millennium ago.
The Pakistani military's push against Taliban strongholds in the Swat Valley has created a forced migration emergency, according to the UN High Commissioner for Refugees.
Much of the recent optimism surrounding the Karabakh peace process was generated by May15-16 discussions between Armenian President Robert Kocharian and Azerbaijani leader Ilham Aliyev. [For background see the Eurasia Insight archive].
Some five months ago, war looked an even more likely scenario. In August 2004, on-and-off fighting flared up between Georgia and South Ossetia, leading to an explosive situation that pitted South Ossetian militia and Russian mercenaries against Georgian soldiers stationed within both South Ossetia and just over the border in Georgia. Civilian and military casualties were light, but continuous.
