MOSCOW -- The presidents of Afghanistan and Russia have taken steps to resurrect economic and political ties that have been almost nonexistent since the fall of the Soviet Union.
In terms of democratization, most of the post-Soviet states in the Caucasus and Central Asia remain stuck in the mud, according to an annual survey issued by US-based advocacy organization Freedom House. The exception to the rule in 2010 was Kyrgyzstan, which was deemed to have registered modest democratization gains.
Even though democratization in Russia is going through a lockdown phase at present, a University of California-Los Angeles scholar says there is still reason to dream that a civil society could someday emerge there.
Fardin Saidulayev manages a newspaper kiosk in the Russian city of Novosibirsk, where he is one of the few Tajik laborers to hold a coveted work permit. Yet he faces an uncertain new year. As of January 1, new Russian legislation bans foreigners from working in trade. Saidulayev says he now lives in constant fear he will be fired, or even deported.
Vladimir Putin utilized nationalist fervor in Russia to consolidate his personal authority and strengthen the country's statehood following the Soviet collapse. But now the Kremlin may be finding that nationalism is a double-edged blade, a weapon that, all of a sudden, is threatening to subsume Russia's identity as a multi-ethnic state.
Alcohol is a major cause of unnecessary death among Russian men. That fact is unlikely to surprise even the most casual observer of Russia. But after crunching several years’ worth of data, a leading researcher expressed a sense of surprise over the extent of reckless drinking in Russia and its impact on heart disease.
Georgia recently launched a campaign to fashion itself as a champion of North Caucasus rights and the center of a peaceful, prosperous Caucasus. In theory, the campaign is all about good vibrations. In practice, though, the initiative could have more to do with a tit-for-tat for Russian intervention in the breakaway regions of Abkhazia and South Ossetia, some observers say.
